NEW YORK - Tim Lincecum was a big winner on a woeful team, which fit him perfectly.

Firing 97 mph fastballs from his miniature frame, the National League Cy Young Award recipient is an anomaly in almost every way.

Lincecum joined Mike McCormick (1967) as the only San Francisco Giants to win the Cy Young, taking home pitching's highest honor by a comfortable margin Tuesday following his second major league season.

“I was definitely surprised. I thought it was going to be a lot closer,” Lincecum said.

The slender kid with the whirling windup received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks got four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today's standards for a big league pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors - and the laws of physics - by overpowering one hulking slugger after another.

“I don't remember anybody in my time who had that style of pitching, who put that kind of torque on his body,” McCormick said on a Giants conference call. “I think that article in Sports Illustrated that called him a freak probably sums it up.”

Lincecum was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place club that finished 72-90.

In fact, Steve Carlton was the lone Cy Young winner to pitch for a team that was worse. The Hall of Famer was an incredible 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA for the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies, who went 59-97.

Lincecum led the NL in winning percentage (.783), ranked second in ERA and was third with 227 innings. The 24-year-old right-hander made his first All-Star squad, but an illness prevented him from appearing in the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium.

“People have been doubting me my whole life,” he said. Gill. They were 10-69 in their previous seven years since jumping to major college football.

With one more victory, the Bulls will have their most wins since going 8-3 as a Division I-AA program in 1996.

The turnaround has been so profound and come so quickly, that athletic director Warde Manuel is unable to understate Gill's impact.

“I am so proud of what we've done,” Manuel said. “If you would've asked me when I thought we'd be in the position to win a championship, I'd have probably told you in Turner's fourth, maybe fifth year.”

Under Gill, who doubles as the offensive coordinator, the Bulls have emerged as one of the most potent teams in the conference. It's a unit led by senior quarterback Drew Willy, a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award semifinalist, who has 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions in his past 15 games.

Then there's running back James Starks, who has nine touchdowns and ranks seventh in the nation averaging 125 yards rushing per game. Receiver Naaman Roosevelt ranks 17th in the nation averaging 94 yards receiving.

The Bulls have also proven resilient in the clutch. Willy's 35-yard touchdown pass to Roosevelt as time ran out secured a 30-28 win over Temple on Sept. 13. The Bulls overcame a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to secure a 27-24 overtime win over Army last month.

And now they're starting to blow out their opponents, including a 37-17 win against Miami, Ohio, the Bulls' first win in 11 games against the Redhawks.

“It's a wonderful feeling for me as a senior to see this program grow,” defensive tackle Ronald Hilaire said. “It's definitely grown tremendously. And I would have to attribute that growth to coach Gill. He came here and instilled a sense of believing in us and in our team.”

Manuel credits Gill for being the catalyst for change, saying he knew five minutes into the interview process that he had found his coach.

“X's and O's, all the coaches I interviewed had that,” Manuel said. “What I needed was a coach in this particular case that could get the kids who were down, a program that was down, to believe in themselves.”

Now the question is how long he can keep Gill, whose name continues to be mentioned when coaching vacancies arise. Last year, Gill was a candidate for the Nebraska job, which eventually went to Bo Pelini.

Though Gill's contract is competitive by MAC standards, Manuel is well aware that Buffalo wouldn't be able to match a more lucrative offer from the nation's larger programs.

“We will try to the best of our ability to keep him,” Manuel said. “That being said, if Turner Gill were to depart, I would look back and say, ‘Turner Gill has helped us far more immensely by being here for three years that having not come here at all.”'

And they said it couldn't be done.