Lincecum doin work

I believe that Tim Lincecum deserved to be tagged with the label of best pitcher of 2009. The next best hurler seems to be Chris Carpenter. Yet despite Carpenter's greater number of wins, there is a large discrepancy between the number of innings pitched between the two. Lincecum pitched nearly 35 more innings than Carpenter, or in translation, about 6 games worth of innings. Also, Carpenter pitched 21 games that were decided, where as Lincecum pitched 22. The connection between these two points leads me to believe that Lincecum was a more valuable pitcher. The number of innings pitched versus actual games decided indicates two very different circumstances in the pitchers' backgrounds: it would appear that Carpenter had much greater run support than Lincecum and this can be attributed to his efficiency of innings turned into wins. Finally, it can be argued that Lincecum did face tougher hitting in his division, especially with the added hitter's dream of Coor's Field in the mile high city of Colorado. Carpenter day in and day out faced more mediocre teams on average than the Giants' young ace.