TOWER GROVE — Come Friday morning, Bryan Burwell & Company will have to find something different to ask me about and a new way to introduce me on radio shows, if they have me on at all. As of this afternoon, I no longer hold a secret ballot in one of the more talked about award votes in years.

A fellow baseball beat writer, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman, aptly called it “by far the…

HOUSTON — The National League continues to march toward what feels like a foregone conclusion, with even Wild Card-leading Colorado having opened a sturdy lead this past weekend. With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, very little is left to be decided. The division leaders appear set. The best-record derby holds some appeal, but doesn’t carry the juice of a bona fide pennant duel. The grope for shock-value candidates shows how academic…

TOWER GROVE — There are many examples of a player storming toward his leagues Most Valuable Player award with a strong September that, in most cases, elevates his team to a postseason berth.

See: Ryan Howard.

Enter Tim Lincecum.

The San Francisco Giants righthander Lincecum struck out 11 and muscled his team to a pivotal victory Monday night against the Wild Card-leading Colorado Rockies. Lincecum skipped his previous start because of back trouble and returned to throw the…

TOWER GROVE — Out in San Francisco tonight, Giants ace and reigning Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum pitches against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers with a chance to assert his bid for the pitching Triple Crown. Lincecum takes the league’s best ERA into the game at 2.20, has a chance to tie for the league lead in wins (he has 12 now), and only add to his league lead in strikeouts (his 198 are 27…