SAN DIEGO — Against the San Diego Padres, Tim Lincecum has been better than a Cy Young Award winner.

He has been Cy Young incarnate.

Lincecum's galloping candidacy surged forward Saturday night, coming as hard and fast as the searing fastballs he threw as he dominated the Padres in a 7-0 victory at Petco Park.

The Giants pushed Lincecum to a career-high 138 pitches so he could earn the first complete game of his career. It was the most thrown by a major leaguer this season.

After a 94 mph fastball missed Edgar Gonzalez's bat and popped Bengie Molina's glove, the catcher pumped his fist and jogged to the mound. Lincecum's reaction was more confusion than elation. Molina had to gesture for the 24-year-old to greet him.

"I'm not going to jump up and celebrate. That's just not the guy I am" said Lincecum, who was a college junior the last time he threw a complete game. "To be honest, the first thing I thought was, 'What do I do now?' "

Maybe craft a Cy Young acceptance speech?

Lincecum (17-3) struck out 12 to reclaim the major league lead with 237, lowered his N.L.-best 2.42 ERA, surpassed 200 innings for the first time in his career and pitched the Giants into third place for the first time since July 17.

He also took over fourth place on the Giants' season list in the San Francisco era. He is 14 strikeouts away from matching the record set by Jason Schmidt in 2004.

"Unbelievable," said third baseman Rich Aurilia, who didn't field a ball all night. "The only reason I needed to be out there was to handle the strikeout throws from the catcher. ... What a talent. I've seen guys dominate like that, but not at his age."

Lincecum had thrown 118 pitches while tailoring a two-hitter through eight innings. He got two fairly quick outs in the ninth, but Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit consecutive singles.

Billy Sadler and Jack Taschner were warm, but Manager Bruce Bochy gave Lincecum one more batter.

It took five pitches to strike out Edgar Gonzalez, and Bochy probably winced with each toss.

Lincecum's workload is sure to cause shudders. Over the past five seasons, only Livan Hernandez (four times) and Schmidt (in his 144-pitch game for the Giants in 2004) have exceeded 138 pitches in a game.

Three starts earlier, Lincecum threw 132 pitches in a failed shutout bid Aug. 27. His 3,365 pitches this season are the most in the National League. No wonder Bochy began steeling himself for the inevitable criticism.

"I'll tell you, he won't get a chance to do that next time," Bochy said. "He's got it out of the way now. And you know what, he felt strong. He looked strong. We kept an eye on him, but his stuff was as good as I've seen."

How would he answer the pitch-count pitchforks?

"I'd say this: This kid hasn't thrown a shutout and he deserves the opportunity," Bochy said. "The way he warms up, he really limits his pitches. We've watched him all year. He hasn't been overworked. They nickname him 'The Freak.' He's never had any arm issues. There was no question we were going to give him the chance to do it."

And how would Lincecum respond to those who would seek to shield him from so-called abuse?

"I'm fine," Lincecum said. "That's it."

Forgive the Padres if they claim to be the wounded party. Lincecum was 3-0 with a 0.62 ERA against them in six starts. It almost wasn't fair, then, that he brought his nastiest stuff to the mound.

Cleanup hitter Adrian Gonzalez struck out three times. Lincecum got him on an off-speed pitch in the first inning, then blasted him with firm fastballs on the outside edge in the fourth and seventh.

It was just the fifth time this season that an opposing pitcher fanned Gonzalez three times — and Lincecum owns three of those games.

No wonder that when Gonzalez singled in the ninth, he did something out of the blue. He asked a coach to retrieve the baseball.

A souvenir, perhaps, from a brush with Cy.