Brad Penny of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished third in the voting. Cincinnati’s Aaron Harang was fourth and Chicago’s Carlos Zambrano came in fifth.

Peavy, the National League’s starter in the All-Star game, was the front-runner nearly all season. He consistently stymied opponents, allowing only 13 home runs in 34 starts. He gave up 169 hits and 68 walks in 223 1-3 innings.

Selected by San Diego in the 15th round of the 1999 draft, Peavy became the fifth different NL pitcher to take the prize since Johnson won four straight times from 1999-2002.

Webb was 18-10 with a 3.01 ERA and 194 strikeouts, pitching an NL-best 236 1-3 innings. His streak of 42 scoreless innings helped the surprising Diamondbacks finish with the best record in the league (90-72).

Atlanta’s Tom Glavine in 1992 was the only other NL pitcher to finish second one year after winning the award.

A two-time All-Star, Peavy also won an ERA title in 2004 and a strikeout crown in 2005. His nasty stuff has made him one of baseball’s toughest assignments for years, but this season was his most impressive.

“I don’t really feel that I did anything different in ’04 or ’05, other than just had better luck to help win some games and obviously get some recognition for that,” he said.

Peavy earned a $100,000 bonus for winning the award, and the price of San Diego’s 2009 club option increased by $3 million to $11 million.

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He knows the kind of money he could command on the open market. Still, he said he’d like to work out a contract extension and stay with the Padres, though he doesn’t want to negotiate during the season.

“I think it can be distracting,” Peavy said. “We’re either going to do it this offseason or we’ll address the issue next offseason.

“I’m really not worried about it,” he added. “The team has given me financial security for the rest of this old Alabama boy’s life. ... I just want to be fair to the rest of my peers when I sign something.”

The American League MVP will be announced Monday — with Alex Rodriguez considered a lock — followed Tuesday by NL MVP, which could be a close race.

Cleveland lefty C.C. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday.

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