Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle
So many reporters and television crews came to the yard Tuesday, you almost expected Barry Bonds to amble out of the Giants' dugout. They were here to cover the other Barry. For the first time all year, manager Bruce Bochy was encircled by cameras, and he said, "I've got to keep reminding myself we're talking about Zito."
Someday, maybe they will be talking about Tim Lincecum, who glided under the radar as one of the game's best pitchers in April. And maybe by then Bochy will understand the bizarre balk that directly led to Tim Lincecum's first defeat of 2008.
Even after a long argument with home-plate umpire Gary Darling, an ejection and time to stew after the Giants' 3-2 loss to Colorado, Bochy was baffled.
"I still don't understand it," he said. "Obviously, it was huge."
Lincecum and Colorado's Aaron Cook were locked in a 2-2 game in the seventh inning when Chris Iannetta hit a leadoff double and was sacrificed to third. With Yorvit Torrealba batting, catcher Bengie Molina asked for time and started to rise. Darling raised his hands in the standard timeout signal, but then called the balk and invited Iannetta home with what proved to be the winning run.
Lincecum fell to 4-1, his ERA soaring to 1.73, although in his mind he did not balk. He said he started to rock back in his delivery and stopped only because he saw Darling raise his hands. Darling had a different view.
"Lincecum flinched," the ump told a pool reporter. "Bengie was giving him the signs. Then (Lincecum) started and stopped. Bengie tried to cover for him by calling the timeout."
Bochy's argument was long and loud, and he got tossed for the second time this season.
The game-losing balk was a first for Lincecum, too, and he said, "It was unfortunate, but I've seen other games where it's happened, too. That's part of the game."
The balk fit a pattern of strangeness at China Basin that began in the bottom of the first inning, when the Giants scored their only two runs thanks to two bizarre happenings: first baseman Todd Helton dropping a throw for an error and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's left quadriceps seizing as he attempted to field Aaron Rowand's grounder, which should have been the third out. Instead, the ball rolled into center and the Giants' second run scored.
With the Rockies already down an infielder, manager Clint Hurdle had to install Iannetta, normally a catcher, at third base for his first career infield appearance. After responding with a leadoff homer in the second inning, which tied the game 2-2, Iannetta might be asked to take a lot more grounders during batting practice.
Equally bizarre was the Giants' baserunning and decision-making, which made this defeat even tougher to swallow. Fred Lewis was thrown out at home in the first inning when he attempted a delayed steal. In the seventh, Randy Winn hit a leadoff double but made the first out at third base on a grounder to short. Later that inning, Eugenio Velez was picked off first base.
Winn said "in hindsight" he should not have run, and Bochy said, "We can't get picked off in that situation. I thought we made too many mistakes on the bases. This is one we probably let get away from us."
That became official in the ninth when, with a runner on second base and one out against closer Brian Fuentes, Winn swung at a 3-0 pitch and popped up, a killer blow to a rally and game that ended with Daniel Ortmeier's strikeout.
The Giants stranded one runner in each of Aaron Cook's seven innings, and wasted a Ray Durham double, Jose Castillo triple and leadoff baserunners in the second, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
Lincecum was not as dominating as he had been. He allowed season highs with three runs and eight hits and matched a season low with four strikeouts.
This loss cannot take away from what Lincecum did for the Giants over the season's first month. He merely pitched on a night when far too many things, mostly in the Giants' control, but one that was not, conspired to prevent him from reaching 5-0.
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