Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate)
There are so many angles with which to view Tim Lincecum's extraordinary success in 2008. Here is one: If not for a highly questionable balk call, Lincecum might have been undefeated when he took the mound for his 13th start Wednesday night.
That balk gave the Rockies a victory in San Francisco on April 29, Lincecum's only blemish in an 8-1 start.
Lincecum neither won nor lost Wednesday. He and Ubaldo Jimenez traded zeros for seven innings and watched the game decided in the bottom of the ninth in the most painful way possible for the Giants, who fell 1-0 on what was ruled an error by Bengie Molina on what looked like a Yorvit Torrealba sacrifice fly against Jack Taschner.
Fred Lewis' throw beat Garrett Atkins home, and umpire Fieldin Culbreth raised his right arm to signify what would have been the third out of the inning. But Molina did not possess the ball. It slipped off his glove as he tried to grab and turn to make the tag. Culberth pointed to the ball, Atkins was safe, and so ended the fifth 1-0 game in 13-plus seasons at Coors Field.
The consecutive losses for the Giants have blunted much of the encouragement from the four-game sweep in Washington. If they lose again today, they still go home with a winning trip, but the plane ride will not be joyous.
Lincecum allowed six hits and struck out nine, raising his season total to 92, and lowered his road ERA to 1.42. The no-decision will enable Lincecum to continue his quest to become the first Giant to start 9-1 since Gaylord Perry went 12-1 in 1966. Lincecum's next start comes Monday night, at home, against Detroit.
The Giants had one last chance to get Lincecum a ninth victory in the eighth inning, which began with Brian Horwitz drawing a leadoff walk as he batted for the pitcher. Ray Durham's 1,998th career hit, a single, put two runners aboard with one out.
But Taylor Buchholz struck out Randy Winn and Molina to send Lincecum to a no-decision.
Tyler Walker pitched an excellent eighth inning, retiring Ian Stewart and Matt Holliday on popups before striking out Todd Helton on three pitches.
Then Keiichi Yabu walked Atkins to open the ninth. Brad Hawpe followed with a single to right that sent Atkins to third. Yabu walked Chris Iannetta to load the bases. Manager Bruce Bochy called for Taschner. Rockies manager Clint Hurdle countered with Jeff Baker.
Baker hit a flyball to medium center field, which seemed deep enough to get Atkins home from third. But Atkins held, drawing boos from the crowd that grew louder when Aaron Rowand bounced a weak throw into the infield. Atkins scored the game-winner on an even shallower fly to left, just as it seemed the Giants had escaped an impossible jam.
Nine innings earlier, Lincecum came out fastballs a-blazin' and struck out two of his first three hitters. When he walked Helton to start the second, he needed only five more pitches to return to the dugout. Atkins hit into a double play, on a nice pick by Jose Castillo, and Hawpe struck out on three pitches.
Lincecum also got a three-pitch strikeout of Stewart in the third inning to wiggle out of a jam that began with two on and nobody out, partly because Lincecum failed to cover first in time on a right-side groundball.
An inning later, with Holliday aboard on a leadoff single, Helton hit a drive to center that might have left the yard Tuesday night, when it was hot and dry. On a cold and windy Wednesday night, the ball hung long enough for Aaron Rowand to reach it.
For the second time this season, the Giants failed to score in seven innings against Jimenez, who entered Wednesday's game at 1-6 with a 5.83 ERA. Actually, his ERA against the Giants was 1.46, compared to 6.28 against everyone else.
The Giants forced Jimenez to throw 29 pitches in the first inning Wednesday. He allowed a leadoff infield hit by Lewis and a walk to Winn, yet the Giants failed to score.
They failed to do much of anything against Jimenez. When Ray Durham really lit into a ball and drove it deep to center to start the sixth inning, he, like Helton, found the conditions not favorable for home runs. Willy Taveras caught it at the fence.
The Rockies lifted Jimenez for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning with Chris Iannetta on second base and one out. But Lincecum struck out the pinch-hitter, Ryan Spilborghs, then struck out Taveras to doom Jimenez to a 12th consecutive start without a victory. In fact, his only win of the year came April 8.
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