You did not have to be a mind reader to divine Brandon Webb's thoughts as he sat in the Arizona dugout Monday night:
"Holy heater, Batman. That kid might have just snatched the Cy Young Award out of my hands."
Webb had a front-row seat to watch Tim Lincecum improve to 16-3 by dominating the Diamondbacks for a career-high 81/3 innings in a 6-2 Giants victory.
Lincecum struck out nine to boost his major-league lead to 225 in a performance that demands national attention, "Monday Night Football" doubleheader be damned.
"Obviously, Timmy is going to be right there," manager Bruce Bochy said when asked about the Cy Young. "We're going to be biased here with the year he had. I don't know if there's a better pitcher in the game. He's got some starts left. The other pitchers do, too. But the kid showed how good he is tonight. He pitched a beautiful game.
"Look at his record. It's impressive the numbers he's put up. He has competed so well. He did tonight."
Lincecum took a shutout into the ninth inning, when Bochy became the least popular man in San Francisco by lifting the kid two outs shy of his first complete game and shutout. The fans booed Bochy as if he were Tommy Lasorda, but he did what he had to do. The Diamondbacks loaded the bases on a single, double and walk. Lincecum reached 127 pitches.
"He's a human being, not a toy," Bochy said. "We can't keep running him out there."
The shutout evaporated when the Giants failed to turn a double play on a Jamie D'Antona grounder. Two runs scored, one on a fielder's choice, the other when reliever Alex Hinshaw let the relay from Omar Vizquel pop off his glove for an error. Sergio Romo struck out Justin Upton on three pitches to end it.
Lincecum was charged with one earned run, his league-leading ERA settling at 2.54.
Webb still has time to fortify his Cy Young bid. After all, he does have 19 wins. But Webb might not be Lincecum's biggest impediment after losing his last three starts, two to division-rival Los Angeles, allowing 19 earned runs over 132/3 innings. Voters notice those things in September.
They also notice a pitcher such as CC Sabathia coming to a new team and winning every decision. Lincecum did all he could in front of an announced crowd of 30,252 to remind voters he has been doing this in the National League the whole year.
Facing the second-whiffingest team in the majors, Lincecum struck out five of the first seven Diamondbacks. He made team history in the sixth inning when he struck out Adam Dunn for the third time. It was the Giants' 1,090th strikeout this season, breaking a franchise record established in 1998.
Not that any of that mattered to Lincecum.
"I wasn't thinking about Brandon Webb," he said. "I wasn't thinking about the Cy Young. I was thinking, 'This is a division game. We have a chance to catch up some, a chance to dig ourselves out this hole a little more.' "
If Lincecum was not thinking Cy Young, catcher Bengie Molina was.
"There's a lot of motivation right there, for sure," Molina said. "Heck yeah. I wish and I hope we pull that off."
Molina played a starring role in Lincecum's 16th win, not only catching the near shutout but hitting a three-run homer in a five-run third inning against Yusmeiro Petit. Arizona manager Bob Melvin wanted the umps to christen the China Basin replay equipment, arguing a fan reached over the fence to grab the ball. Melvin's entreaties fell on deaf ears.
Pablo Sandoval also had an RBI single in the inning, which began with a Dave Roberts single. In the seventh, Molina doubled and scored on a Rich Aurilia single.
Lincecum blamed only himself for not finishing the game.
"The last inning, I wasn't sharp," he said. "I'm a little disappointed in myself. I'd like to finish a game, but if I don't, it's not a big deal. The team got the win. The team is doing well."
Sweet 16
Tim Lincecum picked up his 16th win of the season in the Giants' 6-2 victory over Arizona on Monday night. It's the fifth time the Giants have had a pitcher with at least 16 wins since they moved into their China Basin ballpark for the 2000 season:
| Pitcher | Year | Record | ERA | BB | SO |
| Livan Hernandez | 2000 | 17-11 | 3.75 | 73 | 165 |
| Russ Ortiz | 2001 | 17-9 | 3.29 | 91 | 169 |
| Jason Schmidt | 2003 | 17-5 | 2.34 | 46 | 208 |
| Jason Schmidt | 2004 | 18-7 | 3.20 | 77 | 251 |
| Tim Lincecum | 2008 | 16-3 | 2.54 | 74 | 225 |
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