Shutout helps pitcher's Cy Young chances
The shifting sands of public opinion pushed Tim Lincecum into the lead for the National League Cy Young race last week. When Arizona's Brandon Webb earned his 20th win Friday night, Lincecum had to hold serve against San Diego on Saturday night.
Roger Federer would have been proud. Lincecum not only held serve in a 7-0 victory, he served up the game of his life.
The 24-year-old not only polished his record to 17-3, he struck out 12 and finally achieved his first complete game and shutout in the big-leagues, a four-hitter that gives Cy Young voters one fewer reason to nitpick his candidacy.
When he blew his 138th and final pitch past Edgar Gonzalez into Bengie Molina's glove, Lincecum, for the first time all year, was lost on the mound.
"My first thought was, 'What do I do now?' " he said. "Bengie had to tell me to come toward him. It was a good hug, nonetheless."
Besides winning his sixth straight decision, Lincecum went over 200 innings for the season and raised his major-league leading strikeout total to 237, the fourth-highest mark in San Francisco history, behind Jason Schmidt (251), Juan Marichal (248) and Marichal again (240).
Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego's best hitter, went down on strikes three times. When Gonzalez singled in the ninth to extend the game, he asked for the ball.
Lincecum does not relish talking about the Cy Young race, but his teammates and even opponents do not mind.
"He's a stud. He's been this way all year," losing pitcher Chris Young said. "Lincecum will be right up there. I think he deserves as much consideration as anybody. He shouldn't be penalized for his team."
That team won for the eighth time in 10 games and hopscotched Colorado for third place in the National League West.
Young threw a nice game, too, but gave the Giants and Lincecum too wide an opening when he allowed a two-run Molina homer in the first inning. The Franchise hopped onto that 2-0 lead and rode into the night. The final score was misleading, for the Giants scored five runs over the final three innings.
If Lincecum's first shutout was the headline, the secondary story - and a controversial one - was manager Bruce Bochy's decision to let Lincecum throw 138 pitches, the most in the majors this year, after he threw 127 last time and 132 on Aug. 27. Bochy let Lincecum continue even after Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff singled with two outs in the ninth.
Even fans thrilled by Lincecum's Cy Young campaign have to be a little worried. To those people, Lincecum said, "I'm fine. That's it. I've gotten up to 160 pitches before in college," the last place he threw a complete game.
Molina said Lincecum "realistically was getting tired" in the ninth but stepped up and made his pitches.
Bochy expected the questions after the game and said, "He's put me in a tough spot a couple of games. I know how bad the kid wanted it. ... The kid hasn't thrown a shutout. He deserved the opportunity. The way he warms up, he really limits his pitches. We watched him for the most part this season. He hasn't been overworked.
"The chance to get a shutout is big for a pitcher. His nickname is The Freak. He's never had any arm issues. There's no question we're going to give him a chance to get the shutout right there. But I'll tell you now. He won't get a chance to do it next time."
Molina drove in three runs with his homer and a single, giving him 86 RBIs. Eugenio Velez had three hits and Pablo Sandoval ignited the Giants again with an entertaining at-bat that extended the first inning.
Young threw pitch after pitch out of the strike zone and Sandoval kept hacking at them - pitches at his neck, pitches a foot off the plate. The only pitch he took bounced to the backstop.
But Young could not get strike three, just foul balls. When he tried a slider on the ninth pitch, Sandoval whacked it into right field for a single. Molina then golfed a pitch into the left-field seats.
"You throw the guy the Wilson bag and he'll find a way to hit it," Molina said of Sandoval. "He can flat-out hit. He's really fun to be around. The kid is full of energy."
The Giants have another kid full of energy, and he might have walked off the Petco Park mound with the Cy Young Award in his back pocket.
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