Rick Eymer
MLB.com
Tim Lincecum allows people their own opinions. After all, his is the only one that matters.
"I have higher expectations than anyone else, more than the fans, more than my dad," he said after taking a no-decision in the San Francisco Giants' 2-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. "I want to do better than any of them want me to do."
And so Lincecum, who understands that people in general have no idea what it takes to be the best in baseball and to stay on top, took to watching video of his previous outings, both of which were subpar.
He noticed something that needed a slight correction and, presto, a five-hit shutout over eight innings with no walks and a career-high-matching 13 strikeouts.
"I was stepping three inches toward the right-handed batter," Lincecum said. "My landing foot was off the last few outings and I looked at it to try and figure out what I was doing wrong."
Lincecum improved his career ERA against the Diamondbacks at AT&T Park to 1.22 in three starts against them.
"Timmy was great," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's the Timmy we know. He did a terrific job for us. We just squandered too many opportunities."
Lincecum, who had his share of no-decisions last year as well, wasn't going to fault anybody.
"Everybody has an off day," he said. "These guys are here for a reason. They are Major League hitters and they will hit. It's the nature of the game that once in a while the other team scratches out a win and sometimes you scratch out a win."
Brian Wilson gave up a two-run double to Chris Young to break up a scoreless tie in the top of the ninth inning, and the Diamondbacks evened their series with the Giants.
"I didn't want to give [Young] anything to hit," Wilson said. "I was staying away, trying to give him something out of the zone to swing at."
Jeremy Affeldt (0-1) started the ninth, striking out Felipe Lopez and walking Chad Tracy before Wilson was summoned into the game. He gave up a single to Mark Reynolds just ahead of Young's hit.
Lincecum shed the weight of his first two starts and shined in the brilliant afternoon sun. He only pitched to one batter with a runner in scoring position.
"It was just a minor funk and now he's out of it," Wilson said.
Lincecum was pitching so well (98 pitches, 74 for strikes) that he was allowed to hit for himself in a scoreless tie with two outs and two runners on in the seventh inning.
Bochy was more concerned with leaving runners in scoring position. Emmanuel Burriss, for example, ran into an out trying to steal home in the first inning.
"Nothing was on there," Bochy said. "The young guys are aggressive and he thought it was a slam dunk. That was being overaggressive there. We don't want him going there."
Randy Winn struck out with Edgar Renteria on third base and less than two outs in the third. Pablo Sandoval flied out with Winn on second and less than two outs in the eighth.
"The frustrating part was we didn't get runners in from third with less than two outs," Winn said. "That's been a theme for us lately. We realize we're not getting the job done and each person is trying harder and harder. You feel like you're letting the team down and that's the most frustrating part.
"Timmy threw the ball outstanding and Doug Davis matched him inning for inning. He flipped that curve up there and then threw the cutter down and in. If we can start getting runners in from third, we'll be fine."
Lincecum became the sixth San Francisco Giants pitcher to strike out at least 13 batters without walking anybody, and the first in seven years. He joined Sam Jones (1960), Bobby Bolin (1963), Ray Sadecki (1968) and Jason Schmidt (2002).
From: MLB.com
 Arizona (4-7) Won 1 | Arizona 2, San Francisco 0 |  San Francisco (3-8) Lost 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 4/18/09 | Recap: ARI | SF | Wrap | Gameday |
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1 comment:
Affeldt has looked less than impressive to begin the year. I expected him to be our best guy out of the 'pen, and I hope he can live up to that!
Great to see Tim Lincecumback on track though. That lack of run support was Cain-esque
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