Chris Haft
MLB.com
Tim Lincecum approached his best Sunday night, countering a Giants offense that was near its wasteful worst.
The Giants amassed 11 hits, including six doubles. But they had three runners thrown out on the basepaths, including two at home plate in the fourth inning, and went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. The Giants still prevailed, 3-2, primarily because Lincecum blanked Florida on one hit through seven innings and scored a fifth-inning run after contributing one of those doubles.
"To be honest, sometimes you win a game [that] you don't know if you won it or not," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
The Giants' 10th victory in 14 games indeed developed oddly. Lincecum, though typically effective, was atypically content to let the Marlins hit the ball. Second in the National League with 91 strikeouts entering the game, Lincecum added a season-low four to his total while ultimately allowing two runs in 7 1/3 innings. He explained that after throwing 50 pitches in three innings -- and walking the leadoff batter in each -- he needed to economize on his deliveries.
"I was trying to get quicker innings and keep the ball down and hopefully they can get themselves out," Lincecum said.
He accomplished that while enduring another evening of tropical humidity at Land Shark Stadium and a one-hour, 38-minute rain delay before the game, the fifth in a row in which precipitation forced the Giants to sit around.
Lincecum defined his effort by holding Florida's best hitter, Hanley Ramirez, hitless in three at-bats. That included a harmless fly to right with Chris Coghlan on second base and one out in the first inning, and a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch with opposing pitcher Ricky Nolasco on third and two outs in the third.
Winning such confrontations repeatedly in his first career start against the Marlins enabled Lincecum (5-1) to capture his fifth consecutive decision and left him cheery -- as opposed to his previous start, when he yielded eight hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings at Washington, or his pair of games earlier this season when he allowed a career-high 10 hits.
Citing those performances, Lincecum said, "When things don't go your way, it's frustrating. I put all this work, all this dedication into this sport and sometimes it doesn't pay you back the same way. I don't feel like that's me; I don't feel like I should be giving up that many hits."
Such are the standards that a Cy Young Award winner like Lincecum maintains for himself. Brian Wilson, his friend and teammate, understands.
"That's kind of the bulldog mentality [he has], like, 'I think they got lucky [when somebody gets a hit],' Wilson said. "That's how he pitches. He knows his strengths are far superior to the batter's strengths. That's the mentality you have to have, especially coming off of last year."
Giants relievers shared this mindset after Lincecum surrendered a two-run homer to Coghlan, a nemesis years ago in the summertime Cape Cod League for collegians, with one out in the eighth and San Francisco leading, 3-0. Sergio Romo entered the game and retired the two Marlins he faced, including Ramirez on a strikeout to end the inning. Wilson allowed a pair of ninth-inning singles but secured his 15th save in 18 tries by fanning John Baker, who pinned a blown save on him last Aug. 20 by hitting a three-run, ninth-inning homer.
Though the offense aggravated the Giants' staff -- "We got away with things," Bochy said -- certain players had their moments.
Aaron Rowand extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 by doubling to open the game. He didn't budge from second base, establishing the Giants' pattern.
Bengie Molina, who hit .109 (6-for-55) from May 19 to June 4 as his average dropped from .304 to .247, collected two hits for the second time in three games and drove in a pair of runs.
Fred Lewis doubled to lead off the sixth inning against Nolasco (2-6) and scored what proved to be the standup run on Juan Uribe's bloop double by deftly sliding around Baker, Florida's catcher, and brushing the lower edge of home plate.
"That's what speed does," Bochy said.
From: MLB.com
 San Francisco (29-26) Won 1 | San Francisco 3, Florida 2 |  Florida (27-31) Lost 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 6/7/09 | Recap: SF | FLA | Wrap | Gameday |
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