SF Gate/San Francisco Chronicle
As the Giants reach the midpoint of their season today, Tim Lincecum must be considered not only a good choice to start for the National League in the All-Star Game, but a favorite to win his second consecutive Cy Young Award.
Lincecum is pitching on a different plane. He added seven scoreless innings to his streak Saturday as the Giants undressed the Houston Astros again 9-0 and now has gone 23 innings without allowing a run. The last Giant with that long a run was Robb Nen with 25 innings in 2000.
The Giants have pitched four shutouts in their last seven games, Lincecum starting two.
"He's throwing as well as I've ever seen since he's come here, and that's saying a lot," manager Bruce Bochy said. "When those elite pitchers get on a roll, it's impressive. That's where he is right now. He's commanding all his pitches, doing all the things great players do, making pitches, competing well. It's enjoyable to watch when they get in the zone he is in right now."
After being outscored 22-0 in two games, the Astros might fire their traveling secretary for sending them to San Francisco. Lincecum called the games "ridiculous." The same could be said for the run of pitching that garnered him NL Pitcher of the Month for June and bled into his first start of July.
He caught Matt Cain for the team lead in wins with nine and lowered his ERA to 2.23, a shade higher than Dan Haren's league-leading 2.19.
Lincecum allowed three hits and struck out nine to raise his league lead to 141. He fanned Carlos Lee, Geoff Blum and Hunter Pence after Lance Berkman's leadoff double in the fourth inning. No runner has reached third base against Lincecum in 18 innings.
When Berkman tried to bunt for a hit, as he did before doubling, you knew desperation had set into the visiting dugout.
"Physically, I feel I've got my rhythm down," Lincecum said. "Walks are down for me, which is always a plus. You just try to feed off the goose eggs. You hope to keep it going. If it stops, you try to start another run."
Lincecum also had a big hand in the Giants' two-run fifth and six-run sixth against former mate Russ Ortiz. Lincecum walked in each inning, becoming the first Giant since June 20 and only the 13th this season to walk twice in a game.
Pablo Sandoval became the 14th later in the game, although he needed an intentional walk. Sandoval left with a bruised right knee after barrel-rolling into the plate trying to score. (Bochy said Sandoval "looked like a bowling ball coming in there" and might not play today.)
The Giants knew they were going well when they rode Travis Ishikawa's legs and Lincecum's batting eye to a six-run inning, in which eight consecutive hitters reached after two were out.
They were leading 2-0 when Ishikawa hit a ball deep into the hole and was safe at first on a high throw from shortstop Miguel Tejada, who had a difficult play.
Juan Uribe then lined a single to left before Lincecum's four-pitch walk loaded the bases. Two batters later it was 6-0, after a two-run Aaron Rowand single and two-run Randy Winn double. With Chris Sampson pitching, Bengie Molina duck-snorted a double over first base for the inning's fifth run, and Nate Schierholtz's single sent home the sixth.
The All-Star teams will be announced today. Lincecum surely will be picked, the only question being whether he starts in St. Louis on July 14.
"Obviously, Timmy has the numbers to go out there and start," said Rowand, who could do Lincecum a favor by phoning NL manager Charlie Manuel, his old skipper in Philadelphia, and delivering that message.
From: MLB.com
 Houston (38-41) Lost 2 | San Francisco 9, Houston 0 |  San Francisco (44-36) Won 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 7/4/09 | Recap: HOU | SF | Wrap | Gameday |
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