San Jose Mercury News
Tim Lincecum hit his last growth spurt years ago. No matter how much milk he chugs, he will never stand taller than 5-foot-11 in the most stiletto of baseball spikes.
But his legend? That could be boundless.
Lincecum didn't just toss six shutout innings in the Giants' 9-0 victory at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. He also contributed a 3-for-4 day at the plate, knocked in three runs and hoisted a team that had limped out of Chavez Ravine one night earlier.
"Put it all together, it was a pretty good day," said Lincecum, with a hint of a grin.
It's easy to smile when you've driven in as many runs in one afternoon as you've allowed on the mound in three starts.
How about a Silver Slugger to go along with those two NL Cy Young Awards?
"No, I'm not going to start bragging about my batting average, or giving out hitting lessons anytime soon," he said.
OK, so he isn't Jeremy Affeldt. Being Timmy is quite enough.
Through three starts, Lincecum is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA. He has retired the first hitter in 19 of his 20 innings. His strikeout/walk ratio is 24/3. Opponents are hitting .178 against him.
He made it impossible for the Dodgers to follow the advice of their sage skipper, Joe Torre, who compared facing Lincecum to those days when his Yankee clubs had to stare down Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez.
"You don't go out to beat Pedro," Torre said before the game. "You hope to stay with him and beat someone out of the bullpen. That's your goal. Don't go out there and say, 'We have to beat Lincecum.' You want to win the game. The way to do it is to get the pitch count up." That strategy worked when Lincecum was a rookie. Not so much anymore. Lincecum didn't throw a flurry of first-pitch strikes, but he made the Dodgers swing the bat. He has gone to an 0-2 count in nearly 32 percent of his confrontations this season. And he has given up only two hits when it's 0-2. "The last three outings, I've been aggressive in the zone, and I'm not afraid to let them make contact," Lincecum said. His changeup remains nearly unhittable, but when he faced a jam in the third inning, he didn't hesitate to throw a slider to Andre Ethier. The Dodgers' red-hot right fielder flied out to strand two runners. Lincecum's most impressive feats might have come at the plate, though. He maximized a sacrifice attempt in the second inning, putting down a perfect bunt single that got past knuckleball pitcher Charlie Haeger to score Bengie Molina. Lincecum guessed right that he would get a fastball in the third inning, lining a two-run single that nearly cleared the bases. He led off with another single in the fifth. A strikeout in the seventh prevented him from joining Livan Hernandez and Mike LaCoss as the only Giants pitchers with a four-hit game in the club's San Francisco era. Bochy marveled that Lincecum never picked up a bat during his collegiate days as a Washington Husky. "He could be the best bunter on the club. He's got a good swing," Bochy said. "It shows you what a good athlete he is, really, to be competitive against major league pitching. It's impressive." There are no must-win games in April, but the Giants were happy to drink in a victory. They had gotten tough news from the previous night, when center fielder Aaron Rowand fractured his cheekbone after getting hit with a pitch. Without Lincecum's early hits, the Giants might have wallowed in frustration. Eugenio Velez ran them out of the first inning when he unwisely tried to score from second base on a wild pitch. But if Lincecum wouldn't take credit for his hitting, Affeldt was ready and willing. "He and I worked on how to approach facing a knuckleball," said the goofy left-hander, "and it worked." Talkin' Giants Baseball Official Addendum: The Giants place outfielder Aaron Rowand on the fifteen day disabled list and recalled infielder Matt Downs.
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