Mercury News
Tim Lincecum is more than a two-time Cy Young Award winner, the ace of the Giants' staff and the master of a thousand movie quotes.
He's also an inventor of the English language.
Lincecum made a fairly significant change to his delivery Friday night, raising his arms over his head from the windup — just one of many odd twists and turns during the Giants' 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Afterward, Lincecum described it as a "twirk." Perhaps it's a hybrid of a tweak and quirk. That's for the good folks at Merriam-Webster to figure out.
It certainly was a twirky evening at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. Aubrey Huff's two-run double gave the Giants the lead in the third inning, his 20th home run of the season added to it, and two strong defensive plays helped to preserve it.
With closer Brian Wilson unavailable as a precaution because of back spasms, No. 4 starter Jonathan Sanchez faced two batters in the ninth inning, and with the tying run at third, right-hander Chris Ray got Casey Blake to ground into a force out to end it.
In front of a feisty, standing-room crowd, the Giants finally made AT&T Park a hostile place for their archrivals. The Dodgers had swept a three-game series here in June and put their feet on the ottoman entirely too often in enemy territory, posting a 26-13 record here since 2006.
"Beat L.A." still has some life in it, after all.
"That was the biggest atmosphere I've played on," said Huff, who recorded an assist from right field and made a running catch on the warning track after moving to left. "It was a blast. That was the kind of atmosphere I was waiting my whole life for. I've never been on a team playing for something this late in the year." Reminded that Huff rose to meet that environment, the longtime Oriole and Devil Ray responded without hesitation: "If I don't go out there and perform," he said, "those nine years of losing mean absolutely nothing." Lincecum is having a much different season of self-discovery. His two Cy Young Awards have provided little comfort in his quest for consistency, and so he proposed to pitching coach Dave Righetti that he try something he once used in college. Rather than begin his windup with his hands at his waist, he raised them over his head. Lincecum said the "twirk" helped him stay back longer and keep a direct line to the plate. He struggled at the outset, needing 62 pitches to get through three innings. But he was more efficient the remainder of the way, allowing him to get through seven innings while holding the Dodgers to two runs. "It felt really comfortable, considering I hadn't done it all year," said Lincecum (11-4), who was practicing the motion in the clubhouse just before the first pitch. "I feel smooth, in rhythm and collected. "... I'm trying to get better, trying to prove myself." That summarizes the Giants these days. Even their most decorated player is trying to prove himself. So is a team that hasn't reached the postseason since 2003 and hasn't dominated their archrivals in years. "They pretty much had their way with us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Same with San Diego. It's vital to play better against these teams. "... That's why we're trying to do everything we can to win in the end." Everything but risk Wilson, whose back locked up earlier in the day but said he felt fine following treatment and lobbied to pitch. Wilson said he expected to be available today; Bochy said that was his hope, too. "I wanted to pitch," Wilson said. "And I'm going to pitch tomorrow." Sanchez will take his turn in the rotation Tuesday at Colorado, too. With the Giants' bullpen lacking a left-hander, Sanchez agreed to hold off his side session so he could be available to face hitters such as Andre Ethier and James Loney. The Giants entered the ninth with a 6-2 lead, but they needed help after Scott Podsednik's triple deflected off center fielder Andres Torres' glove for a triple. Sanchez entered and struck out Ethier for the second out but missed a shot at his first major league save when he hit Loney with a pitch. Ray gave up a run-scoring single to Matt Kemp before the former Orioles closer retired Blake to end it. That was enough twirks for one night.
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