Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Wait a minute. Pat Burrell needs to take deep breaths and calm himself in a pennant race? He's the guy with the World Series ring. He's supposed to be soothing the young'uns.
Whatever Burrell does, be it breathing exercises, yoga or primal-scream therapy, every teammate should mimic it. On a night the Giants edged that much closer to a Champagne celebration, Cool Hand Pat hit a three-run homer against Ian Kennedy in the fourth inning for the team's only runs in Wednesday's 3-1 victory against Arizona.
An ill Tim Lincecum pitched seven excellent innings in what probably was his final regular-season start. He overcame a Stephen Drew homer to start the game and went seven innings, striking out 11 to raise his league-leading season total to 231. If Lincecum is done, he finished 16-10 with a 3.43 ERA in 212 1/3 innings.
More significant, the Giants' 90th win reduced to three their magic number for winning the National League West. If they win and San Diego loses today, the Giants will clinch a tie for the title before the Padres walk through the door Friday.
"That's a nice little comfortable lead to be out to," Lincecum said of the team's two-game advantage with four to play.
Moreover, the Giants essentially moved three games ahead of Cincinnati for potential playoff seeding. That is a big deal. By finishing ahead of the Reds, the Giants would assure home-field advantage for the Division Series and prevent a first-round date with the Phillies.
Burrell's homer on a low, inside fastball followed a leadoff single by Aubrey Huff and a four-pitch walk to Buster Posey by Kennedy, whose 0.75 September ERA was the lowest among big-league starters with at least 20 innings. Burrell reached 20 for the season, 18 of them for the Giants.
"Obviously he was looking for that pitch," Kennedy said. "I was pounding him in before that. At the time I felt it was the right pitch. Now that I look back at it, it probably wasn't."
Manager Bruce Bochy said Burrell and the other playoff-experienced Giants had a calming influence on the kids who have not been there, but the left fielder acknowledged it is tough for anyone in this boat to stay calm.
"It's a hard thing for me and most of the guys to find a way to calm yourself down," he said. "When big situations come up, it's only natural to feel the excitement of the stadium and the adrenaline. That's something that takes you off your game plan. It's a hard thing to calm down and play for the moment."
That could be true for rookie Madison Bumgarner, who pitches the series finale today. Bochy announced he will flop Matt Cain and Barry Zito for the Padres series. Cain will pitch Friday night, as of now the Giants' first chance to clinch the West, with Zito going Saturday. Jonathan Sanchez will pitch as scheduled Sunday.
"It's just letting Matt pitch on regular rest like we did with Timmy," Bochy said.
Bochy already fiddled with the rotation and advanced Lincecum's start one night. That was a cue for Burrell, whose two-run homer against Colorado's Jhoulys Chacin also accounted for the only Giants' runs in Lincecum's 2-1 win at Colorado on Friday.
"Burrell saved my butt last time too with a home run," Lincecum said. "It reminds me of the days when Bengie (Molina) used to save my butt with big home runs."
As usual, Brian Wilson saved the Giants' collective rear end. After Javier Lopez pitched a shutout eighth, Wilson overcame two baserunners in the ninth and shut down Arizona for his 47th save. One more and he will tie Rod Beck's franchise record of 48.
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