Mercury News
It's too late for Tim Lincecum to make a Cy Young push. The trophy will go to someone else in 2010.
Ask him if he cares.
"Not at all," said the Giants' lithe and lethal ace, who responded to his biggest start as a Giant with one of his brightest efforts Friday night. "You've heard (Albert) Pujols say it. I don't care about awards. I want the ring. I want a World Series."
The playoff drums are beating louder for the Giants, and even players like Lincecum with no postseason experience could hear them after a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Lincecum took a perfect game into the sixth inning, and Pat Burrell lowered the boom. His two-run home run off Jhoulys Chacin in the seventh inning erased a one-run deficit, quieted the din at Coors Field and slashed a tire on Colorado's fading rally car.
It was another dramatic, turnaround swing of the bat for Burrell, who was unemployed for a week in May after the Tampa Bay Rays released him. Since the Giants picked him up, he has a .370 on-base percentage and 17 home runs in 260 at-bats.
"I think about it all the time: I could still be home on the couch," Burrell said. "The Giants gave me an opportunity and without that, who knows?"
Who knows what will happen next? The Giants' regular season is down to eight games, and not only do they hold a half-game edge over the San Diego Padres in the NL West, but they would lead the wild card pack, too.
The Rockies fell to 41/2 games out -- four back in the loss column. Knocking them out wouldn't guarantee the Giants anything, but it would be one fewer Chihuahua nipping at their ankles. Burrell's homer delivered the victory, but for the 18th consecutive game, the Giants' pitching staff paid the postage. Lincecum extended the longest streak by a club allowing three runs or fewer since the 1917 Chicago White Sox, who had a 20-game run. Following a career-worst five-start losing streak in August, the two-time defending Cy Young Award winner is 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA in five outings this month. He has 41 strikeouts and just four walks. And he's only getting better. Mixing his rediscovered slider with his deadly changeup, and throwing some first-pitch curveballs for good measure, Lincecum struck out nine and didn't walk a batter. He only had two three-ball counts. "Everybody knows what's at stake right now, what we're pushing to get to," said Lincecum, who held the Rockies to two hits in eight innings. "It's even more valuable to me because of what I went through in August. But in September it's not about me. It's about the team." Those were the talking points for GM Brian Sabean when he gave four-fifths of the rotation a stern lecture Aug. 28. "It was just telling us to wake up," Lincecum said. "We know what we can do, and it's not about stats anymore. It's not about individuals. It's just pick up the guy behind you. Pick up the team. Do it for the team. "We know what we can do. Just realize it." The Rockies managed their only two hits in the sixth, one a run-scoring ground ball from Eric Young Jr. that skipped under Aubrey Huff's diving attempt at first base. Chacin was on the verge of beating the Giants for the third time in three starts, but they worked the talented rookie's pitch count to 98 through six innings. Rockies manager Jim Tracy let Chacin hit for himself in the sixth to avoid his exhausted bullpen, and Chacin's slider flattened out in the seventh just enough for Burrell to crank it into the left-field bleachers. Lincecum responded with the ol' shutdown inning, impressively getting ground balls from Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki. The Rockies' white-hot duo was hitless in six at-bats. "That's what won the game for us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "They've got the heart of their order. They feel they're in pretty good position. But Timmy steps up there and gives us that shutdown inning." With Lincecum at 106 pitches through eight, Bochy had his own decision to make. It was an easy call after Lincecum mentioned he had some mild tightness in his right calf, and closer Brian Wilson worked a perfect ninth to record his 45th save in 49 chances. And the thumping grew louder. "The last eight games of the season, you can give it all you've got or you can give in," Wilson said. "We're not the team to give in."
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