That's right Tim Lincecum outdueled the 2010 Cy Young front runner.
Boy that feels good to say.
In case you were under a rock last night here is his line from last night:
IP H R ER BB K HR ERA
| 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3.68 |
Isn't it beautiful?
Yes it was vintage Lincecum last night. The only mistake he made all night was to Carlos Gonzalez who blasted his 30th homer of the season, can you imagine where the A's would be right now if they had this guy and Anre Eithier still instead of having both of them terrorizing the Giants in the NL West? People say that Brian Sabean can't make good trades.
Back to Lincecum. Whatever he did to fix his delivery, stop tipping his pitches, or throwing strikes. It worked. Nobody knows what Tim did because all of the beat writers wanted to talk to Darren Ford who, while he did score the winning run, didn't do much more than be in the right place at the right time. Lincecum's 9 strikeouts were the most that Timmy has had in a game since July 30th and his 8 IP were the most since July 25th.
It's not like he all of the sudden just got better. Sure he was knocked around a bit in August and he lost his last 5 decisions, but his last start did give some glimmers of hope. In that game, against Arizona, Timmy gave up 4 runs in 6.0 IP and struck out 6. He did give up that massive bomb to Adam LaRoche that prompted the tipping pitches question. He also gave up 4 walks. That game, while not great by any means showed an improvement over the last few outings Lincecum had.
I'm sure there are some Giants fans that are upset about the Giant offense last night. While the offense is still a concern, I just don't think there is much more they could of done against Ubaldo Jimenez. The guy had only given up 130 hits in 176.1 IP coming into last night's game. He was routinely throwing the ball at 99 MPH and the fact that the Giants were able to get anything at all off the guy is really a testament to this team.
September call-ups:
The Giants are really giving us a glimpse into the future! They called up...... Dan Runzler and Edgar Renteria? now they did call up an actual minor leaguer in Darren Ford but that seems to be a mistake since they didn't call up anybody else. No Brandon Belt, No Brett Pill, No Connor Gillaspie, No Eric Hacker, No Thomas Neal. No minor leaguers other than Ford.
Now since the AAA season doesn't end til Monday the Giants could just be waiting until then and then they will bring up some more guys. But right now it looks like Belt will be headed straight to the AFL. This move, if true, makes no sense at all. Some have argued that it's better for him to continue to develop as a hitter rather than sit on the bench in September.
That notion is garbage.
Buster Posey did just fine after spending most of last September on the bench. Plus, the Giants have the opportunity to get Belt some exposure to a pennant race without having to rely on him to carry the team. He can soak all of this September baseball up and the Arizona Fall League will still be there when the season is over.
I hope the Giants realize this.
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