Giants beat Cubs, Lincecum wins again

May 5, 2:47 PMSan Francisco Giants ExaminerTheo Fightmaster

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Lincecum is now 15-4 in starts following a Giants loss. Rex Arbogast, AP.

Pure fodder today my friends:

The Giants improved to 11-0 when they score first. Pretty remarkable, and I think it's attributable to the opposing team's respect of the Giants' starters. Possibly they feel like once they're down they don't have a chance to come back against the excellent pitching.

Bengie Molina homered in the first inning with a three run shot on the first pitch he saw. Molina now has driven in 23 of the Giants 90 runs on the season. Note to Charlie Manuel and the rest of the National League All-Star team: get Bengie to St. Louis, the guy is deserving of an all star selection, or being voted in by the fans for that matter. I sat Molina in my fantasy line up today, figuring the day game after a night game and the quick turn around to Colorado might spell a day off. I was way wrong, and his three run shot was a touch bitter sweet; I'm sure to me and me alone.

Lincecum is now 3-1. Not his sharpest stuff Tuesday at Wrigley, but when you spot him three runs in the first it's almost a done deal. Career the franchise is now 23-1 when the Giants score three or more runs. The Giants as a team are now 11-3 when the starter turns in a quality start.  Their ace is also now 15-4 when pitching after a Giants loss.  Perhaps another nickname is in the works? Senior Stopper? The Washington Win Machine? Just a thought,; I'm stuck on alliterations, but I'd love to hear your suggestions. SF Chronicle beat writer Henry Schulman has coined the phrase "happy Lincecum day." That will catch on.

The offense had scored just seven runs in the past four games; today they blew up for six. This was thanks in large part to Aaron Rowand who snapped 0- for 19 spell with a bases loaded double. The shot drove in two runs and gave the Giants some breathing room late. Rowand who was off to a nice start has seen his average plummet from .286 to .215 in just the past week.

Emmanuel Burriss had two more hits today and another stolen base; his eighth on the year. He's now tied for second in the NL with eight. All the more impressive considering he's been on base so infrequently and that the league leader, Dexter Fowler who has nine, swiped five of those in one game against the Padres.

Randy Johnson will take the ball tomorrow in Colorado. The future Hall of Famer is 19-7 lifetime against the Rockies with a 2.23 ERA. Johnson is coming off perhaps his best start of the year last Friday against the Rockies where he threw seven scoreless innings and struck out nine.  We'll see how the consecutive starts against the same team affects him Wednesday.

Merkin Valdez, the guy Giants fans have been waiting for for what seems like forever came trough in the eighth inning today fanning Derek Lee on a fastball that registered on the in house radar gun at 99 miles per hour. Valdez is looking to take the eighth inning role by the horns, and if he's healthy it's hard to bet against him. 

With the Giants splitting the two game set with the Cubs after today' s win they still have not lost a series since April 13-15 in Los Angeles. The Giants head to Colorado where they have historically struggled, and then they will have another crack at the Dodgers who have yet to lose at home this season, setting a new NL mark.  Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand via Mike Krukow quipped "I hope they're still undefeated when we get there, then we can beat them." That's a good sign of a rivalry. If the Giants can continue this series dominance through this road trip than they might be for real, but it will be a tough task unless the offense turns into something special, or in other words, something they're not.

On a really inspiring note the Cubs started Bobby "Bo" Scales at second base this afternoon. Scales spent 11 years riding the buses of the minor leagues before getting into his first major league game. The first challenger to his dream? Tim Lincecum. Scales got his first big league hit, had a one for four day, and was robbed of a second base knock by a nice defensive play by Randy Winn. The 31 year old rookie also made a web gem of his own robbing Bengie Molina of a hit. A good day, and a great story for Scales.