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Lincecum dominates as San Francisco Giants blows out Houston Astros
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San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum, left, celebrates after scoring against the Houston Astros
on Saturday, July 4, 2009, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
SAN FRANCISCO---Under the beautiful clear blue sky above AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum pitched another game matching the beauty of the day. Continuing their offensive explosion that began the night before, San Francisco supported their starting pitcher by piling on the runs against the Houston Astros for the second game in a row.
In the Giants’ 9-0 win over the Astros, Lincecum went seven innings, giving up three hits and striking out nine. He was not, however, left out of the scoring party. The Freak walked twice—igniting rallies in the process—and scored twice.
Today’s outing brings the Giants’ ace’s scoreless streak to 23 innings—the longest streak for a Giant since Robb Nen threw 25 scoreless innings in 2000.
“When those guys, those elite players, pitchers, get on a roll, it’s impressive—it’s what he is right now,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Lincecum. “He’s commanding all his pitches, he’s doing everything that great players do—that’s make pitches, complete well—it’s enjoyable to watch.”
The 34,582 fans in attendance would agree with Bochy as they watched the Giants’ ace dominate the Astros. With the All-Star Game approaching, it would be to no surprise to see Lincecum selected to be on the National League team. One can’t argue against Lincecum being chosen as the team’s starter.
Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel will be making that decision as the NL All-Star team manager. Aaron Rowand, familiar with Manuel from his days playing for the Phillies, doesn’t know what his former manager will decide, but knows that Lincecum is worthy.
“I have the utmost respect for Charlie. He’s one of my favorite people in this game that I’ve had a chance to be around,” Rowand said. “He’ll make his decision and it is what it is, but obviously Timmy had the numbers to go out there and start.”
Last year, the reigning Cy Young winner had the opportunity to pitch in the All-Star Game, but skipped the opportunity because of an illness. This year, he’s hoping to change things.
“It would mean a lot—hard work paid off,” Lincecum said. “If I do happen start, maybe it will just make up for the fact that I just didn’t even make it to the field last year.”
Lincecum and the entire team are seeing the products of their hard work as they lead in the Wild Card standings and are in second place in the NL West, six-and-a-half games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The entire pitching staff has contributed to the team’s success and it reflects in the stats—the Giants have the best ERA (3.50), most shutouts (11), and most strikeouts (628) in the Majors.
“Our pitching staff is what is the backbone of this team,” said Rowand. “Pitching and defense wins championships, but it’s all about getting to the playoffs.”
Up next:
The Giants will close out the three-game series against the Astros on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. San Francisco will send veteran Randy Johnson (LHP, 8-5, 4.70 ERA) to the mound against Houston’s ace Roy Oswalt (RHP, 4-4, 4.02).
All-Star Game Selection Show: The 32 of 33 spots for the AL and NL All-Star Team rosters will be revealed on TBS from 10:00-11:00 AM PT. Afterwards, the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote will begin and last for four days, providing fans with an opportunity to vote for the player to fill the remaining roster spot.
For more on the SF Giants: SF Giants Examiner, Theo Fightmaster
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