Lincecum Day Becomes Win Day Again

By Vince Cestone

Twitter @vintalkingiants


Tim Lincecum looks like Tim Lincecum again.

Lincecum notched his second victory of 2012 in impressive fashion. Not only did he pitch eight innings of one-run ball, but he also broke up San Diego Padres' starter Anthony Bass' perfect game with an infield single in the bottom of the sixth inning.


Lincecum did not light up the radar gun, topping out at 90 mph, but he was effective, mixing and matching the fastball with his offspeed pitches. The result was in Lincecum's favor.

The Padres scored first in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Nick Hundley. A throwing error by first baseman Brandon Belt fueled the third-inning rally.

The Giants made two more errors Saturday night, their fifth of the series.

Belt made up for his miscue in the bottom of the seventh inning. With runners at first and third, Belt scorched a two-out double into the left-center field gap.

The Giants scored two runs on that double and took a 2-1 lead. San Francisco would go on to win by that score.

Pablo Sandoval went 0-for-4 in the game, ending his 20-game hitting streak.

...

Tim Lincecum showed everyone last night why he is an ace.

Let's face it. Lincecum's fastball isn't up to speed right now.

What used to be 96-97 mph, then 91-94 mph, is now 89-91 mph. Lincecum is learning how to make it work, which is what separates a pitcher from a thrower.

Lincecum mixed and matched his pitches nicely last night. Like Barry Zito, Lincecum cannot rely on blowing away hitters right now with pitches up out over the plate.

Why? The answer is simple.

The difference in velocity between his fastball and changeup is not as great as it once was, which makes pitch recognition easy for the hitter. Lincecum must rely on knee-high control and using his assortment of pitches, including his changeup, curveball, slider, and split.

Lincecum simply cannot blow hitters away with pitches out over the plate like he used to. Keep this in mind though.

Sometimes, making it work with less stuff on the mound can make you a better pitcher than dominating when you have all your stuff.



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Information from ESPN.com contributed to this article.

Image Attribution: By SD Dirk on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as "Tim Lincecum") [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres Pregame Weather

By Vince Cestone (with help from NBC Bay Area Meteorologist Christina Loren)
Twitter @vintalkingiants

A strong 21 mph wind could carry the ball out towards center field tonight at AT&T Park says NBC Bay Area Meteorologist Christina Loren.

The temperature during tonight's contest between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres will be a cool, crisp 57 degrees. The conditions will be mostly cloudy by the game's 7:15 p.m. start time, but will clear up as the game progresses.

The west-northwest wind will have a slight influence towards right of center. It will be a nice, fresh breeze and a beautiful night at the ballpark on the shores of McCovey Cove.

The Giants and Padres will play a three-game weekend series.

...

How do you think the wind will affect play tonight?



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Christina Loren and DailyBaseballData.com contributed to this story.

Chris Haft/MLB.com: Lincecum sends Giants home on high note

SAN DIEGO -- The National League West standings won't say so, but the Giants' pair of victories on their two-city season-opening road trip seemed to eclipse their four defeats....

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
SF	3	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	0		8	13	1
SD	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3		4	7	2

W: Lincecum (1-1)

L: Stauffer (0-1)

SV: Ramirez (1)

...

Unfortunately, no time for a game story or thoughts, but enjoy MLB.com's fine article on today's game.

It was a good defensive and offensive game for the Giants, and to no surprise, they won. Don't let the error fool you. It was on Tejada's wild throw on a desperation play with the score 8-1 Giants in the ninth inning. You got to try and make the play there, especially since the runs do not mean anything.

Opening day Friday! It will be great to see everyone at the yard again.

Associated Press: Aaron Harang shuts down Giants in Padres debut

SAN DIEGO -- Aaron Harang couldn't have asked for a better debut with his hometown San Diego Padres.
Link: http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310405125

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
SF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	8	0
SD	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	-	3	7	0

W: A. Harang (1-0)
L: M. Bumgarner (0-1)
S: H. Bell (2)

...

I did not see tonight's game, so I couldn't write a story. Had that late afternoon, early evening photography class.

I did not like what I saw on my phone. The Giants give gift runs once again. The funny thing is, the gift runs are still keeping them in ball games. They are just not hitting. If the Giants would have scored just four runs in each game, the Giants would be at least 4-1.

The Giants outscored their opponents 20-16 and they're 1-4. Go figure.

Hopefully, the Giants can escape with a 2-4 road trip, which isn't the worst thing in the world coming home.

Former San Francisco Giant Randy Winn Retires

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After 13 seasons in the big leagues, Randy Winn has hung up his jersey.

Randy Winn's career ended like this. 110 HR, .284 BA, 662 RBI. Not too shabby.

For Giants fans, nobody will forget the impact he made back when he was acquired in 2005 from Seattle. The Giants were looking for any sign of life while they waited for Barry Bonds to return from his knee injury -- and they got it from Randy Winn.

Winn went on a tear in August and September of 2005, bringing the Giants back into contention despite their under .500 record.

As Bonds returned, the Giants found themselves four games behind the Padres in the NL West with a week to go. As fate would have it, the Giants had a four game showdown series in San Diego that year.

The Giants were down 2-1 in the ninth inning of Game 1 against the great closer, Trevor Hoffman. With two outs and Jason Ellison at first, Winn stepped in.

Winn battled Hoffman and found his pitch to hit.

As the ball floated to dead center, the ball seemed to carry in the San Diego breeze -- a rarity.

The seemingly routine fly ball sent the center fielder, Brian Giles, all the way to the wall. As he made a desperation leap against the wall to try and haul in the final out of the crucial game, the ball hit the pocket of his glove.

Fireworks went off in San Diego, and for a brief moment, it seemed like the Padres took a healthy five-game lead in the division. Not so fast.

As Giles ascended down, the ball knocked lose from his glove and hit the ground. Within a blink of an eye, a Padre victory turned into a game-tying RBI triple off the bat of Randy Winn.

J.T. snow would then single in the winning run. The Giants trimmed the NL West deficit to three games, but that would be as close as they would get.

Such was the excitement Randy Winn often brought in a Giants uniform.