Kawakami: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants are struggling By Tim Kawakami Mercury News Columnist Posted: 06/11/2011 09:24:00 PM PDT Updated: 06/12/2011 04:14:00 AM PDT Symbolically, Tim Lincecum walked to the mound against Cincinnati on Saturday as the Giants' last line of defense against the forces of panic and despair. It's not quite fair to pile all that responsibility upon anybody's shoulders in any single game in June, but there it was. Freddy Sanchez had just gone down to a serious shoulder injury. Buster Posey has been down and out for a few weeks, of course.The season is still young, and the Giants are still clinging to first place in the National League West. But if the Giants were going to have a chance to feel halfway good about themselves this weekend, Lincecum was the one who had to start the party music. And it did not happen. Instead, after the Reds' 10-2 victory at AT&T Park, there was mostly thick silence in the Giants' clubhouse. "It's not about carrying the team, it's just being a large aspect of it, and doing your job," Lincecum said after giving up seven earned runs in four-plus innings, one of the worst outings of his glorious career. "And I didn't do mine today." What happens to the defending World Series champions if they can't hit, if they don't have Posey, and if Lincecum isn't on top of his game? We saw it Saturday -- the sense of anxiety was a tangible presence amid the murmuring and the head-scratching in the stands. Lincecum has done so much for this franchise, when he doesn't deliver, the air gets mighty arid. "I know it looked bad today," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We were off. Had a horrible game. This doesn't happen very often. It just so happens it comes right after Freddy's injury. These guys don't make excuses. "These guys, they're not making excuses. "... It's up to us to keep fighting. And these guys will." Usually, the charge starts with Lincecum, of course. But this was the fourth consecutive -- and easily the worst -- sluggish outing for the two-time Cy Young winner, all dating to May 21, when Lincecum shut out the A's. In that game, Lincecum threw a season-high 133 pitches; that also was his last start before the Giants lost Posey, Lincecum's trusted catcher, to a devastating ankle injury in late May. In his four starts since, Lincecum has a 7.66 ERA, and his season ERA has gone from 2.06 to his current 3.41. Lincecum had a similarly wobbly period last August, when he acknowledged some adjustment issues going from Bengie Molina to Posey behind the plate. By last September, though, Lincecum was in lock step with Posey and was nearly perfect through the fall. Right now, Lincecum is about as far from his September-October dominance as he can get. "I still feel strong," Lincecum said. "I don't feel unhealthy. I don't feel like anything's bothering me. It's just simply getting back to being me. Just driving to the plate, using the mechanics, keeping my rhythm. "Kind of dumbifying myself, I guess you could say "... keeping it simple." Lincecum was all over the place from the outset, and the Reds were disciplined enough to make him pay; he threw 73 total pitches, only 36 for strikes. He recorded only one strikeout, which, remarkably, is the lowest total of his career. In 136 previous outings (135 as a starter) -- Lincecum had never recorded fewer than two strikeouts and had averaged 7.4 strikeouts per appearance. That 133-pitch outing, in retrospect, sticks out like a sore statistical thumb. "I don't feel like it's fatigue," Lincecum said when asked about the effects of the May 21 game. "I don't feel like I'm getting tired. I don't feel like anything's broken. I just feel like it's a matter of just getting back to being me." That, perhaps, could suggest Lincecum has been thinking a little more on the mound now that he's throwing to Eli Whiteside, not Posey. In the third inning, there might have been a sign of some disconnect -- with a runner on third, Lincecum threw a darting off-speed pitch that hit the dirt but looked stoppable. Whiteside missed the ball, it skipped to the backstop, Brandon Phillips scored, putting the Reds up 3-0 and putting a scowl on Lincecum's face. Has the catcher change affected Lincecum at all? "Not really," Lincecum said. "Not at all. I mean, when you go out there, whether it's with Whitey or (Chris) Stewart, you have to go out there and make pitches." Bochy said he continues to have the utmost confidence in Whiteside but added that he might get Stewart in there with Lincecum if the schedule works out right. You count up all of the Giants' woes, and you do have to ask: How much has to go wrong for them to be knocked out of first place? At some point, it probably will come down to Lincecum, the Giants' other key pitchers, and the refortifying of their last line of defense. --------- 一场如同噩梦般的比赛 当全队最好的三个打者都进了DL 而大家心之所系的ACE竟然投出生涯最糟的一场先发 (一早醒来看到BOX的时候还以为MLB.COM被骇客入侵... 这怎麽可能会是Timmy的成绩!?) 就是这种结果 今天Timmy的好球率相当低(73/36) 坏球对红人打者完全没引诱性 (只有首打席三振有两球挥空 其他打者根本懒得挥 都是看着让裁判判坏球) 当然 Timmy都会告诉你他很好完全不会累 投不好都是因为自己球速出不来 好球带找不到的错 我也认为最近的低潮有一大部分是他自己想太多 本来就很鸟 伤兵累累後更鸟的赛XX打线毫无攻击性可言 投手群每次登板都肩负着连一分也掉不得的沉重压力 而在投手丘上或巨人队球迷心中都是最後一道防线的Timmy 在这种风雨飘摇的时候对自己的要求必定严苛到远超过我们的想像 偏偏最近的对手又都是他的天敌 (对国民胜少败多 红人更是从没赢过) 一心想力挽狂澜却总是适得其反 (今天他也承认最近这麽失常是心理问题) 下一场过桥打湾岸大战的先发是很重要的观察指标 Timmy生涯从没在奥克兰输过球 战绩5胜0败 而且看来运动家的近况比我们还要糟 要是还不能恢复水准那真的就麻烦大了 另一个教练和Timmy不想承认我个人却觉得是大问题的是捕手 自从Posey不在了以後 盗垒抓不到 捕逸暴投掉分的情况经常发生 巨人是以投手战力为中心的球队 Whiteside跟Stewart实在不是当主战捕手的料 所以我觉得现阶段比起找打者 先把捕手的洞补起来比较重要 Anyway 幸好球季还长 我们还是国西第一 希望Sanchez明天好好加油 (别再BB比安打多了...) 至少要跟红人打个二平 这样下个系列战跟响尾蛇正面交锋的压力也会比较小 如果Timmy最近的小低潮能召唤今年尾盘和季後赛更加鬼神的表现 也未尝不是一种收获^^ --

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