Lincecum Puts Giants In Tie for 1st

Tim Lincecum is officially back, and if you needed anymore clarification on that, all you had to do was watch him work on Sunday afternoon.

Lincecum won his third straight decision, throwing 7 innings of 7 hit, 1 run ball, striking out 9 and walking just 1 Padre batter all afternoon. And I can't help but think that all those people who were seriously worried about Timmy are kicking themselves for ever doubting "The Franchise". I think we can agree, that after his third straight solid outing (21.2 IP, 5 er, 17 hits and 29 k's), the Giants ace is back in his groove, and he found it just in time. It seems like Timmy's velocity is popped back up a bit, but it really was his accuracy (or lack thereof) that had him out of whack. It's no coincidence that Lincecum's only walked 2 batters over those last 3 wins, after averaging a little over 3 per start during his 5-game losing streak. It was also good to see the bullpen, which has really tightened up here over the last week or so, nail the door down for Timmy over the last 2 innings. Although they did allow a few runners to cross the plate in Thursday night's game, the Giants bullpen went 8 scoreless innings in the most crucial series of the year up to this point. In fact, overall, their pitching as a whole really came through in this series. The only reason they didn't sweep the Friars is because the offense couldn't score any runs when Madison Bumgarner contributed another brilliant outing (20.1 IP, 11 hits, 2 runs, 13 k's over last 3 starts).

Equally impressive as the Giants overall pitching performance, was their mini offensive outburst in Sunday's finale. The Giants offense got to Cy Young candidate Mat Latos for 5 runs, knocking him out after just 4 innings pitched. Buster Posey hit his 13th big fly of the season in a 2-hit effort, and Aubrey Huff chipped in 3 hits and 2 runs scored as well. The Giants offense was due for an outburst though, after collecting just 1 run over their previous 2 games. But now the Giants' offense faces a new challenge, as the team lost it's everyday leadoff man and center fielder, Andres Torres, likely for the rest of the regular season, this weekend after he underwent an appendectomy. Torres had been the one constant in an ever changing lineup over the 2nd half of the season, and was one of the team's most valuable players this year. It's definitely going to be a loss, and the Giants are going to need Aaron Rowand to step up big in his absence.