Lincecum's Struggles Continue

Well, I'm not nearly ready to say I'm worried about the Giants young right-handed ace, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't the least bit concerned over his last handful of outings. Lincecum was already coming off of a couple forgetful outings his last 2 times out, otherwise the Giants could be 3-4 games in first right now instead of tied.

After shutting down the A's over at AT&T Park 2 weeks ago, the A's got their revenge vs. Timmy. The A's were on their game Friday night and Lincecum has dropped to 5-6 on the year as he struggled through 6 innings allowing 10 base-runners to reach across the bay. He held the A's to just 6 hits and 3 runs while striking out 7, which is pretty close to his norm, but his era is climbing bit by bit to the point where he'll be approaching 4 by mid-July at this pace. Again, Lincecum has had these spurts throughout his young career, which has before caused some panic, only to have him revert right back to form after a few bad weeks. The most recent example would be last August when he went 1-4 I believe, but then look how darn nails he was down the stretch and into October for the Giants. He was the Tim Lincecum we all know and expect when it came down to it and I don't see any reason to believe that will be different this time around. He seems plenty healthy and energetic and just has been a little off in his last few outings. Wouldn't surprise me to see him now turn and go 5-0 with a 1.50 era and 60 K's in July, even with the break. He loves proving his haters wrong, as much as any professional athlete I've really followed and very much like that old Left Fielder that wore #25 in SF for 15 years.

So, what do the Giants need to do to get back on track and take the next two from the A's? Well, they're going to have to hit. Even though Lincecum would even tell you he was off, he really was good enough to give the Giants the chance to win, but their offense came up way short vs. rookie journeyman Geoff Godfrey. Once again, the Giants made a mediocre pitcher look like the staff's ace, collecting just 6 hits and 2 runs in the 6 innings vs. Godfrey before being shut down by Andrew Baily and Brian Fuentes. The A's played like they needed to to win ballgames (pitch tremendously, limit mistakes and cash in on opportunity) and the Giants did what they'll do when they lose ballgames (offensive slump, impatience, rough defense). Only Cody Ross had 2 hits and a long home run, which weren't nearly enough in the end. On a positive note though, they get to send two of their best arms to the hill in the final 2 in order to get it done, and those guys need to be on their game. Jonathan Sanchez goes Saturday night, and I'd really like to see him focused from the first pitch and maybe take a game into the 8th or 9th inning, something he's rarely done since his no-no 2 years ago. Cain just needs to be Cain, and he'll get it done, although he does face a formidable opponent in Trevor Cahill on Sunday which should make for one helluva pitchers duel.