The San Francisco Giants should be a bit concerned after Thursday’s loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-7. Whatever could go wrong for the Giants did Thursday, topped off with a wild pitch by Jeremy Affeldt that plated the Diamondbacks LF Connor Jackson in the bottom of the eighth.
Things were looking okay for the Giants until the bottom of the fifth. This was two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum’s worst inning of the season, and his worst start. He allowed five runs in the fifth, and Lincecum left the game down 5-2. Tim Lincecum’s stat line was 5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, and 6 K’s. The five walks are what is alarming. This ties his career high, which he set in his last start. Personally, Lincecum looked like he was rushed on the mound. Lincecum looked like he was over throwing, missing the strike zone frequently. This should bring some concern for Giants fans. Was it that Lincecum overthrew because he is aware that he must put up good starts because of the poor offense? The main concern is pitch count. If Lincecum can’t find the K zone early, his pitch count is elevated and he has to depart his starts early. Time will tell, but Tim Lincecum will need to find his command once again if the Giants are to succeed.
The real bizarre thing happened after Lincecum left after five innings. Lincecum was set for the loss when the Giants scored five in the top of the sixth. Juan Uribe and John Bowker started the inning off with back-to-back bombs. Before the inning was over, the Giants had a 7-5 lead, and Lincecum was set to earn the win.
That’s when a handful of the Giants bullpen came in to give it all back to the D-backs. Romo, Mota, Runzler, and Affeldt combined to give up 3 R, 4 H, 4 BB, and a wild pitch which let in the game winning run. By the top of the ninth, manager Bruce Bochy was tossed for arguing balls and strikes and the Giants fell to 22-18 on the season, a quarter of the way through the 2010 season.
The Giants open up interleague play tonight with the Battle of the Bay, facing Oakland at 7:05 p.m. Barry Zito will look to steer the ship in the right path, facing off against Oakland’s Trevor Cahill.
Go Giants.
