[新聞] Shaky Lincecum battered by Reds
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Shaky Lincecum battered by Reds
By Chris Haft / MLB.com | 6/11/2011 10:11 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants' starting pitcher Saturday against the Cincinnati
Reds physically resembled Tim Lincecum. He wore No. 55 as Lincecum does. He
even strode off the mound with his head down and his fielder's glove clamped
in his right hand, a familiar Lincecum trait.
But that wasn't really Lincecum.
The genuine, unadulterated, honest-to-goodness Tim Lincecum dominates
hitters, not the other way around. But this Lincecum doppelganger, who has
been sighted every five days recently, did a poor job of imitating the real
thing as the Reds cruised to a 10-2 victory.
All right, that was indeed Lincecum who performed as if AT&T Park's mound
were composed of quicksand. He still looked like an alter ego of himself.
Lincecum (5-5) lasted four batters into the fifth inning, his shortest outing
of the season. He allowed seven earned runs, matching a career high he
reached at Toronto on June 13, 2007, during his rookie season. His ERA
climbed from 2.85 to 3.41. In three starts this month, Lincecum is 0-1 with a
9.39 ERA.
Lincecum also struck out just one batter, the lowest total of his 137-game
career. That lone strikeout victim was Drew Stubbs, the game's first hitter.
Lincecum's afternoon then proceeded to unravel.
The right-hander was somber but calm afterward, since he felt certain about
what ailed him.
"I was kind of flying all over the place," Lincecum said. "The answer is
getting back to the drawing board and getting my mechanics straight. I feel
like I'm throwing three different kinds of tosses, thinking about what to do
with my arm, what to do with my legs, am I leading with my shoulder, those
kinds of things. I just need to stop thinking about that so much and do what
I need to do. Right there is the inconsistency."
Lincecum insisted that he's not enduring the same woes he experienced late
last season. He posted an 0-5 record with a 7.82 ERA in August, then improved
to 5-1, 1.94 in September after altering his between-starts conditioning
program.
"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,
driving toward the plate, using good mechanics, keeping my rhythm -- kind of
'dummifying' myself, I guess you can say in that sense. Keeping it simple."
Lincecum's flawed pitching technique has prevented him from commanding his
fastball. His inability to put the fastball where he wants it has rendered
his other pitches ineffective.
"Most of the time, he'll get ahead and get guys to chase [pitches] out of the
zone," Giants catcher Eli Whiteside said. "It's tougher to do that when you
fall behind."
Manager Bruce Bochy removed Lincecum after Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto
hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning, driving in three of the four
runs in that uprising.
Before he makes his next scheduled start in Friday's Interleague series
opener at Oakland, Lincecum said that he might try to sharpen his delivery by
performing additional "dry drills" -- pantoming his motion to improve his
muscle memory. Facing the A's, against whom Lincecum is 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA
in six career starts, conceivably could give him a boost. But Lincecum
insisted that any improvement he makes will begin and end with him.
"The key for me is to get my mental state right and fix what's going on,"
Lincecum said.
Reds manager Dusty Baker praised Lincecum nonetheless.
"This guy's one of the best in the business," Baker said of the two-time
National League Cy Young Award winner. "He wasn't as sharp today as he
usually is."
By contrast, Reds starter Mike Leake (6-2) worked eight spotless innings,
limiting the Giants to four hits and one walk while striking out a
career-high eight. San Francisco appeared destined for its seventh shutout
defeat of the season until Pat Burrell, who entered the game as a
pinch-hitter in the sixth inning, yanked a two-run homer in the ninth inning
off reliever Carlos Fisher.
Already dogged by injuries to numerous players -- second baseman Freddy
Sanchez became the fifth member of the Opening Day lineup to go on the
disabled list -- the Giants skirted further trouble. Center fielder Aaron
Rowand was hit on the right wrist by a seventh-inning pitch but avoided a
fracture.
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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