On September 4, 2009, Pedro dueled against Tim Lincecum, and won the battle. After allowing a leadoff home run to Eugenio Velez, Pedro settled down soon after, retiring 13 in a row at one point, and 20 of the last 23 batters he faced. His final line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 9 K. Lincecum pitched almost equally well in that game, allowing two earned runs in seven innings.
On Wednesday, Lincecum had a similar fate to Pedro, allowing a leadoff home run to Stephen Drew. He, too, settled down, though, producing a final line of: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 11 K.
After they faced each other on September 4, 2009, Martinez had said, "He reminds me a lot of me, only twice as better at the same time in the big leagues."
The similarities between the two pitchers are quite noticeable -- most notably their similar 5'11 frames, and their dominance as pitchers. Over the years, Pedro Martinez had lost quite a lot of velocity on his fastball, and his "stuff" was not as overpowering. Yet he was able to mature as a pitcher, and learn to locate pitches and make adjustments in order to succeed.
Lincecum appears headed down the same promising pathway.
There really wasn't much action in Wednesday's game, other than Lincecum's outing, and the hit that scored the Giants' three runs...
In the fourth inning, Pat Burrell elevated a sinkerball, powering it into the left field bleachers for what would be the only Giants runs -- and all they really needed. The Giants went on to win the game by a score of 3-1, and Brian Wilson secured his 47th save of the season -- just one shy of Rod Beck for the Giants franchise record.
The Giants' fans are really into it. Pat Burrell lit the crowd up with his three-run homer, and they were easily the loudest they've been since the days of Barry Bonds
That's the one thing the Giants have that some other playoff contenders are lacking: fan support.
Evan Longoria and David Price recently complained about the lack of fan support the Rays have been receiving.
And the Padres have suffered from the same problem. The San Diego mayor was basically begging city residents to show more support for the Padres in their playoff chase.
In tight games, a crowd can really make all the difference. In the seventh inning with two outs, when Lincecum had two strikes on Chris Young, the crowd got fired up. And Lincecum responded, striking him out to end the inning. Moments like that are fueled entirely by the crowd.
In other news... Mat Latos, who has a 6.21 ERA this month, had some comments about the Giants...
"Baseball works in funny ways. The only way I could honestly put it is, we could be like the Giants and go and change our whole lineup, put guys with 'San Francisco Giants' across their jerseys. We didn't. "We added two guys (Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick) We've been the same team all year. We haven't just gone and grabbed guys from other teams."Sounds like somebody's a little upset that they've driven their team out of first place in the NL West (and possibly out of the playoffs)...
Well...the magic number's down to three. If the Giants win their next two games, they clinch the NL West. It's as simple as that.
I don't know if it's official yet, but Bumgarner's listed as tomorrow's starter. Let's see if that extra day of rest can work some magic and get the kid his first home win...ever.
