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		Lincecum struggles in 7-4 loss to the Rockies By Morris Phillips May 16, 2011

	Tim Lincecum has been outstanding pitching on the road in 2011. And the Rockies—who were 52-29 at Coors Field last season—have been surprisingly ordinary at home. All of that changed on Monday night. Lincecum cruised through the first four innings, then failed to protect leads in the fifth and sixth as the Rockies took a liking to the Franchise’s elevated offerings. Lincecum granted Carlos Gonzalez the biggest gift with a hanging splitter on a 2-2 pitch that CarGo deposited over the centerfield wall as the Giants fell 7-4. “This kind of place and that kind of hitter? Not really a good pitch,” Lincecum conceded. Just as damaging was Lincecum’s throwing error on a double play grounder three batters prior to Gonzalez’ home run that eventually would lead to four unearned runs in the inning. Add in six walks to go with the nine hits Lincecum allowed, and the Giants’ ace looked a lot like he did last May, when he was in the midst of the biggest slump of his career: too many errant pitches and San Francisco’s biggest star faded too early. More accurately, Lincecum faded too early for manager Bruce Bochy to pull the plug on his meal ticket who was obviously laboring when Gonzalez connected in the sixth. The Giants blew 1-0 and 4-2 leads in this one and home runs from Nate Schierholtz and Andres Torres were waisted. The Giants had an opportunity to contribute their own late theatrics when pinch-hitter Pat Burrell got a shot with a pair of runners on in the eighth, but reliever Rafael Bettancourt struck out Burrell to end the inning. Former A’s pitcher Clayton Mortenson picked up the win despite allowing both Giants’ home runs. Mortenson did draw a critical walk in the fifth and came around to score to tie the game at 2. While on the mound, Mortenson pitched in frequent traffic on the base paths, but four Giants’ double plays kept the lanky right-hander in the game. The Giants failed to move their road record above .500 despite the disadvantage of having 25 of their first 40 games away from Pac Bell Park. Lincecum failed to pitch at least seven innings in a road start for the first time this year. The Rockies improved to 10-10 at Coors Field. The Giants get the opportunity for a split in the brief series Tuesday with Jonathan Sanchez facing Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez.