Lincecum might be back on track By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin July 16, 2010     SAN FRANCISCO--Giant pitcher Tim Lincecum who pitched a shutout against the New York Mets pitched a rather impressive game for the 2-0 goose egg. Lincecum looked sharp on Thursday night and in watching him you have to be impressed with him. The Giants are certainly looking forward to a strong second half of being a contender for that divisional championship of the playoffs that was a good way to go. It may be hard to say if Lincecum is tracked now but you can say on Thursday he was back to his old form again and he's going to have his bad games. In general he looked good the Giants looked good and you look forward to his next outing and wonder how he's going to do and is he going to be as good as he was last night. This is something that is difficult to predict. Looking back on what were his problems from earlier it could have been the mechanics, the pressures, and he's gone two seasons winning Cy Youngs and he's really a competitor and he wants to make a good combination on those. Plus in all fairness when you pitch in the National League you’re pitching against some pretty good hitters. So you have to be at your best to be your best and that's difficult to do at all times. Lincecum finished the game and you have to admire him for what he does he's a competitor and he's a great competitor and he's been so successful. He wants to finish every game. In Thursday night's game he was on he had command and he really hadn't really thrown that many pitches so it really made sense for him to finish the game. Just to point out a lot of pitchers in the National League don't do that. Panda Bear update: Pablo Sandoval is a young player and he might feel under pressure this year. He's not swinging the bat like he did last year. The truth of the matter is you really need Sandoval's bat to be in the playoffs so this puts a lot of pressure on him. The Giants were really counting on him, he's a good hitter, unfortunately he's not like the way he was last season and what he should do is duplicate last year's performance and obviously at this stage of the game he has not done so. Sandoval is still a key part of the Giants and a lot of people feel that the Giants are going to go the playoffs but they need his bat. Posey swinging a big bat: Giants catcher Buster Posey is swinging the big bats and they are willing to pay him some big bucks and they plan on him being above average. There was no question that he was going to be good. Most people are surprised that he did it that quickly both as a hitter and as a defensive catcher. He's a great athlete obviously we've watched him do those plays and you would expect that in two or three years and we didn't think he would do it this season. When they brought him up we thought the Giants handled him well, they didn't throw him behind the plate and they gave him a shot at first base which is a little easier from the stand point he doesn't have to work with the pitching staff. That pressure has been removed and he turned around and hit well and played first base more than adequately and then they put him behind the plate and he's just done an amazing job back there. His bat has spoken for itself if you had to say a plus or a surprise this season for the Giants it's been Buster Posey as that player. Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin cover Giants baseball each week for Sportstalk Radio

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