Sports Radio Service


		Lincecum dominates Braves By Jeremy Harness October 7, 2010

	SAN FRANCISCO - With two straight Cy Young Awards and a stellar September to get to this point, the only question that remained about Tim Lincecum entering Thursday was the way he would respond to the pressures of playoff baseball. His two-hit complete game shutout of the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series emphatically answered that question. His 14 strikeouts, the highest total in Giants postseason history, summed up his dominance perfectly, and despite the high strikeout total and the fact that he had just gotten over a cold that required the help of an unsavory type of medicine, he never showed any signs of fatigue. “It’s one of the best efforts I’ve ever seen,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “I could see Timmy having a night like this. He had some rest, and it showed. He went out there and pitched as fine a ballgame as you can pitch.” Both starters performed at a very high level in series opener, with Atlanta’s Derek Lowe showing why he went 5-0 in September to help lead the Braves into the postseason. But as good as he was, he was upstaged by Lincecum, who had his way with Atlanta’s lineup in a 1-0 win at AT&T Park. While Lowe gave up only a run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings, Lincecum was slightly better, maintaining the top form he had exhibited throughout the team's stretch run. After surrendering a double to start the game, he allowed only one more hit and a walk the rest of the night. So much for the nerves that often accompanies a player who has never been in the playoffs before, even after Omar Infante welcomed him to the playoffs with that extra-base hit. “You tell yourself, ‘You’ve done this a thousand times, (that) you’ve been in these situations. It’s just another game, and just try to treat it like that.’” Not so easy to do when you’ve got 43,936 orange towels waving frantically, and when those fans can’t hear the person right next to them. As great as Lincecum was, it would have been rather pointless if the Giants didn’t score at least one run. After being kept off the scoreboard in the first three innings, they did break through in the fourth inning against Lowe, with a bit of a stroke of luck coming into play. After leading off the inning with a single, Buster Posey broke for second on a steal attempt and was called safe, although replays showed that he was tagged just before he reached the bag. That extra base was critical because three batters later, Cody Ross’s bouncer found a hole in the infield, and Posey motored home ahead of left fielder Matt Diaz’s throw to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. “It’s probably a good thing we don’t have instant replay,” a grinning Posey said. “It was a beautiful slide, wasn’t it?” Posey put the Giants in prime position again in the sixth, but this time, the Giants couldn’t cash in. He led off by raking one over center fielder Rick Ankiel’s head, allowing him to make it all the way to third standing up. After Pat Burrell struck out, Juan Uribe coaxed a walk from Lowe, prompting Braves manager Bobby Cox to pull him in favor of left-hander Jonny Venters. However, Pablo Sandoval killed the promising rally by grounding into a back-breaking double play. As disappointing as that was, and for as many times that has happened to the Giants during the course of this season, that apparently didn’t bother Lincecum very much. Even though Brian McCann doubled off him with one out in the seventh, he quickly escaped with a groundout and a flyout. Bochy sent Santiago Casilla and Javier Lopez to the bullpen in the eighth, but Lincecum was still firing on all cylinders. He struck out two more in that inning before blowing away the final two batters to officially put the Giants ahead in this five-game series. “It’s a great way to start,” Bochy said. “But that’s what it is, a start. There’s a lot of baseball left.”