Goldschmidt, Arizona again deck Lincecum
In May, when Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt took him deep for the fourth time, Tim Lincecum insisted this would not go on, saying, “I’m going to figure it out.”
Lincecum will have the whole offseason to look at video, punch data into a computer or hire an exorcist, because he could not divine an answer in 2012.
In one of the most puzzling ownerships of a pitcher, Goldschmidt hit his third home run of the year and fifth in 14 career at-bats against Lincecum, a three-run sky shot off the left-field foul pole that summarized the pitcher’s night in Tuesday’s 7-2 Diamondbacks win.
“He’s just kind of got my number right now,” Lincecum said after his three-game win streak died in his final regular-season start at AT&T Park. “I haven’t found a way of consistently getting him out. I’ll look at video to see what he’s
doing off me and hopefully fix it the next time I face him.”
Lincecum’s more immediate challenge after taking his 15th loss is righting himself in his final tuneup for the playoffs, either Sunday at San Diego or next week at Dodger Stadium.
His seven-run, four-inning night against the Diamondbacks might have been more unsettling for the Giants had he not forged a good 10-start streak that began July 31. Tuesday’s game would have been the norm before the All-Star break. Now, it’s an aberration.
Lincecum was off from the game’s first hitter, Adam Eaton, whom he walked on four
“I just want to attack hitters a lot better. I had a lot of favorable hitting counts for batters.”
Tim Lincecum, Giants pitcher
pitches. Lincecum twice nearly got conked in the head by line drives, one by Justin Upton that hit him in the glove as he stuck it in the air with his back to the plate, another by Aaron Hill that shot into center field after Lincecum ducked.
Lincecum and Hector Sanchez even seemed out of sorts together. They nonetheless are likely to be paired in the playoffs.
For his final start next week, Lincecum said, “I just want to attack hitters a lot better. I had a lot of favorable hitting counts for batters. I’m going to try to alleviate that and make it easier on myself by throwing strikes.”
Goldschmidt drove in a career-high five of Arizona’s seven runs, sandwiching his first homer since Aug. 18 between sacrifice flies.
He is the only hitter with five lifetime home runs against Lincecum. Goldschmidt has 22 in 634 at-bats against the other 18 pitchers he has taken deep (with Cliff Lee among the four who have surrendered two).
Lincecum has lost six consecutive starts against Arizona. Not coincidentally, the streak began Aug. 2, 2011, when Goldschmidt homered in his sixth big-league at-bat.
Lincecum touched on one other matter: his absence from Saturday night’s clinching celebration.
He said he went home before the game ended as he always does when he is starting the next afternoon. He said that once he was told by phone that manager Bruce Bochy decided to start Yusmeiro Petit instead, he called some teammates to learn of their plans.
“A couple of guys said that they were going out, but there would have been craziness getting back in here,” Lincecum said.
He said missing the party was “bittersweet,” but added, “If things go right, we can celebrate again. Hopefully it will be a bigger situation.”