Lincecum Twice as Freaky vs Padres

After turning the ripe age of 30 years old less than two weeks ago, Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum treated himself to a late Birthday gift on Wednesday by twirling a game for the books. Having done things in pairs throughout his career, such as hoist a pair of Cy Young Awards and help pitch the Giants to a pair of World Series triumphs, the one better known as "The Freak" has now added a pair of no-hitters to his well decorated resume. Just less than a year after tossing a no-hitter on the road against the division-rival San Diego Padres, Lincecum repeated the feat against the same ball club, this time in front of the home fans for what is already the third no-hitter recorded in the Bigs this season, joining the Dodgers' Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw.

On a day where a sold out crowd of 41,500 packed into the beautiful AT&T Park for a 287th consecutive time, Giants fans witnessed one of their favorites toss the third no-hitter since the club opened the doors to AT&T Park in 2000 before his teammates awarded him with a Gatorade bath. Though Lincecum didn't completely baffle batters with his stuff on the mound, most notably with his fastball which he chose to throw with only 36% of his pitches on Wednesday afternoon, he simply didn't have to as his pinpoint accuracy helped him record outs in a much quicker fashion than we've been used to seeing this year. A six-pitch third inning and a seven-pitch seventh helped Lincecum cruise through the ballgame while needing 35-pitches fewer than he needed in his July 13 no-hitter last season. And on pitch number 113, San Diego's Will Venable hit a ground ball to rookie second baseman Joe Panik who in his fifth career Big League start, helped assist the final out of the ballgame to seal the no-no. The only blemish on the day for Lincecum came with one out in the second inning when he walked Padres third baseman Chase Headley. 

Finishing the game with 6 strikeouts, seven fewer than the 13 punch outs he accumulated in last year's no-hitter, Timmy threw 73 of his 113 pitches for strikes and had all four pitches in his arsenal working for him. After signing a 2-year, $35 Million deal during the offseason to stay with the Giants, which many thought was a bit much for a pitcher who hasn't performed anywhere near the level he did while being named to the NL All-Star team for four consecutive years from 2008-2011, Lincecum became one of only 32 players in MLB history to toss multiple no-hitters. Lincecum also joins an exclusive club of elite pitchers with multiple no-hitters and multiple Cy Young Awards which features Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Sandy Koufax. However, Lincecum and Koufax are the only two who can make the claim with a pair of World Series rings under their belt. 

Big Time Timmy Jim is also one of only four active pitchers to hurl multiple no-hitter's, Justin Verlander, Mark Buehrle and Homer Bailey being the others. Lincecum's feat on Wednesday gave the Giants 16 no-hitters in franchise history, and only he and Christy Mathewson have tossed multiple no-no's in a Giants uniform. But of all the no-hitters that have occurred, Lincecum is one of only two players to no-hit the same ball club more than once, joining Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps who tossed two career no-hitters vs the White Sox.

While his efforts at the plate will more than likely be overshadowed by his performance on the mound, Timmy also went 2-for-3 on the day with a pair of singles and a walk and also scored a pair of runs to support his own cause as the (46-32) Giants pulled out the 4-0 victory to salvage the finale of the three-game set vs the Padres. For a starting pitching staff that has struggled mightily as of late, boasting an ERA of 5.05 in the month of June and has been the centerpiece to blame for the team's 3-11 skid over the last two weeks, Lincecum's masterful outing just might be the shot in the arm the team needs to jump start what began as a blazing start to the season. That start which saw the first place Giants get off to a 9 1/2 game lead in the division, has been reduced to just 3 games by the archrival Dodgers.


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Clayton the Unhittable

Whatever's in the water cooler in the Los Angeles Dodgers' dugout seems to be working for the team's starting pitching staff which has produced the only two no-hitters thus far. After going nearly two decades without a single Dodger no-hitter, the boys in blue have now witnessed a pair of no-no's less than a month apart from one another in 2014. With Josh Beckett tossing the first no-hitter of the 2014 season back in May, the first by a Dodger since Hideo Nomo in 1996, L.A.'s ace Clayton Kershaw now has a no-hitter story to tell of his own. Having already established what appears to be a Hall of Fame worthy resume in just six full seasons and touted as the best pitcher in all of baseball, Kershaw's name will now be etched in the record books after logging his most dominant outing yet. And let's be honest, we all knew he was bound to toss a no-hitter sooner or later.

With the start of Kershaw's 2014 season anything but ideal, serving a stint on the disabled-list for the first time of his career just one start in after being awarded his second Cy Young Award last season and third consecutive ERA title, the 3-time All-Star appears to have put that behind him and has more than made up for his early absence. Having often been compared to Dodger great and fellow southpaw Sandy Kofax, Kershaw now has something else in common with the Dodgers legend now that he's got a no-hitter under his belt. Something Kofax knows plenty about considering he tossed four no-hitters of his own during his days, one of which being a perfect game. Though time will tell whether the 26-year old Kershaw can come even remotely close to Kofax's four no-hitters, his no-no would've been a perfect game had it not been for an error in the seventh inning by Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez who's errant throw to first base allowed the only base runner in the game for the Rockies.

To put into perspective just how dominant Kershaw's outing really was on Wednesday night, he struck out a career-high 15 batters and allowed only one 3-ball count while needing only 107-pitches (80 for strikes) as the Dodgers defeated Colorado easily by a final score of 8-0. Kershaw improved to 7-2 on the year while bumping his ERA down to 2.52 and more importantly helped L.A. close the gap on the division-leading Giants who's 9.5 game lead just two weeks ago has shrunk to just four games. Despite a disappointing outing in the series clinching game 6 of the NLCS last season which saw Kershaw surrender seven earned runs to the St. Louis Cardinals who went on to the World Series, the Dodgers agreed to a record-setting contract extension with their ace during the offseason, signing him to a 7-year, $215 Million deal, the richest contract ever signed by a pitcher. And so far, Kershaw's been worth every dime.


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San Francisco Giants Month in Review - May

Best in the Bigs - With baseball season in full swing as two calendar months are officially in the books, here's a look at the San Francisco Giants and the season they've had thus far through the month of May. Currently standing as the best team in all of baseball with a league best record of 37 wins and 20 losses, the Giants sit atop the NL Western Division with a 7 game advantage over the second-place L.A. Dodgers which is also the largest lead of any division. Winners of 8 out of their last 10 games, the Giants are heating up just like the weather and have been finding ways to win games with both their pitching and perhaps more surprisingly their hitting.

Through the first 50 games this season, the Giants stood at 32-18, the best start through the first 50 games for the franchise since the team opened their gates to AT&T Park in 2000, known then as Pac Bell. But as good as the Giants have been at home thus far, going 19-9, they've been equally as good on the road at 18-11 after taking 3 of 4 versus the Red Birds in St. Louis. Overall, the month of May saw San Francisco finish 10 games over .500 at a 19-9 clip despite having only two off days in the entire month, winning or at least splitting every series with the lone exception of a 3-game set in Pittsburgh where the Giants won the first game of the series before dropping the next two. Not even having Hunter Pence's scooter stolen has been able to slow down the team.

Part of the Giants early season success had a lot to do with the bat of first baseman Brandon Belt who stood among the league leaders in home runs after the first several weeks of the season before suffering a broken thumb vs the Dodgers after being hit by a pitch. The injury to Belt prompted Giants manager Bruce Bochy to call up outfielder Tyler Colvin who in limited action this season has come through big on a number of occasions. The label of San Francisco's most productive hitter, however, belongs to Michael Morse who up to this point has been everything the Giants hoped he'd be and more when they signed him during the offseason to provide some pop, hitting from the cleanup spot and leading the team in both home runs (11) and RBI's (38). Recently, Morse and co. has gotten some help on offense with what appears to be the resurgence of Pablo Sandoval who entered the month hitting near the Mendoza line but has been on a tear the last few weeks, riding a 12-game hit-streak and plating 4 Home Runs and 12 RBI's while hitting .368 in his last 10 games. Even with their backbone on offense in Buster Posey missing several days due to tightness in his lower back, the Giants have shown no signs of slowing down.

With dominant starting pitching and a shutdown bullpen being the formula for each of the Giants' World Series runs in 2010 and 2012, 2014 has seen much of the same. But hamstring injuries to both Matt Cain and Santiago Casilla, both of whom have become staples for the orange and black, has landed both pitchers on the disabled-list. Luckily for the G-Men, the ball club is rich in pitching and have been able to survive without them. Possibly the biggest story of the season for the Giants has been that of pitcher Tim Hudson who general manager Brian Sabean signed during the offseason for 2-years, $23 Million which at the time raised a few eyebrows given Hudson's age of 38 years old and a fractured ankle which he suffered in 2013. 11 starts into his 2014 campaign and the acquisition of Hudson now looks like a bargain as nine of those outings have seen him pitch at least 7 innings. Boasting an ERA of 1.75 and a record of 6 wins and 2 losses, Hudson has so far pitched his way into being an early Cy Young candidate. 

Hudson isn't the only Giants hurler who's been on a role as of late, teammate Madison Bumgarner took home NL Pitcher of the Month honors for the month of May after posting an undefeated record of 5-0 in six starts while collecting 48 strikeouts and walking just five. Upon being named the first Giants pitcher to be awarded Pitcher of the Month honors since teammate Tim Lincecum took home the honors in June of '09, Bumgarner saw his ERA dip from 3.74 to 2.85.

The month of June will see the Giants play 8 series against seven different teams, all of which currently stand at or below a .500 winning percentage. One of those series will be a two-game set on the road to face the Chicago White Sox where the Giants will look to improve on their perfect record of 6-0 this year during Interleague play and make it 8 straight wins versus American League teams dating back to last year which would set a franchise record.


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