NLDS Game 1: Giants Score After Controversial Ruling, Lincecum Does Rest In 1-0 Win

McCovey Chronicles is all abuzz after Tim Lincecum turned in the start of his life in his postseason debut against the Braves. Writes author Grant:

Tonight made Giants fans feel invincible, even if in the back of our minds we know that we'll start over again tomorrow, pacing around, grinding our teeth with every pitch, cursing at the hitters for not being patient enough or for not being aggressive enough. Uh, probably the former. But tonight. Oh, man.
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Tonight stands on its own. It was one of the best games in San Francisco Giants history.

Click through to read the entire post. Tim Lincecum already had a lot of fans, but after tonight, that bond has only gained in strength.

Yesterday, we used Roy Halladay's no-hitter as an excuse to look up the best starts in MLB playoff history. For the sake of simplicity, we sorted by Game Score, and in the end, we saw that Halladay's start got a Game Score of 94, while the highest all-time was 98.

Thursday night, Tim Lincecum turned in a 96.

It's both a shame and it isn't a shame that Lincecum's start will fight for the spotlight with a blown call at second base. This was a 1-0 ballgame. One run made all the difference, and the Giants scored that run in the bottom of the fourth when Cody Ross singled Buster Posey home from second. How did Posey make it to second? By successfully stealing the bag, even though replays showed he was out. Were it not for that mistake by second base umpire Paul Emmel, the Giants probably wouldn't have scored, and the rest of the game would've played out differently.

Emmel ruled safe, though, the Giants scored, and Lincecum did the rest. It is very much important to talk about the mistakes umpires make. There were three controversial rulings in Thursday's three games that wound up making a huge difference on subsequent events. There'll be more and more talk about expanding instant replay, because there's more and more evidence that these calls are costing teams important runs in important games.

But at the same time, it's also important that we all take the time to recognize just how good Tim Lincecum was against a mediocre but by no means terrible offense. Lincecum allowed two hits - one of them to the first batter of the game - and one walk while striking out 14 in his playoff debut. More impressively, of the 55 swings Braves hitters took against his pitches, an unfathomable 31 of them missed. The Braves weren't able to do anything with Lincecum all evening long, from the start to the end, and what we've seen now is three absolutely spectacular playoff starts over two days. Lincecum, Halladay, and Cliff Lee were as good as they've ever been before in their lives.

It's worth noting that this could've been worse than 1-0 had it not been for some clutch pitching by the Braves. Derek Lowe pitched out of a corners, one out situation in the third, and Jonny Venters was able to pitch out of the same situation in the sixth. By and large, the Braves made their pitches. Lincecum just wouldn't give them a chance.

Lincecum got the win, and Lowe got the loss, allowing one run and eight baserunners over 5.1 innings. Game 2 will take place Friday night, with Matt Cain taking on Tommy Hanson.

(Sports Network event page)

It was fair to question why Tim Lincecum was sent back out to the mound for the start of the ninth, but you can go ahead and consider all concerns alleviated. Omar Infante led off by grounding out, and then it was straight into beast mode - Jason Heyward struck out swinging, and Derrek Lee was caught looking on a fastball over the outer corner. 14 strikeouts later, Tim Lincecum picked up a shutout win in his first-ever playoff appearance.

In a bit of a surprise, Bruce Bochy is sending Tim Lincecum back out for the ninth inning, even though his pitch count's at 105 and the bullpen is rested. He'll face the top of the Braves' order, and he'll be left in until or unless he gets himself into trouble. Closer Brian Wilson is warming as backup.

Cliff Lee threw one. Roy Halladay threw one. Now Tim Lincecum's throwing one. We've seen some absolute gems these first two days of the playoffs, and Lincecum just put the finishing touches on Atlanta's eighth inning with a swinging strikeout of Eric Hinske. It was the 12th strikeout of Lincecum's game, which sets a new franchise record for a playoff start.

Since walking Jason Heyward to lead off the fourth, Lincecum has allowed only one baserunner - a double by Brian McCann in the seventh. The eighth went 1-2-3, and even though the Giants can't seem to get much of anything going against the Braves, it might not matter. They have a one-run lead, and they only need to get three more outs.

Given that Lincecum's at 105 pitches and the bullpen is rested, odds are we'll see Brian Wilson come in to close things out in the ninth. If Lincecum is finished, his night ends with two hits, a walk, zero runs, and the aforementioned 12 whiffs. Of the 51 swings Braves hitters took against him, 28 of them missed.

That run the Giants scored in the bottom of the fourth - it happened after Buster Posey stole second base. There's just one problem. From our friends at McCovey Chronicles:

I missed this at the time, but TBS just showed replays, and Posey was very clearly out. He was ruled safe, though, and the Giants went on to score what still stands as the only run of the game.

In the Rays vs. Rangers game, Michael Young homered after the umpires ruled he checked his swing. In the Twins vs. Yankees game, Lance Berkman doubled after the umpire ruled a pitch on the corner a ball. And here, we have this. Umpires just can't help but end up as the story.

It's not Derek Lowe's fault that Tim Lincecum's been unhittable. Lincecum's allowed one hit while generating nine strikeouts through six scoreless innings, and Lowe held up about as well as anyone could've hoped. After a 1-2-3 fifth, though, Lowe got himself into a sixth inning mess. Buster Posey led off by drilling an elevated sinker off the center field wall, ending up on third base, and after a Pat Burrell strikeout, Lowe walked Juan Uribe on six pitches.

At that point, Bobby Cox came out and pulled Lowe from the game in favor of lefty Jonny Venters, who inherited one out and men on the corners. Venters' first pitch to Pablo Sandoval? A low fastball that Sandoval grounded to short for the inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. It was exactly what the Braves were looking for and exactly what the Giants were afraid of, and we now head to the seventh with the score still 1-0.

Lowe's evening:

5.1 innings
4 hits
1 run
4 walks
6 strikeouts
96 pitches

Lowe threw just 53 strikes, but of the Giants' 14 balls in play, 11 were grounders, and one was a bunt.

It's admirable to want to try to keep up with Tim Lincecum, but when you're Derek Lowe, you can only hope to do it for so long. Lowe didn't exactly cave in in the bottom of the fourth, but he got himself into a jam and wasn't able to pitch himself out of it without sustaining any scrapes. Buster Posey led off with a groundball single and stole second, and following a two-out intentional walk of Pablo Sandoval, Cody Ross pulled a grounder through the hole in left to score Posey for the first run of the game.

Lowe struck out three batters in the inning, and the two balls in play were rollers. So, in a way, Lowe did his job. But sometimes grounders get through, and now the Braves will have to play comeback.

While Tim Lincecum continues to breeze through the Braves, Derek Lowe faced the first real difficult jam of the game in the bottom of the third and came away roses. Cody Ross got things started with a walk, and he was sacrificed to second by a Lincecum bunt. Andres Torres then rolled a ball to Brooks Conrad at second base, but Conrad bobbled the easy play to put runners on the corners with one out.

This was a run-scoring situation for the top of the Giants lineup, but Freddy Sanchez hit a tapper back to the mound, and Aubrey Huff subsequently struck out swinging. After three, the tilt's still scoreless, and neither lineup appears to be getting great swings.

So maybe Tim Lincecum isn't rusty or off his game after all. Lincecum closed the first inning with two swinging strikeouts, and he continued his streak into the second, by whiffing Alex Gonzalez, Matt Diaz, and Brooks Conrad - all swinging, as well.

Lincecum has struck out five batters in a row, and of the 13 swings Braves hitters have taken against him, ten have missed. You don't expect to have an easy night against a guy like Tim Lincecum, but this one might be shaping up to be extra difficult.

We're underway with the nightcap in San Francisco, and through an inning of work, it's a scoreless ballgame. It wasn't easy for either pitcher, though. In the upper half, Tim Lincecum had to work around a leadoff double by Omar Infante, which he managed by getting Jason Heyward to pop out and then striking out Derrek Lee and Brian McCann.

In the bottom half, Derek Lowe erased a leadoff single by getting a Freddy Sanchez double play, and then he erased a two-out walk by getting Buster Posey to ground out.

Lincecum threw just ten of his 20 pitches for strikes, and Lowe came in at eight of 15. Neither guy looked particularly sharp, although there's plenty of time yet to work into a groove.

Omar Infante, 3B
Jason Heyward, RF
Derrek Lee, 1B
Brian McCann, C
Alex Gonzalez, SS
Matt Diaz, LF
Brooks Conrad, 2B
Rick Ankiel, CF
Derek Lowe, SP

Andres Torres, CF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Aubrey Huff, 1B
Buster Posey, C
Pat Burrell, LF
Juan Uribe, SS
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Cody Ross, RF
Tim Lincecum, SP