Just back from the yard, where the Astros still didn’t look comfortable against Tim Lincecum, but it was obvious they made adjustments. “Put the ball in play” seemed to be the marching orders.
Lincecum only struck out four but induced a lot of weak swings for grounders, 15 in all. Houston scored twice without hitting the ball particularly hard: a seeing-eye opposite-field grounder from Lamb for a double, a slicing opposite-field line drive that Lewis sort of * misplayed for a triple, and a ground-ball RBI single past Durham — again, opposite field — from Carlos Lee. Nice hitting: just take the ball the other way. The Giants did roughly the same thing, except for Ryan Klesko, who stung the ball three times for hits to right. He also made a run-saving play, diving for a Berkman grounder in the 4th.
Seeing Lincecum live, it was clear that his fastball, which ranged into the high 90s, is special because he hides the ball so well. He had fewer strikeouts tonight because his curve wasn’t fall-off-the-table spectacular. I wonder if the mound at Mays Field isn’t quite to his liking.
PLODAG: Lincecum. Runner-up: Klesko.
P.S.: The ball Carlos Lee hit off Benitez in the ninth would have been a game-tying home run in almost all other major league parks. Sometimes the breaks go your way.
* After watching the video, I think Lewis easily could have been charged with an error, if not for dropping the ball then for pausing a few seconds at the rail while the ball rolled to the fence. Rookie mistake.
