Giants 3, Nats 2, 11 innings. I just got back from the yard. The most remarkable thing about tonight’s game was Tim Lincecum’s pitch count. He threw 116 pitches in seven innings, and he didn’t have great command. Five walks and several other batters with deep counts bloated his pitch total, and it’s not like the Nationals were putting together gritty, hang-in-there at-bats. He simply wasn’t throwing enough strikes. He walked D’Angelo Jimenez, hitting .190, twice.
In the men’s room under the bleachers about half way through the game, I heard Dave Flemming on the radio say that Lincecum hadn’t thrown his curve for a strike all night. That seemed a bit of an exaggeration, but imagine if Timmah had his good stuff and better control. He might have gone 10 innings and struck out 14 or 15.
The kid was fun to watch.
PLODAG: Randy Winn, four hits including the game-winner, plus a walk. Runner-up: Rajai Davis, on base three times and a couple nice plays in the outfield. gdog asked in the last comment thread why I was excited about Davis; I like his plate approach, I like his raw speed, I like his hustle, I like his arm. If he can get on base more than 35% of the time and play above-average defense (he’ll be two steps ahead of Juan Pierre), the Giants have a keeper.
SMALL PRINT UPDATE: Scott Atchison up to bolster the battered bullpen. He did a nice job tonight despite the Dmitri Young home run. Fred Lewis was sent down.
