Tim Lincecum: San Francisco Giants Pitcher Continues To Pull the Team Down

So, here we are on May 21st. The MLB season is almost seven weeks old. The San Francisco Giants have played over a quarter of their season. Some trends are starting to make themselves apparent. It's getting close to the time where people can't say "it's still early" anymore.  

Tim Lincecum has made nine starts, the most recent a 6-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics yesterday. And Tim has pitched like a second-rate pitcher. 

His ERA is a bloated 6.04. His WHIP is a very ordinary 1.59. He has walked 4.2 batters per nine innings. And he's only reached the seventh inning twice. 

In comparison, the other four Giants starters—Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong—have a combined ERA of 3.06, almost half of Lincecum's. Their combined WHIP is a sensational 1.19 and they have walked just over three batters per nine innings. 

The difference is significant. It's no wonder that Lincecum is 2-4. Even worse, in Timmy's starts, the Giants' record is 2-7. Remember when a Lincecum start meant an almost sure win for the Giants? Not anymore. 

That also means that the Giants' record when Lincecum doesn't start is 19-13. The Giants are seven games behind the Dodgers already. It's clear that Tim has been not only his own worst enemy but not a good friend to the team's chances of winning. 

After three bad starts to begin the season, Tim pitched better the next couple games, both Giants wins. 

Since then, after one decent start in which Lincecum allowed only two hits, plus a hit batsman and four walks in just five innings, he has been, in a word, terrible. In 16 innings, he's allowed 12 earned runs! 

Not only has he been having a predictably bad inning virtually every start, but by not going deep into games, Lincecum has exposed the Giants' weak mid-inning relief corps. Yesterday it was Shane Loux who did fine for two innings, but then allowed a two-run homer that put the game away in his final frame. 

Really, the only thing saving the Giants from being a sub-.500 team this year, surprisingly enough, is Barry Zito and his resurgence. If Zito wasn't pitching well, this team would be already looking at probably being a seller at the trade deadline.

But how long can the Giants hope that will keep going? Zito has started well before, only to fall on hard times again. The fact remains that Zito has never put an entire good season together as a Giant, and as much as I hate to say it, I doubt it will happen this year, either. 

So what to do with Lincecum, and where lies the problem? 

Well, it's a fact that his velocity is down. But you need to look beyond that. With Timmy's stuff, he can live in the 89 to 92 MPH range and prosper. He has a wide array of pitches, and when he's been around the strike zone, he has looked as dominant as ever.

Where Lincecum gets in trouble is when he gets behind in the count. Any major league hitter can hit a 90 MPH fastball if he's looking for it. The key is to be able to throw it when the guy is expecting a changeup or a slider. You can do that if you're ahead in the count. 

The problem seems to be between Lincecum's ears. He admits he thinks too much. Bruce Bochy said himself that he thinks Tim loses concentration. 

It may be time to send Tim to a good sports psychologist. Maybe he can get a good referral from Mr. Zito, who has no doubt seen his share of them.

The other thing the Giants must do is encourage Tim to get his father to hang around a little bit more. Chris Lincecum's name has barely been heard since Tim won his second Cy Young award.  

Now granted, Tim is a big boy now. He's 27 years old, and it's understandable that he doesn't want to run to daddy every time he has a problem. 

But Chris is more than Tim's father. He is the architect of one of the most unusual pitching motions in the history of the game, the one that Tim uses. There is a comfort level when Tim discusses his motion with his dad, and Chris is probably the only one who can help Tim work anything out that isn't working mechanically for him. And Lincecum appears to be having some issues from the stretch position. 

Dave Righetti has proven his mettle as Giants pitching coach. But where Tim is concerned, Rags needs to step back and let Papa Lincecum help. 

As long as the Freak is a mediocre pitcher for the Giants, their hopes of going anywhere this year will be dashed.  

Remember 2010?  

Lincecum had an awful month of August, and the Giants plunged. 

In September, he came back with abandon and had a great month, and the Giants played their best ball of the season on the way to a World Series trophy. 

Who struck out 14 Atlanta Braves in the LCS opener to set the tone for the entire postseason? 

Who dominated the Phillies in the opener of the NLCS, beating Roy Halladay? 

Who won Game 1 of the World Series, beating the Rangers and Cliff Lee? 

Who pitched eight brilliant innings with 10 strikeouts in the deciding Game 5 of the series to help bring the first-ever World Series trophy to San Francisco? 

Tim Lincecum needs to be right if the Giants are going to start playing the kind of ball they need to play. He sets the pace for this entire team.

I will even go as far as to say that as Tim goes, so go the Giants. If he pitches well, the team will field better, hit better and be all-around more confident. When Tim struggles, the Giants struggle. In fact, I'm surprised they're even a .500 team with the way he's pitched this year. 

It's a hard one to figure out, but this scenario has played itself out over and over again. 

Hopefully Tim can turn it around soon and help his team make a strong run at the Dodgers. If not, they may just run away and hide.