Z-Cap: Giants 2 Mets 0

Tim Lincecum and the Giants played spoilers tonight ruining Carlos Beltran‘s much anticipated return with a 2-0 victory against the Mets.  It was the 6th time this year the Mets have been shut out as they dropped to 5 games back of the division leading Atlanta Braves.  Lincecum (9 IP, 0 ER, 5 K) entered the night 0-1 with a 5.04 ERA vs. the Mets, which was his highest ERA vs. any NL team. He out dueled R.A. Dickey (7 IP, 1 ER) improving to 10-4 and picking up his 4th career shut out in the process. The lone Mets scoring opportunity came in the top of the 5th inning after a Josh Thole single put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.  “The Freak” retired the next 2 batters before getting Angel Pagan to fly out to right field to end the inning. Mets manager Jerry Manuel spoke about the dominance of  ‘Big Time Timmy Jim’ after the game:

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He had good stuff tonight. He was economical with his pitch count, he didn’t get his pitch count very high. He held our runners pretty good at first base. He did a good job, he had good stuff. Its tough, not tough, but you come back and face a guy that fresh, that sharp and its a little tough.”

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Dickey had another stellar start wasted as he is now win less in his last 4 games (25 2/3 IP, 9 ER, 3.16 ERA). He had one blemish tonight when he allowed a 2 out RBI double to Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the second allowing the only run the Giants would need. R.A. commented on the Sandoval at-bat:

I don’t think of it in terms of making mistakes. He’s a good hitter and he hit a pitch...TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AND OTHERS LIKE IT HEAD OVER TO METSZILLA.COM BY CLICKING HERE: http://www.metszilla.com/?p=5202