Lincecum a joy to behold; Giants competitive

SAN FRANCISCO

They cheered Tim Lincecum in the top of the sixth, all those people standing and applauding and shouting.

He had given up a rocket single to Manny Ramirez, simply a great hitter, and he had two men on base and he almost looked vulnerable. Almost.

But he got out of trouble. And the fans cheered his effort and they cheered more than that. They cheered his excellence, his indisputable excellence. He is the top-performing professional athlete in the Bay Area — no one else comes close — and the Giants fans cheered Lincecum because they have him and no one else does.

He pitched a perfect 3« innings and his ball smacked into Bengie Molina’s glove, and as he pitched you wondered if the Giants can compete with the Dodgers. That is the key question as we approach May. The Dodgers are a good team with a good record, and they are in first place and they are the Giants’ rival. Based on the evidence of April, can the Giants compete?

Well, they competed Wednesday night. They competed because of Lincecum, but they can’t pitch Lincecum every night — nice if they could.

We know their hitting is no big deal, although it looked just fine in Game 3 of this series against the Dodgers. You wonder how much longer they can stick with Emmanuel Burriss at second base with Kevin Frandsen in the minors — Frandsen sure seems like a better hitter, although Burriss hit better on Wednesday. And you wonder how long Fred Lewis can continue to bat lead off where he’s dying a grim death.

But you should know this about the Giants. They were bad at the start of the season, so bad you had to question their whole plan of pitching first and hope for some hitting. Not long ago they got swept in L.A. and at one low point their record was 2-7, just awful — they had lost six in a row.

You had to wonder if general manager Brian Sabean had lost it and if manager Bruce Bochy would be the fall guy.

Since then they’ve been one of the hottest teams in the big leagues. With Wednesday’s win over the Dodgers, the Giants evened their record at 10-10. Last season, they were never once at .500. Think of that. Never. And now they’ve finished the first month of the season at 10-10 after stinking out the first part of the first month.

Right now you would have to say the Giants’ plan is viable. And you’d have to say, yes, they can compete with the Dodgers.

Their starting pitching is formidable. They have an ace in Lincecum. And their relief pitching is good — well, should be good. Their hitting still is substandard and Bochy admitted that before the game, and if they are competitive a month from now Sabean must get another hitter. The Giants are interesting because they have massive strengths and massive weaknesses and because of all that their games are dramatic.

Afterward, Lincecum met the media. He speaks in clichés mostly. It’s a safe way to proceed.

“You go as deep in the game as you can and you hand the ball over,” he said. It’s what he had done.

As he spoke, Rich Aurilia walked out of the clubhouse, found his two sons in the hallway and brought them in. He told them to sit quietly while he spoke to a reporter. Aurilia, as you know, is an explainer. He is a baseball player who puts baseball into perspective better than just about anybody. A reporter asked what it means to finish April 10-10.

“Our next game is in May?” Aurilia asked, making sure.

“Yes, May.”

“After our first road tip, when we didn’t win a game ...”

Matt Cain, getting dressed nearby interrupted.

“We sucked,” Cain said.

“We did,” Aurilia concurred.

Aurilia continued.

“But we came home and played extremely well. If we sustain this, we can be OK. We’re finishing the month at .500. That’s pretty impressive. I’m proud of the way our starting rotation has pitched of late.”

“What kind of team are the Giants?” the reporter asked.

First, Aurilia laughed and then he fell silent.

“I want to get this right,” he said. He thought some more.

“We have a lot of character,” he finally said. “Even in games we lost, we never laid down. Everyone here is thinking about winning games. We’re not thinking about how many homers we have. We want to put ourselves in the position in September to play meaningful games.”

He looked around the victorious clubhouse.

“A lot of people in this room haven’t done it, played a meaningful game in September. It makes it fun. It’s why I’m still playing.”

Point well taken. The Giants are playing meaningful games now to play even more meaningful games later on. By taking two of three from the Dodgers in this series they made an important statement: The Giants are competing. They are coming. This isn’t 2008 anymore.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular go to the Cohn Zohn at blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at 521-5486 or lowell.cohn@press

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