Northern California Baseball Blog and Q&A

Paul Gutierrez
Raised in Barstow, Calif., where he played community college baseball for two years, Paul Gutierrez has worked at Sports Illustrated and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he covered his alma mater's Runnin' Rebels at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During a six-year stint at the Los Angeles Times, he co-authored Tommy Davis' "Tales from the Dodgers Dugout." He came to The Bee in October 2005 and is now a Bay Area sports features writer who concentrates on baseball during the spring and summer.

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April 25, 2007

Yes, the kid is for real

I dropped in at Fresno's Chukchansi Park on Monday en route to Dodger Stadium to catch a glimpse of right-hander Tim Lincecum, the Giants' No. 1 draft choice who is shackling Triple-A hitters much in the same manner he dominated collegians at the University of Washington.

The Grizzlies' phenom pitched the opener of a doubleheader against the Tucson Sidewinders, the Arizona Diamondbacks' top farm club, and came within two outs of a seven-inning no-hitter. He didn't have a chance because manager Dan Rohn lifted him from the game after 97 pitches.

You couldn't blame Rohn because Lincecum was on the verge of an ugly no-hitter, if there is such a thing. He had control problems, walking six batters, hitting another and throwing a wild pitch. His wildness enabled Tucson to score the only run off him in 25 innings over four starts this season.

So instead of notching the first no-hitter in Grizzlies history, Lincecum had to settle for a 7-1 victory that put his record to 3-0 and his ERA at 0.36. He struck out four, giving him 32. After holding the Sidewinders hitless, opponents are batting .113 against him (9 for 80).

When Alex Romero grounded out leading off the seventh, Lincecum had retired eight batters in a row. He was still firing 95 mph when Mark Johnson walked for the third time. Rohn then summoned reliever Billy Sadler, who promptly yielded a sharp single to center by Matt Erickson, Tucson's only hit.

Lincecum was especially wild in the second, and it cost him. Jaime D'Antona led off with a walk and Brian Barden was struck with a pitch. The runners advanced on a wild pitch and Johnson's walk loaded the bases. Erickson's sacrifice fly ended the rookie pitcher's scoreless streak at 20 innings.

-- Nick Peters

Posted by rprice, April 25, 2007 02:40 AM

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