Lincecum played, prayed for Grandpa
ShareThisBy PAUL GUTIERREZ
Sacramento Bee
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Tim Lincecum is so youthful looking; he easily could be mistaken for a batboy in the San Francisco Giants' gruff and geezer-filled clubhouse.
He is so slight at a listed 5-foot-11, 170 pounds (maybe while soaking wet and with rocks in his pockets), Lincecum could take the mound in a high school game, and no one would question a thing until the ball exploded out of his hand and did sick things on its way to the plate.
And, quite frankly, it appeared Tuesday night as if Lincecum finally succumbed to a childish and petulant prima Donna moment. The 23-year-old right-hander refused to speak to the media, leaving his manager and teammates to speak for him and answer to fans after his ninth-inning meltdown against the Chicago Cubs following eight innings of sheer brilliance.
The kid with lightning in his arm also appeared to be showing up the Cubs, tossing the ball to himself before throwing to first on a comebacker by Ryan Theriot to end the third inning and summoning a little Francisco Rodrmguez with a violent fist-pump and growl following his eighth-inning-ending strikeout of pinch hitter Daryle Ward.
The Cubs noticed.
"You saw him showboating a little," Cubs outfielder Cliff Floyd told reporters.
But there is more to the story.
Lincecum, whose meteoric rise to the majors is as awe-inspiring as his Jim Palmer-Orel Hershiser hybrid delivery, can be forgiven his histrionics.
Turns out he was pitching with a heavy heart -- it was Lincecum's first outing since returning from bereavement leave, as his maternal grandfather passed away last week -- and was simply living in the moment.
He also apologized to reporters gathered around his locker Wednesday afternoon.
"It was my fault," he said of not facing the music. "I had a lot of stuff in my head."
Such as the passing of his grandpa, whose first name he did not know how to spell.
"I just called him Grandpa Asis, because that's his last name," Lincecum said. "It's Filipino."
And you learn something new every day.
"Out there, I was thinking about him," he added. "I was thinking of past stuff as well as using him to help me.
"A lot of people do that -- they look to God and relatives that have passed away. They look to them to help them get through stuff. I guess I used him like that ... and it was great. It's sad to see him go, and it's kind of tough to deal with, but on the field I'm just trying to be as focused on the game as possible."
Through eight innings, Lincecum was dominating with his mid-90s heater -- he said 85 percent of his pitches were fastballs -- shutting out the Cubs while limiting them to two hits on 88 pitches. Then came three hits on five pitches to begin the ninth -- his first journey so late in a big-league game -- and his fairytale beginning had a nightmare ending.
Lou Piniella, the Cubs' fiery first-year manager, saw nothing wrong with Lincecum's antics and sounded like a fan. "The kid was excited," Piniella said. "He was throwing the ball well, and he has as good a stuff as we've seen all year."
The 10th overall selection of last year's draft out of Washington, Lincecum, who debuted May 6, less than a year after pitching in the Pac-10, is 7-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 20 starts. He has a team-leading 132 strikeouts with 53 walks in 124 1/3 innings while opponents are batting .213 against him.
For now, and with apologies to the $126 million man, Barry Zito, they'll have to enjoy the ride with Lincecum, the future face of the Giants, as he astounds them and confounds opponents.
As long as it doesn't come back to bite him.
"I've never done that stuff to show up a team or hot-dog it like I was better than them," Lincecum said. "With the fist-pump, I just felt like it was a big inning ... that's what was in my head. It was just a big pitch that I made late in the game. It wasn't anything I did to show up anybody."
Leave the apologies to forgetful batboys.
(Contact Paul Gutierrez can be reached at pgutierrez@sacbee.com.)
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