Lincecum Shuts Out A's 3-0

With Tim Lincecum pitching, the San Francisco Giants shutout the Oakland A's 3-0 in this first of three interleague series games at AT&T Park. Being at the park and watching this game was just a thrill. A crowd of 36,033, with A's fans sprinkled throughout, gave it a bit of a Dodgers rivalry feel. But you'd never see a baseball cap half Dodger and half Giants, that's for sure. I hate those Giants/A's hats.

With all the Giants runs coming in the 5th inning it was Lincecum's pitching duel with A's rookie pitcher Vin Mazzaro (2-1) that provided the excitement and drama of the evening. Gotta give Mazzaro his due, he held the Giants hitless into the fourth inning. He's definitely another find for Oakland, who's known for finding diamonds in the rough. But tonight belonged to Cy Young Award Winner Tim Lincecum. In that run rallying fifth he provided the hit that gave the Giants their first run. There just so happened to be a good article in the SF Chronicle today criticizing the Designated Hitter rule and expounding on the the beauty and pureness of National League pitchers swinging the bat. Lincecum gave that article credibility with his clutch hit tonight.

Lincecum's pitching almost overshadowed the throwout at home plate of A's runner Adam Kennedy by the Giant's Emmanuel Burriss. It was Nate Schierholtz who started off the play by retrieving a Matt Cust double that hit off the wall in center field. Schierholtz did the right thing by throwing to cut-off man Burriss who made the immaculate throw to home for the out. Not a soul in the stadium thought Burriss's throw had a prayer of getting the out at the plate, but the night was a miracle night for the Giants and the tag out at home sent the home crowd into a mighty roar.

The best part of the evening, besides seeing the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate winning the Stanley Cup over Detroit on the big HD Scoreboard, was having Tim Lincecum strike out the final A's batter in the top of the ninth to secure a complete game, only his second in 7o starts.

They play two more games over this weekend, but you can believe the A's have lost just a bit of their winning streak confidence with tonight's loss thanks to a Giants team that played mistake free, solid National League baseball. The game took only 2 hours to play.

Go Giants!