San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum pitches to Japan in the first inning of an exhibition spring baseball game in Scottsdale, Ariz., Wednesday, March 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Lincecum dominates vs. Japan
Giants ace strikes out five, but unhappy with lack of good rhythm
By Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Pitching in the World Baseball Classic remains a distant afterthought to Giants ace Tim Lincecum even when facing the tournament's defending champion.
Lincecum declined to pitch in the tournament and has already gone public with his desire to skip the event in 2013.
"I'm glad with what I did. I made a smart decision," Lincecum said. "I'm worried about starting the season and not what's going on there."
The Giants are happy as well.
"This is how he wanted to get ready for the season and we are glad, obviously, that he is with us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Lincecum gave up one hit and struck out five hitters in 2 1/3 innings in the 6-4 exhibition loss against Japan on Wednesday at Scottsdale Stadium. The right-hander also walked three batters in the 49-pitch start.
The World Baseball Classic teams from Japan and Korea are in town preparing for the second round of the tournament that starts this weekend in San Diego. Lincecum told his agent to make it known that the pitcher was not interested in pitching for the United States team.
Lincecum said "it was not even an option."
Dominating on the mound is an option. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has allowed only two hits and has not given up a run in 9 1/3 innings this spring. He has 11 strikeouts and five walks, including the three bases on balls Wednesday.
"I feel good. I feel the same," he said. "Everybody treats me the same. I'm the same person, I just have a little hardware."
Lincecum retired Ichiro Suzuki to lead off the top of the first, but the next hitter, Hiroyuki Nakajima followed with a single to center field. The Giants ace recovered to strike out Norichika Aoki and Atsunori Inaba to end the inning.
In the second, Lincecum walked Shuichi Murata to start the frame. Michihiro Ogasawara followed and reached on a fielding error by Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, but Lincecum responded by striking out Kosuke Fukudome and Shinnosuke Abe. Akinori Iwamura flied out to center field for the third out.
Ichiro walked to lead off the third inning, and Lincecum struck out the next hitter, Nakajima, for his fifth strikeout of the game. After Ichiro stole second, Lincecum walked Aoki and was replaced by Jesse English.
English pitched two-thirds of an inning before yielding to Jack Taschner.
As for Lincecum, he said he did not change his approach against Ichiro, a player he grew up watching in Seattle. And no, he didn't especially look forward to the showdown with the Mariners right fielder because he goes "at it the same way as any other batter."
"You grow up in Seattle and you just can't stop hearing about the Mariners," Lincecum said. "When he came over here, it was a big deal to them and a big deal to the baseball world. It's one of those things where you're pulling for the Mariners and pulling for Ichiro to do his thing."
Said Ichiro, "It's a little bit difficult to evaluate pitchers in an exhibition game. He threw good balls. He made nice pitches."
That said, Lincecum was upset when he left the mound Wednesday. He had lasted three innings in each of his previous two outings.
"The changeup was good. Outside of that, what I feed off is getting a good rhythm," he said. "Today, I didn't feel like I had it. I have something to work on. I just have to find a way to get through it."
Jesse Sanchez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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