Swagger

When we last discussed Tim Lincecum's season, it was on the upswing. His start against the A's was a quality one, and it seemed like, the longer he went in that game, the more he became like the old Timmy. The Timmy who buckled down with runners in scoring position; the Timmy who got the big strikeout when he needed one; the Timmy who knew he was better than the guy at the plate. I wrote that I couldn't wait to see him pitch next against the Dodgers.

It was well worth the wait.

Today marked just the first time all season that Lincecum didn't give up any runs in a start (On April 28th he gave up one run, but it was unearned, in a  2-1 win over San Diego). This game could have gone the way of the last few starts for Lincecum. A double play ball got him out of a jam in the first inning, and pitcher Chad Billingsly ended up on third base with only one out in the top of the third. Lincecum threw a wild pitch and, instead of looking weak and lost like he did in a similar play against Colin Cowhill of the A's a month ago, Timmy became the old Timmy. He rushed to cover homeplate, took a hit from Billingsly (who's got a few pounds on him), and held onto the ball. Billingsly was out, and not another Dodgers player would make it past second base for the rest of the game. Lincecum went seven innings, struck out eight, walked only two, allowed four hits, and lowered his ERA to 5.60, which is the lowest it's been all season.

While his performance during the game showed that the old Lincecum remains, it was his response post-game that proves that he has his swagger back.

"Enough was enough, and it was time to turn it around," he said today after the Giants complete their first-ever three-game sweep of the Dodgers by shutting them out in all three games (first-ever, as in, in franchise history; not a bad way to move into a tie for first place). And when Bruce Bochy came out to talk to Lincecum with two men on and only one out in the top of the 7th, Tim knew he wanted to stay in. And he let Bochy know it.

"He was asking me, 'You got this?' And I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'What?' And I said, 'Yes sir!'"

This week was a week that the Giants had to take advantage of the Kemp-less, slumping Dodgers. They needed to kick LA while they were down, and they did that in a ridiculously dominant way. The Giants have made up 7.5 games in the standings in just a month. Zito, Vogelsong, and Lincecum were brilliant exactly when they needed, completing this three-game, shut-out sweep of the Dodgers, just giving us fans one more thing that we've never seen before in this franchise. Add that to Matt Cain's perfect game, and I'd seriously consider taking Posey's advice after that perfect game: stay up late and watch this pitching staff whenever you can.