DESPITE "JUICED BALLS", LINCECUM DOMINATES ROCKIES

TIM LINCECUM AND ENTIRE GIANTS PITCHING STAFF DOMINANT
Tim Lincecum helped continue the unbelievable streak from the Giants pitching staff of not allowing their opponent to score more than 3 runs for an 18th straight game. That's a post dead-ball era record, and 2 games behind the all time record set by the 1917 WhiteSox.

Lincecum gave up 1 earned run in 8 innings of masterful work. He only gave up 2 hits while striking out 9 and walking 0 Rockies. He was throwing a perfect game through 5 innings, and I was thinking this might be the night for Timmy to finally get one. Didn't work out for him tonight, but he will get one some day I have no doubt.

PAT THE BAT
The only runs for the Giants came in the top of the 7th inning, when Buster Posey drew a lead-off walk and Pat Burrell did what he was brought here to do. He hit a 2-run shot to left field to give the Giants a 2-1 lead, and that was after getting no hits in yesterday's game, when the Giants had 19 as a team. As soon as he hit it, he knew it was gone. Like the veteran he is, he just put his head down and trotted around the bases, not looking once to see where the ball went in the stands.

The Giants entered Friday leading San Diego by a half-game in the West. The Padres are facing Cincinnati and currently have a 4-3 lead in the 8th inning. Third-place Colorado lost its fifth game in a row and fell 4 1/2 games behind the Giants. San Francisco improved to 3-1 on its two-city trip, which precedes a three-game home series against Arizona before San Diego visits AT&T Park for three games next weekend.

JUICED BALL CONTROVERSY FUELED
Tim Lincecum gave up his only 2 hits in the 6th inning, and something worth noting happened while he was on the mound. After getting a ball thrown back to him, the cameras got a tight close-up on Lincecum's face. He looked at the ball after rubbing it up, and something didn't look right, so he threw it back in to home plate ump Laz Diaz. He looked irritated, then you can see him mouth the words, "F-ing juiced ball it's B.S." or "F-ing juiced balls B.S." 1 OF THE 2. Of course he said the full words, not abbreviated. Lincecum has thrown a LOT of baseballs in his life, and I'm sure he knows the difference as soon as he puts it in his hand.

I saw that comment live and actually wrote a tweet about what I saw. A little later former Giant player and now Giants analyst, and local late-night talk show host F.P. Santangelo, also wrote a Tweet about it. F.P. has had a conspiracy theory for a while now about the Humidifier at Coors Field. His main point is how no one really knows the proccess on which balls are being pulled from the humidor, and which balls are being distributed and being pitched to the home or visiting teams. Seeing how much of an advantage the Rockies seem to have at home, and now this Lincecum footage, it only adds fuel to the fire. It probably won't be such a big deal now that the Rockies have basically fallen out of the race, but it might be addressed at a later date. I will definately keep an eye on that.