NLDS Game 1: Giants Score After Controversial Ruling, Lincecum Does Rest In 1-0 Win

McCovey Chronicles is all abuzz after Tim Lincecum turned in the start of his life in his postseason debut against the Braves. Writes author Grant:

Click through to read the entire post. Tim Lincecum already had a lot of fans, but after tonight, that bond has only gained in strength.

Yesterday, we used Roy Halladay’s no-hitter as an excuse to look up the best starts in MLB playoff history. For the sake of simplicity, we sorted by Game Score, and in the end, we saw that Halladay’s start got a Game Score of 94, while the highest all-time was 98.

Emmel ruled safe, though, the Giants scored, and Lincecum did the rest. It is very much important to talk about the mistakes umpires make. There were three controversial rulings in Thursday’s three games that wound up making a huge difference on subsequent events. There’ll be more and more talk about expanding instant replay, because there’s more and more evidence that these calls are costing teams important runs in important games.

In a bit of a surprise, Bruce Bochy is sending Tim Lincecum back out for the ninth inning, even though his pitch count’s at 105 and the bullpen is rested. He’ll face the top of the Braves’ order, and he’ll be left in until or unless he gets himself into trouble. Closer Brian Wilson is warming as backup.

I missed this at the time, but TBS just showed replays, and Posey was very clearly out. He was ruled safe, though, and the Giants went on to score what still stands as the only run of the game.

Lowe’s evening:

5.1 innings

4 hits

1 run

4 walks

6 strikeouts

96 pitches

Lincecum threw just ten of his 20 pitches for strikes, and Lowe came in at eight of 15. Neither guy looked particularly sharp, although there’s plenty of time yet to work into a groove.

Andres Torres, CF

Freddy Sanchez, 2B

Aubrey Huff, 1B

Buster Posey, C

Pat Burrell, LF

Juan Uribe, SS

Pablo Sandoval, 3B

Cody Ross, RF

Tim Lincecum, SP