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.
Tim Lincecum Makes Argument For Best Start In Playoff History As Giants Squeak By Braves, 1-0
Thursday night, Tim Lincecum turned in a 96.
It's both a shame and it isn't a shame that Lincecum's start will fight for the spotlight with a blown call at second base. This was a 1-0 ballgame. One run made all the difference, and the Giants scored that run in the bottom of the fourth when Cody Ross singled Buster Posey home from second. How did Posey make it to second? By successfully stealing the bag, even though replays showed he was out. Were it not for that mistake by second base umpire Paul Emmel, the Giants probably wouldn't have scored, and the rest of the game would've played out differently.
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.
But at the same time, it's also important that we all take the time to recognize just how good Tim Lincecum was against a mediocre but by no means terrible offense. Lincecum allowed two hits - one of them to the first batter of the game - and one walk while striking out 14 in his playoff debut. More impressively, of the 55 swings Braves hitters took against his pitches, an unfathomable 31 of them missed. The Braves weren't able to do anything with Lincecum all evening long, from the start to the end, and what we've seen now is three absolutely spectacular playoff starts over two days. Lincecum, Halladay, and Cliff Lee were as good as they've ever been before in their lives.
It's worth noting that this could've been worse than 1-0 had it not been for some clutch pitching by the Braves. Derek Lowe pitched out of a corners, one out situation in the third, and Jonny Venters was able to pitch out of the same situation in the sixth. By and large, the Braves made their pitches. Lincecum just wouldn't give them a chance.
Lincecum got the win, and Lowe got the loss, allowing one run and eight baserunners over 5.1 innings. Game 2 will take place Friday night, with Matt Cain taking on Tommy Hanson.
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