As we informed you last night, Tim Lincecum wasn't only terrific in his start against the Braves - he was practically untouchable. Lincecum threw 119 pitches in completing his masterpiece. The Braves swung at 55 of them. Of those 55 swings, 31 missed, good for a contact rate of 44%.
Tim Lincecum’s Gem, And The Definition Of ‘Untouchable’
↵The league average contact rate is about 81%. Lincecum’s regular season contact rate was 75%. On Thursday, the Braves went and took things to a whole other level, not so much struggling to get hits as they were struggling to bat the ball anywhere in the first place. They succeeded in hitting the ball less often than JaMarcus Russell succeeds in completing a pass.
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How good was Lincecum's performance? Via ESPN, we can confirm our suspicions - his 31 swinging strikes is the highest total by any pitcher all season, beating Brandon Morrow's May 5th effort by five. He bested his own personal previous high by ten. He beat Felix Hernandez's season high by 13. He beat CC Sabathia's season high by 15. He beat Roy Halladay's season high by ten.
↵Tim Lincecum beat everybody and turned in not only the best start of his career - it was arguably the most dominant start in postseason baseball history. Not bad for a playoff debut.
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