Tim Lincecum improved to 18-5 while finishing with an MLB- best 285 K's as the San Francisco Giants beat the Dodgers on the last day of the regular season, 3-1. The Giants and Dodgers faced each other 18 times this season (splitting 9-9), but this was only the 2nd start from Lincecum in a bit of lucky scheduling. Man, am I glad it worked out that way.
With the New York Mets choking away the NL Wild Card (and NL East earlier) and the Milwaukee Brewers getting in, the Dodgers knew at some point during the game that they'd now open in Chicago against the Cubs on Wednesday. So, while some of the regulars played, it was a blow off day for the most part.
This game was 1-0 Dodgers for most of the way, thanks to an RBI double by Andre Ethier in the 4th to plate Juan Pierre. Hiroki Kuroda was fantastic in his final tuneup before he goes in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium later this week, going 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. Clayton Kershaw followed with a shaky inning in which the bases were loaded with 1 down, but John Bowker lined into a double play to end the inning.
Maybe I'm being picky here (can't help it), but for the 2nd time in 3 nights, the main relievers really looked pretty bad. Chan Ho Park had the lead to start the 7th, but was easily hit around, surrendering 2 runs on 3 hits in 2/3 an inning. Joe Beimel came on and gave up an RBI single to Nick Schierholtz, but was bailed out when he was out stretching to 3rd. Cory Wade could only get 1 out while giving up a run.
I'm sure the mindset has to be totally different in games like this, no matter how much you try to take it as seriously as any other game. The division has been won, so it's not like they were playing for anything. I just hope that guys like Park, Beimel, and Wade will be firing when it counts, because they didn't exactly end the season on the highest of notes.
The only main guys who started and stayed in all game were James Loney, Blake DeWitt, and Angel Berroa (and combined to go 0-11...). The important thing here is that nobody got hurt on the field and they're ready to go to Chicago.
Looks like "manager" Nomar Garciaparra will have to wait for another day before getting that first big win...
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