by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–Giants starter Tim Lincecum has been there before with success and he certainly has found that strength again and since pitching his no-hitter he looks to be in Cy Young Award form again. Lincecum is in a very good stretch there is no other way to put it. He’s not walking people, he’s mixing up his pitches, he’s spotting his fastballs, he has got a wicked curve ball that breaks on the hitters.

Lincecum has got through any previous rough patch and that he’s a version of former Braves star pitcher Greg Maddox. He’s developed that level of pitching and Maddox didn’t have that in the beginning of his career and Timmy is a fastball pitcher and a power pitcher since the beginning of his career.

Strangley enough Giant starter Tim Hudson is a mini me Greg Maddox he shows up and through eight turns through the rotation Lincecum is reborn. Maybe it’s a coincidence maybe not. On Lincecum’s recent success is this a matter of the guys are playing hard behind him or is the line up getting runs for him or is it a matter of Major League hitters being bad for five straight days?

It used to be if there was one guy in the rotation it’s was always Matt Cain which led to the phrase “getting Cained” now that only Cain get’s cained the last time starter Ryan Voglesong had a run scored behind him the United States was undefeated in the World Cup. I’m serious and these things happen in a cycle and it’s true and Vogey is starving for a win and he has six wins in 27 games.

Oakland A’s update: The Seattle Mariners are now six and half games out of first place in the American Leaague West and it’s funny we talk about Seattle being six to seven and half games out and we talk about the Angels who are a game and half back as though coming right down the A’s throat. If the Giants are a game out they’d be dead in the water and they are a game out.

We’ll see where this race goes I like Seattle’s chances and they’ve been up there and I also like the agressiveness of A’s general manager Billy Beane who said, “it is easier to find position players than it is to find established solid pitchers.” You have to realize the A’s are a game in half in first place with baseball’s best record and have lost 40 percent of their starting rotation in spring training.

It is amazing that the A’s have been able to compensate for that and Beane was able to shore up the rotation. The shock was he was able to with newly acquired pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Josh Hamels to shore all of the rotation and fill up two spots. Beane might have had the foresight to see the Mariners and Angels making a move on the A’s in the standings.

The M’s and Halos have snuck up on Oakland and the M’s could cut the A’s lead over them to five games and the Angels could tie the A’s for first place. Those organizations are sharp enough to know what’s going on. The A’s have compiled the best record in baseball with a lot of timely hitting up and down the line up and with a lot of good fortune after they lost pitchers A.J.Griffin and Jarrod Parker during the season and replaced them with Drew Pomeranz who broke his hand and then there’s left hander Brad Mills who got picked up for a bargain basement deal.

Michael Duca does commentary on the A’s and Giants for http://www.sportsradioservice.com