By Jeremy Harness

In the month of June, the Giants went from having an 8 ½-game lead in the National league West to currently trailing the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers by a game heading into the second half of the season.

They don’t seem to have any kind of momentum going for them at this point. Well, with the exception of a familiar face but very recently had been the most unlikely of heroes. Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum was once the catalyst around which the Giants’ rotation fed off of.

However, as the velocity on his fastball dropped, his ability to locate did not improve. Until recently, his ability to adjust was even worse, and it showed in his win-loss record as well as his ERA.

Two months ago, Curt Schilling listed in ESPN The Magazine a handful of pitchers who, like Lincecum, had lost a considerable amount of velocity and graded the manner in which they have adjusted to that. Felix Hernandez, who started Tuesday’s All-Star Game for the American League, got a well-deserved “A” grade.

Lincecum, on the other hand, was given an “F,” as he had struggled mightily with his control for the past two years as his velocity dropped from his accustomed 95-mph fastball to a more modest 90. In order to be successful as a major-league pitcher with less-than-overpowering stuff, hitting your spots becomes crucial.

For the better part of those two years, the control continued to be lacking, and that it didn’t appear that he would be able to grasp that any time soon.

But then, a funny thing happened: Lincecum seemed to figure it out. In his previous four starts combined, he gave up only one earned run in 30 1/3 innings, all of them resulting in Lincecum victories. Among them was the no-hitter that he tossed June 25 against San Diego, during which he only walked one batter and ended up kick-starting the hot streak that he is currently on going into the second half of the season.

The Giants need to find a way to ride that kind of momentum, such as when they went through the 2012 postseason despite falling behind in the first two rounds against Cincinnati and St. Louis, respectively.

Lincecum looks like he has figured it out. Starting Friday night in Miami as they begin a three-game series against the Marlins to begin the second half, the Giants need to recapture that feeling, just as their resurgent right-hander has.