(Photo: Christian Petersen, Getty Images)
The day after the San Francisco Giants won the first World Series of their West Coast era in 2010, a photo on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle captured Tim Lincecum’s ultimate moment of glory.
In the picture, the long-haired Lincecum is perched atop teammates’ shoulders, exulting among a scrum of celebrants on the field with his right index finger pointed skyward.
That’s the image most Giants fans will remember when they think back to Lincecum’s tenure in San Francisco, whose conclusion was essentially confirmed with Thursday's revelation that the right-hander is done for the season after undergoing surgery on his left hip. Lincecum has not pitched since June 27, as a hip ailment that was initially downplayed curtailed the flexibility required by his intricate windup.
Chances are the Giants were not going to bring him back anyway after this, his ninth season in orange and black. Lincecum’s two-year, $35 million contract is about to expire, and his performance has been declining for some time
Lincecum, 31, went a combined 32-38 with an unsightly 4.76 ERA from 2012-2014 and was only slightly better in his 15 starts this season, with a 7-4 record, a 4.13 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched).
Those stats don’t mean much to Giants followers who watched Lincecum serve as the bridge between the joyless last few seasons of the Barry Bonds years and the remaking of the club into a perennial championship contender. The more meaningful figures are three in five, as in the number of World Series rings the club has collected in the last half decade.
The first steps toward that golden era were taken with Lincecum’s arrival in May 2007. Lincecum won back-to-back Cy Young Awards as San Francisco retooled in 2008 and ’09, and every scheduled start by the little acrobat with the howling fastball and the twisting motion made for compelling theater at AT&T Park. There wasn’t a pitcher in the majors more fun to watch than the Freak, who led the National League in strikeouts three years in a row.
The approachable, introspective Lincecum stood at the opposite end of the superstar spectrum from the surly Bonds, which made it easier for peccadilloes such as his 2009 arrest on marijuana-possession charges to be accepted. The incident even led to the printing of T-shirts that read, "Let Timmy smoke."
When an excited Lincecum exclaimed "F--- yeah!" into an open microphone after the Giants clinched the NL West crown on the last day of the 2010 season, the phrase became a rallying cry.
And in that postseason, the Lincecum legend was cemented.
He struck out 14 Atlanta Braves in a two-hit shutout in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, then twice outpitched Texas Rangers ace Cliff Lee in the World Series, throwing eight innings of one-run ball in winning the clincher at the Rangers’ ballpark.
The downturn in Lincecum’s career arrived suddenly, his ERA nearly doubling from 2.74 in 2011 to 5.18 the next season and never again dipping below 4.00 as his velocity dwindled dramatically.
Even his two no-hitters, in 2013 and 2014, proved mere teases, not a permanent return to form by the four-time All-Star.
And yet, he remained immensely popular in San Francisco, his struggles evoking anguish rather than scorn.
It helped that Lincecum stayed humble enough to accept a bullpen role in the 2012 postseason — he performed magnificently in five relief outings — and never griped when he was called on just once during the 2014 postseason run to a third championship.
With Madison Bumgarner now firmly established as the Giants’ ace, Lincecum was asked earlier this season about the buzz his home starts still generated.
"It’s just the connection I’ve been able to make with the fans," he told USA TODAY Sports. "Mine comes from mistakes as well as positives."
That kind of self-effacement is one of the reasons Lincecum made such a connection, a rare bond the folks in San Francisco will dearly miss.
