When you say the name Tim Lincecum you think of his nickname the "The Freak" or the 2 time NL CY Young award winner or maybe you think of the 2010 postseason where he won his first World Series title at the age of 26. But you don't think of the rough season he had in 2010, now I wouldn't call it a "down year" I would just call it "not Tim Lincecum like year". When you look at his number in 2009 to 2010 they have gone down and have gone up, it seem like he lost a little bit of his edge in 2010, in one start he even changed his pitching style. Now I'm not saying he's a bad pitcher, probably one the greatest young pitchers in the game, but if he keeps having season like he did in 2010 than it could be problem for him and the Giants. In 2009 Lincecum's numbers looked like this ERA 2.48, 15 wins, 7 losses, 261 strikeouts, 68 walks, gave up 10 home runs, 62 earn runs, 168 hits, pitched 225.1 innings, and threw 4 complete game. In 2010 his ERA jump to a 3.43, 16 wins, 10 losses, 231 strikeouts, 76 walks, gave up 18 home runs, 81 earn runs, 194 hits, pitched 212.1 innings, and threw just 1 complete game.
Now yes he is young and has only been in the league for only 4 years but it just seems batters aren't scared of him anymore and have been getting better swings off him. Lincecum has earn his CY Young awards by power pitching and last year he just didn't bring it, despite he won a World Series last year and his number in his first postseason were awesome with a 2.43 ERA, 4 wins, 1 loss, 43 strikeouts, 9 walks, gave up 3 home runs, 10 earn runs, 25 hits, pitched 37.0 innings, threw 1 shutout, and 1 complete game, but he's going to have to do more to win another division title or another World Series.
Tim Lincecum is one of the best pitchers in the game and everyone would love to have him on their team, also like I said before he's a power pitcher and is known for his strikeouts. As of right now Lincecum, has 907 career strikeouts in just four seasons. In 2007 as a rookie he threw 150 strikeouts, 2008 - 265 strikeouts, 2009 - 261 strikeouts, 2010 - 231 strikeouts. He in on pas to throw close to 2,500 - 3,000 strikeouts if he stays healthy and has better season then the one he had in 2010. Now everyone has asked the question "do you think he could break the all time strikeout record that Nolan Ryan set with 5,714 strikeouts"? That's one question I have no idea about only because he is 26 years old and only with 907 strikeouts. Now Lincecum has beaten Ryan with strikeouts in just 4 years Ryan had 356 strikeouts in his first 4 season, but Ryan also threw for 300 or more strikeouts 6 times in his career, where to Lincecum hasn't even came close to striking out that many yet in 1 season. So it would take hands down effort to break that record. On the other side Lincecum in power pitcher who is known for his rocky pitching style his dad thought him at a young age and he has stuck with it ever since. I also think Lincecum will be back to old self in 2011 just going out there and having fun. Just remember when you’re playing the Giants you better watch out or hide from "The Freak"
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