Just as the Giants’ continue to fade in the playoff race, Tim Lincecum’s Cy Young chancestook a severe hit on Sunday, as he was knocked around for five runs over four innings, his worst start since May. It was another pedestrian start on the road for Lincecum, who has some interesting splits in his 2009 campaign:
Home:9-1 with a 1.79 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and zero home runs allowed in 15 starts spanning 110 1/3 innings.
Away:5-5 with a 3.21 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 10 home runs allowed in 15 starts spanning 101 innings. Lincecum is 0-4 with a 5.90 ERA over his last four starts on the road.
With Sunday’s poor outing, Lincecum (2.47) fell behind Chris Carpenter (2.34) for the National League ERA lead. He still leads the National League in strikeouts (247) and complete games (four), but 15 wins might not be enough when Adam Wainwright has 18. It’s still an impressive season by any measure, but this year’s Cy Young is likely coming out of St. Louis.