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Giants-Diamondbacks Preview

Jul 25, 2010 - 5:38 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

San Francisco (54-43) at Arizona (37-60), 4:10 p.m. EDT

Tim Lincecum has shown glimpses of the dominance befitting a reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner. In other outings this season, he's struggled mightily.

Lincecum tries to bounce back from another shaky start and help the wild card-leading San Francisco Giants sweep their first four-game series in Arizona in nine years in Sunday's series finale.

Lincecum (10-4, 3.18 ERA) looked poised to contend for another Cy Young Award by opening this season 5-0 with a 1.76 ERA in his first eight starts, but he has been inconsistent in his 12 starts since. He's still looked brilliant in six of those outings, going 5-0 with a 1.60 ERA, but he's 0-4 with an 8.38 ERA in the other six.

Lincecum didn't have his best stuff Tuesday against the Dodgers, allowing five runs, seven hits and three walks in 4 2-3 innings in a 7-5 victory, but didn't earn a decision. The three-time All-Star also brushed back Matt Kemp in the fifth, then hit him with his next pitch.

"I wasn't throwing at him on purpose at all," Lincecum said. "I had a hard enough time finding the strike zone, let alone wanting to hit somebody on purpose."

Locating the strike zone has been major problem for Lincecum, who has already issued 52 base on balls after yielding 68 all of last season. The right-hander's 3.84 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 2009 was seventh-best in the National League, but he currently ranks 17th at 2.65.

Fewer strikeouts have also factored into this shift. Lincecum, who had a season-low two strikeouts Tuesday, has struck out five or fewer in seven starts after having five such outings all last year.

Lincecum's first subpar outing of this season came in Arizona on May 20, when he yielded five runs, five hits and five walks in five innings, but didn't get a decision in an 8-7 loss. He was 5-1 with a 1.87 ERA in his first nine starts against the Diamondbacks (37-61).

The Giants (55-43) will likely have a thin bench for the finale with both third baseman Pablo Sandoval and outfielder Eugenio Velez expected to be unavailable.

Sandoval returned to his home in Venezuela due to personal reasons, and Velez was struck in the head by a foul ball while he was in the dugout during Saturday's 10-4 victory and spent the night at a hospital.

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said Velez never lost consciousness, though he wasn't real responsive after first being struck. CT scans were negative.

"It's too bad when you see your friend, your teammate like that," said Giants second baseman Juan Uribe, who hit a grand slam. "On the other team, too. Nobody wants to see a player get hit like that. We're glad he's going to be OK."

With Saturday's victory, the Giants are in position to sweep their first four-game series in Arizona since July 26-29, 2001.

Trying to prevent this will be Diamondbacks rookie Barry Enright (2-2, 2.66), who is looking to build on the best outing of his brief career.

In his fourth major league start, Enright allowed one run, five hits and one walk while striking out eight in eight innings of a 3-2 win over the Mets on Tuesday. The right-hander, who retired 14 straight hitters at one point, credited his success with attacking the strike zone.

"Just staying aggressive, not letting myself get tired mentally or physically, never taking a pitch off," Enright told the Diamondbacks' official website.