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Giants counting on Lincecum to show Cy Young form

Apr 12, 2009 - 6:21 AM By Alan Ferguson Stats Writer

San Francisco (2-3) at San Diego (4-2), 4:05 p.m. EDT

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The day before he was formally presented with the National League's Cy Young Award, Tim Lincecum didn't look much like the reigning winner.

To avoid their first sweep in nearly two seasons to the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants could use a better effort from Lincecum in Sunday's finale of a three-game series at Petco Park.

A season after finishing 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-leading 265 strikeouts, Lincecum didn't make a strong first step toward repeating those numbers Tuesday against visiting Milwaukee, pitching just three innings and allowing three runs on four hits and three walks.

"When you're a Cy Young winner, there's going to be a target on your back," Lincecum said. "Milwaukee was trying to get aggressive, and they've got a good power team. They probably wanted to do as many things as they could to me."

However, the Giants (2-3) had a one-run lead when Lincecum exited and held on for a 10-6 win, but have dropped three of their last four, including a 6-3 defeat Saturday night in San Diego.

If last season was an indication, San Francisco's ace could rebound Sunday. Lincecum earned three of his 18 victories in six starts against San Diego and allowed three earned runs in 43 1-3 innings.

The Giants could use a strong pitching performance after giving up 13 runs to open this series. San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez allowed one run over his first four innings Saturday, but was knocked out during a four-run fifth as Henry Blanco hit his second home run of the night and Adrian Gonzalez had two of his three RBIs on a double.

Jake Peavy, the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner, struck out 10 over 8 1-3 innings for his first victory of the season. The win allowed the Padres (4-2) to match their high mark for games over .500 from last season, which last happened April 15 when they were 8-6.

"He was outstanding," Blanco said. "His breaking stuff was working pretty good, he was aggressive. He kept pounding the strike zone all night."

San Diego, trying for its first sweep of the Giants since Sept. 14-16, 2007, will look to Chris Young, who was effective Tuesday night against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Young, who missed more than two months last season after being hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of St. Louis' Albert Pujols in May, allowed two runs over six innings in a 4-2 victory.

An All-Star in 2007, opposing hitters are batting .205 against Young since the beginning of the 2006 season - the lowest average against any pitcher with at least 300 innings during that span. However, the Padres starter has dropped three straight decisions to the Giants and is 1-4 with a 4.03 ERA in eight career starts against them.

Young might want to be careful against San Francisco outfielder Fred Lewis, who has a hit in all five games. Lewis, who has started 8-for-16, has two hits in four career at-bats against Young.

The Giants announced Saturday that reliever Joe Martinez, who earned the win in Tuesday's opener, will need to rest at least a month before resuming physical activity. Martinez was hit by a line drive on the right forehead in the ninth inning of Thursday's 7-1 home win over Milwaukee and remains in a San Francisco hospital.