Lincecum Watch

Dr. X posts this from the Shea Stadium infirmary:

"The Fragile Phenom boggled the Mets tonight, although it was his second-worst outing YTD. In seven innings he struck out eight, walked three, and gave up three hits. The Mets got 3 earned runs. The Mets had obviously gotten advance word on him - they tried laying off the curveball, and they tried to advance their baserunners with steals and sac bunts. They still spent most of the night practicing their checked swings and trotting back to the dugout.

"Baseball statisticians have a metric known as the Quality Start - the number of times the pitcher has gone six or more innings while giving up no more than than three earned runs. Since his inauspicious Philadelphia debut, Lincecum has started four games and delivered four quality starts.

"Since Philadelphia he's struck out 27 and walked 6. Opposing teams (composed of highly-paid professional athletes) are batting .193 against him since he came up to the Majors.

"He's The Truth, at least until his arm falls off. Make a point of seeing him."