Tim Lincecum pitches magnificently, Giants take first game from Jays - McCovey Chronicles

Here's a pitch from April 9th: 
That's the only swing and miss Tim Lincecum had on a curveball all season until Tuesday night.

This gem is from Grant Brisbee at the McCovey Chronicles blog. Are you serious?!? Lincecum came into the league dealing killer-curves and this is the 1st swing-and-a-miss all season?

That is in-freaking-credible. Sorry honey, not a cuss-euphemism.

BTW: I also agree with his theory about the feel for the release point on the CB translating to  better feel for the release point on the FB transferring into better overall control of both pitches. Something to factor into the mix when calling pitches for the Bochy-Righetti-Posey brain trust.

from the McCovey Chronicles:
Tim Lincecum pitches magnificently, Giants take first game from Jays - McCovey Chronicles:

Again, this is not made up! Fifty-nine curveballs before the Blue Jays came to down. One swing and a miss. So it's not like the Giants were ignoring a secret weapon that was covered up in the barn. Lincecum hasn't felt comfortable with his curve in a while, and it showed.

For some reason, he was all curveballs on Tuesday. And it worked beautifully. Of the 31 curves he threw tonight, 17 went for strikes. Three were swings and misses.

And I'm no Don Raghette here, but maybe there's something about the curveball that helps him get on top of his other pitches -- the more he throws the curve, the more he throws his fastball for strikes. That kind of thing. Just an unsupported theory.

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