World Series Game 1 preview: Tim Lincecum vs Cliff Lee
The World Series begins Wednesday in San Francisco with two former Cy Young award winners going head-to-head for the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants.
Cliff Lee will pitch for the Rangers at AT&T Park against Tim ‘The Freak’ Lincecum. Lee is 3-0 in this year’s playoffs with an ERA of 0.75, and Lincecum is 2-1 with an ERA of 1.93.
It’s not Lee’s first trip to the World Series, as he won two games for the Philadelphia Phillies last year in a losing cause, and is 7-0 in eight career playoff starts. Part of his success can be attributed
to the composure Lee has when on the mound in the playoffs.
"I don't feel any more pressure," Lee said. "To me, we're fortunate to be in this spot. We're one of two teams left playing. We should go out there and have fun and play the way we can, and things are
going to work out."
It’s Lincecum’s first time in the playoffs, but he’s already proven to be a playoff performer. In his first playoff game, Lincecum pitched a complete game, 1-0 win over the Atlanta Braves. He also picked
up 14 strikeouts in that game.
One advantage the Giants have over the Rangers is that most of the hitters on the team are familiar with Lee after he spend much of his career in the National League, but few of the hitters on the Rangers
have seen much of Lincecum. Giants’ shortstop, Juan Uribe, is 11 for 37 against Lee with two home runs and seven RBIs while Aaron Rowand has an average of .280 against Lee with a home run and two RBIs.
The Giants ended the regular season with a team 3.36 ERA that was good enough to be the best in the Major Leagues, while the Rangers ended the regular season leading the Majors in batting average at .276.
The combination of the two should make for an exciting World Series.
"The biggest key to pitching to them is to establish throwing strikes early and get them to swing early," said pitcher Chris Ray, who was traded from Texas to San Francisco on 1 July of this year. "Once
you get behind on the count, let them get comfortable and let them wait on pitches, that's when they can be dangerous."
One player the Giants will be focusing on is American League Championship Series’ (ALCS) Most Valuable Player, Josh Hamilton, who hit .350 against the Yankees in the ALCS with four home runs. That’s as
many home runs as the entire Giants team hit in the National League Championship Series (NLCS).
"He doesn't have one specific weakness," said Javier Lopez, who after emerging as the Giants’ lefty specialist, expects to see the left-handed hitting Hamilton a few times in this series. "He can cover
the [strike] zone pretty well and he has power to all fields. He has the perfect swing for that ballpark, but he has enough power to hit it out of any park."
Prediction: The Giants have the pitching to compete against the Rangers, and over the entire series that pitching may make all the difference, but in Game 1 Cliff Lee is going to be able
to shut down the Giants offence with little difficulty. Lincecum will pitch well, but he’ll fall in a 2-1 Rangers win.
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