Lincecum K's 15 Cannibals in TG Division Opener

St Albans Messenger, 5 October 2010

In front of a sellout Junkyard crowd of over 49,000 screaming TrashHeap fans, 25 year old NASBL strikeout leader and NJT ace Tim Lincecum (19-8, 2.81, 290 K's) took the hill to face yet another hard-throwing recent 1st-round selection, LCC's 21 year old Clayton Kershaw (13-10, 3.75, 257 K's.)

Though billed as a pitcher's duel, the matchup started out as a one-sided affair. The Freak, as the lanky dope-farming NJT ace is known, seemed a little tense on the mound. Cannibal 5-hole hitter JD Drew shook off the Heap faithful's chants of "Nancy! Nancy!" with a 2nd inning leadoff double, and scored on a Brian McCann single to give LCC a 1-0 lead.

Following a scoreless frame by Kershaw, Lake Champlain scored 2 more runs on a Luis Castillo single and a Garrett "GI" Jones homerun.

In the 4th, LCC again used the longball to post a crooked number. This time a Brian McCann single was the duck, and a Ryan Zimmerman bomb was the noise that chased him from the pond.

But it was at this critical juncture, with LCC leading 5-0, that Veeck-like NJT GM John Moscariello came on the jumbotron and announced that Lincecum was looking like he needed a toke. In a scene straight out of Cheech Marin's fondest dreams, several thousand bong-wielding NJT fans obligingly charged the New Jersey dugout and provided first aid to the tightly-wound Heap pitcher.

From then on, things went up in smoke for the Cannibals. Lincecum settled in, striking out 10 Cannibis....errrrr....Cannibals in his final 5 scoreless innings of work.

Meanwhile, Lake Champlain starter Clayton Kershaw's season-long control problems (league-leading 134 walks) were manifesting themselves. In the bottom of the 4th Kershaw allowed a Joey Votto single, then walked 4 Heap hitters (Howie Kendrick, Chris Iannetta, Nick Swisher, and Ben Francisco), losing the shutout and leaving the bases saturated for Jason Frasor against Brad Hawpe. Frasor kept the game close by inducing an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

The Heap hung another deuce on the scoreboard in the 5th, this time on back-to-back-to-back hits (a Johnny Damon double, followed by RBI singles from Heapers Ian Kinsler and Joey Votto). NJT added single digits in both the 6th and 7th on a Brad Hawpe double plating JJ Hardy and a Mike Wuertz wild pitch scoring the unlikely drawee of 2 walks, Howie Kendrick (only 13 BB's in 287 regular season pa's).

The 6th run was enough for Lincecum, as his velocity, morale, and everything else remained high through the end of the game.

NJT 6 - LCC 5, New Jersey leads the series 1-0.

[1]BOXSCORE: 2010 Lake Champlain Cannibals At 2010 New Jersey Trash He 10/5/2010

[1] Cannibals AB R H RBI AVG Trash Heap AB R H RBI AVG
N.Johnson 1B 4 1 1 0 .250 A.Gonzalez SS 2 0 0 0 .000
T.Tulowitzki SS 3 0 0 0 .000 A-B.Hawpe PH,RF 3 0 1 1 .333
G.Jones LF 4 1 1 2 .250 R.Roberts LF 1 0 0 0 .000
A.Lind DH 4 0 0 0 .000 C-J.Damon PH,LF 3 1 1 0 .333
J.Drew RF 4 1 1 0 .250 I.Kinsler 2B 4 1 2 0 .500
B.McCann C 4 1 2 1 .500 J.Votto 1B 4 1 2 1 .500
R.Zimmerman 3B 4 1 1 2 .250 H.Kendrick DH 2 2 0 0 .000
C.Granderson CF 4 0 1 0 .250 A.Rodriguez 3B 3 0 0 0 .000
L.Castillo 2B 3 0 0 0 .000 C.Iannetta C 2 0 1 0 .500
D-S.Schumaker PH 1 0 0 1 .000
E-Y.Torrealba C 0 0 0 0 ----
N.Swisher RF,CF 3 0 0 1 .000
B.Francisco CF 1 0 0 1 .000
B-J.Hardy SS 1 1 0 0 .000
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
[1] Totals 34 5 7 5 Totals 30 6 7 5

A-Pinch Hit For Gonzalez In 4th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Francisco In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Roberts In 5th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Iannetta In 7th Inning
E-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Schumaker In 8th Inning

Cannibals....... 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 7 0
Trash Heap...... 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 - 6 7 0

[1]Cannibals (0-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET
C.Kershaw 3 1/3 3 2 2 5 3 0 5.40 A1 B9
J.Frasor 1 2/3 3 2 2 0 1 0 10.80 C1 C7
E.Jackson HOLD(1st) 0 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 C8 C8
G.Gonzalez 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 ---- C9 C9
R.Wolf BS(1st) 0 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 D1 D2
M.Wuertz LOSS(0-1) 2 1/3 0 1 1 2 3 0 3.86 D3
[1]Totals 8 7 6 6 8 7 0

[1]Trash Heap (1-0) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET
T.Lincecum WIN(1-0) 9 7 5 5 1 15 2 5.00 A1
[1]Totals 9 7 5 5 1 15 2

ATTENDANCE- 49,082 DATE- Tuesday, October 5th 2010 TIME- Night
T- 2:41
LEFT ON BASE- Cannibals: 3 Trash Heap: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Cannibals: 1 Trash Heap: 0
DOUBLES- J.Drew(1st), C.Granderson(1st), B.Hawpe(1st), J.Damon(1st)
HOME RUNS- G.Jones(1st), R.Zimmerman(1st)
STOLEN BASES- T.Tulowitzki(1st), J.Votto(1st)
WALKS- T.Tulowitzki, R.Roberts, H.Kendrick-2, A.Rodriguez, C.Iannetta,
N.Swisher, B.Francisco, J.Hardy
STRIKE OUTS- N.Johnson-2, T.Tulowitzki, G.Jones-2, A.Lind, J.Drew-2, B.McCann,
R.Zimmerman-3, C.Granderson, L.Castillo-2, B.Hawpe, J.Votto-2,
A.Rodriguez, C.Iannetta, N.Swisher-2
GIDP- B.Hawpe
WILD PITCHES- J.Frasor, M.Wuertz
WEB GEMS- Bot 1st: J.D. Drew robbed Howie Kendrick of an extra base hit.

Tim Lincecum mowed down 15 Lake Champlain batters as the New Jersey Trash Heap
beat the Lake Champlain Cannibals by a score of 6 to 5.

Lincecum(1-0) was very good in the win. He allowed only 7 hits and 1 walk in
9 innings and surrendered 2 'long-bombs'. New Jersey and Lake Champlain each
finished the night with 7 hits.

Mike Wuertz(0-1) took the loss in relief. Lincecum was pleased with his
performance. He noted, 'I had good zip on my pitches. Just as important, my
location was right on. The fans really got into the game too - that always
helps me. Now, if I can only do that again in my next outing.'