The Old Man vs. The Freak, Part 2

The San Francisco Giants (12-6-3) head over to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick tonight to take on a Colorado Rockies (9-8) split squad. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. (PT).

RHP Tim Lincecum (2-0, 4.50) will make his fifth spring start. LHP Jamie Moyer (1-0, 1.80) is on the hill for the Rox.

Fifteen days ago, these same two teams—and same two pitchers—squared off at Scottsdale Stadium, with the grizzled vet showing his young, whipper-snapping counterpart a thing or two. In that game, Moyer tossed two scoreless innings while Lincecum got shelled in his two frames, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk.

But that was so, well, 15 days ago.

Timmy looked like he was in mid-season form last Saturday against the A’s, when he tossed six solid innings. He gave up just a run on six hits and no walks, while striking out four.

The two-time Cy Young award winner has been steadily working his way into Opening Day form, relying mostly on his fastball this spring and sprinkling in the changeup and curve. Evidently, he’s been saving his slider for later. Maybe today?

Meanwhile, Moyer is pushing 50 and wasn’t even sure he would be able to pitch again after undergoing Tommy John surgery in Nov. 2010. But the Rockies have an opening in their starting rotation and handed the lefty a non-roster invitation. It’s amazing to think that Moyer threw his first major league pitch on June 16, 1986—one day after Timmy turned two years old.

On Monday, after missing a few days with a sore left leg, Moyer gave up four earned runs on six hits (two of them homers) in just 1.1 innings against a Diamondbacks Triple-A squad.  The Rockies hope to get about 50 pitches out of Moyer tonight.

Tonight’s game will be broadcast on KNBR 680 AM.

 

Starting lineups will appear here later today…

 

Position battles: Below are the number of innings that each player has logged at his position(s), through the Giants’ first 21 Cactus League games.

C — Stewart (52), Whiteside (44), H. Sanchez (40), Posey (21), J. Williams (15), Susac (9), Joseph (6)
1B — Pill (63), Belt (50), Huff (39), Dominguez (30), Oropesa (3), Anders (3)
2B — Fontenot (42), Burriss (41), Theriot (38), Noonan (31), Panik (18), Arias (17)
3B — Sandoval (80), Gillaspie (70), Dominguez (12), Arias (12), Burriss (8), Noonan (4), Theriot (1)
SS — Crawford (69), Arias (42), Theriot (30), Burriss (17), Adrianza (15), Fontenot (9), Panik (5)
LF — Cabrera (52), Christian (45), Perez (21), Belt (18), Pill (17), Burriss (14), Graham (8), Huff (5), Parker (5), Simmons (2)
CF — Pagan (59), Blanco (54), Brown (30), Graham (28), Cabrera (11), Lollis (3), Christian (1)
RF — Schierholtz (59), Kieschnick (29), Blanco (26), Perez (21), Christian (18), Belt (17), Graham (11), Burriss (3), Parker (3)