Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of a Diamondback. Be he live, or be he dead,: I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

I really wonder what’s going through Paul Goldschmidt’s mind right now.

In the Diamondbacks farm system, the name “Lincecum” is spoken in hushed tones, as tales of his disappearing changeup are told in campfire stories and pranksters with long wigs jump out of the bushes to scare the bageezus out of gullible young players. Each player has a story of facing the mighty Sampson and flailing wildly at a pitch that just isn’t there anymore.

Goldschmidt heard these stories, like the rest of them. He was called up on August 1, at the beginning of Arizona’s series against the Giants, and he felt the familiar butterflies begin in his stomach. He had managed to poke a single against Matt Cain the day before in his first at-bat, but had failed to get on base after that.

And then, finally, he faced Lincecum, and he didn’t see what the fuss was about, and he crushed a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall to give his team the lead. A month later, on September 3, he took Lincecum deep on a 2-0 pitch. In his career, Goldschmidt has 12 home runs, and four of them are against Tim Lincecum. Goldschmidt knows the cheat code for hitting Timmy’s pitches, and I sure hope he doesn’t share it with his teammates. Meanwhile, Miguel Montero is batting .174/.208/.239 against Lincecum. Justin Upton has a .256/.311/.410 line. Chris Young is at .163/.255/.347.

Before tonight, Paul Goldschmidt was batting .545/.583/1.455.

***

But aside from that, I almost don’t care what the score was tonight. A sweep would’ve been most excellent, sure, but tonight was more about Tim Lincecum, who looked great. His fastball velocity hovered around 90-91, and maxed out at 93.1. He got whiffs with each of his pitches, and struck out six while walking five. Those walks are distressing, but he only gave up four hits. More importantly, he managed to pitch his way out of trouble, something that he’s failed at doing so far this year. Timmy, please turn the corner. Please.

***

Congrats, Melky.

***

I’m pretty sleep deprived, so let me do these next bits pretty quickly:

Brandon Watch 2012:

0

Stats of the Day:

 7: Career hits by Paul Goldschmidt against Tim Lincecum

4: Career home runs by Paul Goldschmidt against Tim Lincecum

5: Runners left on base by Buster Posey

7: Hits by the Giants 1-5 hitters today

0: Hits by the Giants 6-9 hitters today

Bonus Stat of the Day: