Pablo is the kind of player you just like giving nicknames to. He’s fun loving and kids enjoy watching someone who just looks like they’re having fun out there on the field. Pablo Sandoval kind of crept up on all of us. He wasn’t a high pick or a super prospect of any kind. And he achieved success at a fast pace. People forget that he’s still just 24 years old. His playful attitude has made him a fan favorite, but the same attitude has given fans some ammunition when he doesn’t play well. I can’t remember when Giants fans previously cared how much someone weighed, but they sure cared this offseason.

They cared so much that it overshadowed a lot of his problems last year that didn’t have anything to do with his weight. Sure, his range at third base seemed so much more limited than the year before. But if you went to some games last year, you’d notice that he was cheating to the left a little bit, and playing off the line. My guess is that he knew that neither Juan Uribe or Edgar Renteria was going to cover a lot of ground to their backhand so he wanted to see if he could get to some of those balls. And of course, he might’ve been cheating left a little bit because he was having trouble getting to his left as well.

But at the plate, I’m not so sure it was all that physical. All the smart ones will say that hitting is a mental game. He may have had trouble getting through the zone on inside pitches because of his size, but Prince Fielder carries a bigger boiler than Pablo did last year and he doesn’t seem to have the same problem. I really think it was mostly mental. Most every Giants fan knows that Pablo was going through a divorce last year. He has a young daughter. Those things can affect anyone in their life. Anyone whose gone through a divorce (raising my hand) knows that it’s such a complete mind f***, you find yourself day dreaming, playing scenarios through your head, thinking about the past, the future, and the people you’ve disappointed.

Something happens to second year hitters, especially those who are targeted as the big bat in the lineup. Pitchers target them. They study them harder. They found that they didn’t really need to throw Pablo strikes. He was such a free swinger that if they were off the plate by an inch or two, it didn’t matter. He was going to swing. In May of 2010, he saw his average drop from .352 to .293. By the end of July it was .264 and he ended the season at .268. I rewound my DVR a few times last year on some of his at-bats to see if pitchers were actually throwing him strikes at all. There were many an occasion where Pablo would strike out and not one pitch was in the zone. In baseball, it’s called, “getting yourself out”. The pitcher’s letting you get yourself out. Nope, I don’t think it was all physical.

Pablo worked hard in the offseason to take away the ammunition of his weight. So far, it’s paid off. His line is a strong .328/.400/.603. In fact, it’s so strong, it reminded me of the time he started this hot … in 2010. Through seventeen games last year, Pablo’s line was .333/.413/.561.

What are the takeaways? I think that mentally, Pablo is in a much stronger place than last season. He showed dedication by taking off the excess weight and becoming a better athlete. But I’d like to see him be much more consistent this year. Last year, along with his batting average, his on base percentage took a huge tumble, which means to me that when he’s hitting good, he’s much more patient than when he’s not. He’s more likely to “get himself out” when he’s struggling. Though, I think that’s very common with big league hitters. But the OBA took a bigger free fall than his batting average did last year.

The better he hits, the more pitchers will stay away from him. If he has the patience this year that he didn’t have last year, I think he has season closer to his 2009 breakout year than last year’s disappointing 2010. But let’s not get caught up in his hot start. The Blito started just as hot and continued to stay hot all through April, last year.

Even when they were on TV, I’d find myself listening to the game in my room while playing RBI Baseball on my NES. Tonight, I was outside playing catch with my ten year old (JJ) who wanted to get his arm ready to pitch in his little league game tomorrow. I rolled down the window in my car, turned on the car radio, and we started to play catch. About a minute later, Lincecum lost his no-hitter, so maybe we should’ve turned on the TV for old good luck’s sake.

But really, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Baseball is a better radio sport than a TV sport. There’s too much downtime in between pitches for TV to do the game justice. How often can you show the field or the crowd in between pitches? It’s why the analysts have to make things up to say during dead time. Baseball is a conversational game. You’re always talking to anyone within ear shot about what just happened or what’s going to happen. That’s why Twitter chatter is strong during baseball games. Even if you have no one to talk to, you have lots of people to talk to.

When Lincecum gave up his no-hitter on a 3-1 pitch to Carlos Gonzalez, JJ said his day was ruined. But he was just being dramatic and like nothing, he was back throwing me what he called his 2-seamer. He has crazy long Pedro Martinez-like fingers, so I stuck the ball in his hand in circle change grip and had him throw that too. It was falling off the table nicely. He’s my shortstop as well so I was working with him on rounding the ball. He seemed to get the idea near the end even if he was thinking about his feet too much. But you can do that while listening to baseball. As Linecum was throwing, JJ was throwing.

Lincecum has become the guy that young Giants fans mimic, much like I used to mimic Dwight Gooden when there wasn’t a Giants starter with a winning record, and later Mike Krukow when he won twenty games in 1986. JJ is built like Lincecum. He’s not tall, but he’s super thin and springy. When he looks at athletes who look like him, he sees Lincecum.

What kids will start to see as their baseball wisdom increases is that what makes Lincecum tick is his desire to compete. God gifted him with the ability to create tremendous velocity out of his wiry frame and the creativity to learn new pitches nearly on the fly. But what pushes him over the top, even beyond his ability should allow, is an insane love for winning baseball games. He hates to lose more than most. In a day and age where we try and measure everything, that desire is immeasurable.

The critics have been trying to dissect Lincecum from the start. He’s too small. His motion isn’t classic. His body won’t hold up. His breaking ball isn’t good enough. He’ll never last. Baseball critics and scouts, mostly smart people, have been predicting his demise for a while now. When writers talk about the top pitchers in the game, Linecum is put somewhere after Roy Halladay and Felix Hernandez and near Cliff Lee and Clayton Kershaw. None of those pitchers have clinched a World Series championship except for Lincecum. And when it mattered most, Lincecum beat Halladay and Lee both in the postseason.

So why doesn’t he get the acclaim after winning two Cy Young Awards and being the best player on a world championship team? It’s because he’s not three inches taller and twenty five pounds heavier. If he looked like Matt Cain, people would call him the best starting pitcher in game without fail.

Tonight, Lincecum did what your number one starter is supposed to do. He stepped on the mound in Colorado and shut down the team who had the best record in baseball. I heard on ESPN Radio over the weekend that Colorado was good enough to clinch the NL West so early that the Giants can forget about the division. People are saying that Troy Tulowitski has the NL MVP wrapped up just sixteen games into the season. Lincecum fanned him twice in three at bats. The Rockies are good, but tonight, they were no match for Lincecum.

When Lincecum’s on the mound, the team plays loose. They don’t feel like they can win with him on the mound. They simply know they’re going to win. They staked him out to a 5-0 and then 8-0 lead and he did the rest. His job was to pitch in the most difficult place to pitch for a visiting pitcher and shut down the so-called best team in baseball.

Even though Lincecum’s probably closer to 5’9 than his listed 6’0, he is a giant on the mound. Maybe that’s why JJ likes him so much. When he mimics Tim, he feels like a giant. Tomorrow, he’s going to find his Tulowitski and try and strike him out two times. Whether you call him The Freak, The Franchise, or Lincy, as my kids and me call him, just know that the Giants win games when he’s on the mound. The Rockies had no shot tonight.