There might not be anything better for a baseball fan than to watch the final inning of a no-hitter.
That opportunity presented itself again last Wednesday afternoon when Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum retired the Padres in 1-2-3 fashion in the ninth inning to close out his second career no-no, both against the Pads.
The final inning was televised by both ESPN and the MLB Network.
While Lincecum isn’t the same overpowering pitcher he was when winning two National League Cy Young Awards, he still has the wherewithal to deliver a gem like the one he unleashed at their NL West rivals at AT&T Park.
He looks different and pitches different.
The shoulder-length hair is gone and the mustache he’s sporting looks pretty cool. His fastball peeks in the 80s, compared to the old-day 90s, but he changes speeds and when he locates the way he did against San Diego, he is one tough hurler.
Kudos from GWE to the Renton, WA native.
And here are this week’s Power Rankings:
1. Athletics (1): Oh, great, at least 10 more years of much-deserved bashing of the Oh, no.com facility.
2. Dodgers (4): It’s starting to look a lot like last season’s mid-season surge for the Bums of LA.
3. Angels (3): The hot over-under bet is how many consecutive games AP will play before getting injured.
4. Giants (2): Lincecum’s no-hitter sure put the brakes on what had been a rock- solid season.
5. Mariners: (5): King Felix and Robinson Cano is the Mariners’ best star tandem since Johnson- Griffey Jr.
6. Astros: (8): The up-and-coming Astros have reached rarified air, for them, in the GW Power Rankings.
7. Rangers (6): It’s hard to believe that the Rangers are the second-best MLB team in the state of Texas.
8. Rockies (7): If nothing else, the slumping Rockies certainly have seen some weird base-running lately.
9. Diamondbacks (10): 1B Paul Goldschmidt looks like the D-Backs’ first All-Star starter since ’01.
10. Padres (9): The only thing “perfect” about this season is closer Huston Street, 21-for-21 in saves.
(Last week’s ranking in parenthesis)