Numbers favor Lincecum; in praise of Schierholtz

Saturday, June 9

SAN FRANCISCO — If you believe in statistics, then you’ll believe that Tim Lincecum holds a decided edge as he approaches Sunday’s start against the Texas Rangers.

Manolo Hernandez Douen, the fine baseball writer whose blog, Beisbol Por Gotas, is must reading, pointed out some intriguing facts to me after the Giants’ 5-2 victory over Texas on Saturday. During the Rangers’ weeklong Bay Area visit during which they’ve played the A’s and Giants, they’ve scored two earned runs in 30 2/3 innings against four right-handed starters: Oakland’s Jarrod Parker, Bartolo Colon and Brandon McCarthy and San Francisco’s Ryan Vogelsong. Contrast that with the nine runs in 10 2/3 innings that the Rangers