I imagine this is probably the most worrisome game of this series for Rockies fans. Rightfully so, Lincecum, of course, is very very good and Chacin thus far is merely good. Alright, I'm biased and will upgrade that, Chacin thus far is merely very good. It is interesting to note that the way the two pitchers find success is different, for Chacin, it's been by having the second most valuable curveball among starters in the majors (to Brett Cecil) on a per pitch basis, as well as the NL's second most valuable slider (to Chad Billingsley) while both his fastball and changeup have graded as below par.
Yep. That's right, the guy who we've written up as a fastball/change-up master has been thriving off his other secondary stuff. This either bodes very very well for Chacin's future once those other two pitches live up to their potential, or indicates some very poor forecasting by certain writers who kept hyping how effective those other two pitches could be. And yes, just in case it wasn't clear, I'm talking to the reflection on my monitor.
Anyway, Lincecum has been thriving on his FB/Change-up combo this season, pairing them almost as effectively (but not quite) as the guy the Rockies have pitching tomorrow. I guess the typical expectation at Coors would be to trust the FB/Changeup guy over the SL/CB guy, particularly when it's Lincecum and a rookie. Let's not be so cliche, though. The machine wins tonight, the Rockies win tonight.
Go Rockies!