by By RICHARD JUSTICE, houston chronicle , The Houston Chronicle

Record: 38-41.

Today: at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Pitchers: Roy Oswalt (4-4) vs. Randy Johnson (8-5).

TV/radio: KTXH; 740 AM, 1010 AM (Spanish).

SAN FRANCISCO - There was a moment in the fourth inning Saturday afternoon at AT&T Park when Tim Lincecum reminded the Astros that this day was going to be about him. Not about them.

This one was about his time, his greatness. The Astros would lose again, badly, this time 9-0.

Except this loss wasn't like some other losses. This was one of those days that was about the other guy.

Now if you're keeping score at home, you might have noticed the Astros have been outscored 22-0 in the first two games of this series. You also might have noticed they're again three games under .500 at 38-41 and closer to last place than first.

The Astros haven't had a runner reach third base since leaving San Diego on Thursday, and it will be Roy Oswalt vs. Randy Johnson in the final game of the series this afternoon. Winning today would mean a 4-3 trip and a bit of momentum as the Astros head home for eight games leading up to the All-Star break.

So is today's game a bit more important than your average 80th game of your average season?

"As important as it can get," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said.

Aren't these managers such worrywarts?

"It would be nice to win (today), but if we don't win, it won't be the end of the world," Lance Berkman said. "We don't want to squander what started out to be a pretty good road trip. I knew this was going to be a tough series. You look at who they had going."

Whiff, whiff, whiff

Well, the Giants didn't exactly run Juan Marichal out there Friday, but the Astros didn't score off rookie Ryan Sadowski, either.

As for Saturday, it wasn't about the Astros or their starter, Russ Ortiz, or anyone else. Ortiz (3-4) was hit hard, allowing eight earned runs in 52/3 innings, but he would have needed to be perfect to leave the ballpark with a victory.

The fourth inning provided a look at Baseball's best pitcher at the top of his game.

Berkman led off by dumping a double into the left-field corner, and the Astros had an honest-to-goodness chance to score a run off Lincecum.

That's when Lincecum threw a sequence of pitches that might someday accompany him to Cooperstown. Lincecum struck out three straight Astros .

The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner didn't just strike them out. He struck them out with a combination of power and finesse, a combination only a few pitchers are capable of putting together.

Lincecum set up Carlos Lee with a 95 mph fastball, then got him lunging at an 80 mph slider. One out.

He started Geoff Blum out with a changeup-curveball combination, then blew him away with a pair of 95 mph fastballs. Two outs.

He started Hunter Pence out with a pair of fastballs, then two changeups before finishing him with a knee-buckling curveball. Three outs.

Wheels fall off for Ortiz

The Giants broke it open with two runs off Ortiz in the fifth and six more in the sixth. In fact, Lincecum scored in both innings after reaching base on walks.

He probably needed just one of those runs to win. Lincecum departed after the seventh to a rousing ovation and with his scoreless streak at 23 innings.

"Good pitching will make you look flat," Cooper said.

Lincecum (9-2) allowed five baserunners on three hits and a pair of walks. The Astros had runners in scoring position three times but were 0-for-6 in those situations.

"When those elite pitchers get on a roll, it's impressive," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's where he is right now. He's commanding all his pitches, doing all the things great players do."

richard.justice@chron.com

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