by By Andy Martino; Inquirer Staff Writer , The Philadelphia Inquirer

But both won a Cy Young Award last year, both are essential to their team's playoff hopes, and both have pitched brilliantly in this series. The night after Lee pitched a complete game in his Phillies debut, Lincecum posted eight shutout innings last night to beat the Phils, 2-0, at AT&T Park.

The Phillies have lost three of their last four games, largely because of a suddenly silent offense. They went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight baserunners.

After Lee's sparkling performance, the other team flaunted its best pitcher last night. The 25-year-old Lincecum, whose long hair and slacker countenance recall Sean Penn's Spicoli character in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High , sports a dominant repertoire that seems unlikely given his 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame.

But with help from an anachronistic windup, Lincecum is able to fire a mid-90s fastball, and complement it with a fluttering change-up and hard slider. The combination led to an early-career Cy Young Award and an all-star starting assignment this year

"His stuff is very good, across the board," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said before the game. "Doesn't mean we can't beat him, though, because we have."

Except for a late-inning burst of runs Friday made possible in large measure by an abundance of walks given up by the Giants' bullpen, the Phils' offense has lagged of late. Lincecum was hardly an ideal opponent for a team trying to shake recent flatness, and the lineup was virtually silent in the early innings.

The Phils' first hit came by way of a Jimmy Rollins single with two out in the third. Rollins worked hard to ignite a rally, stealing second and third. Though Jayson Werth walked, Chase Utley grounded out to end the inning.

Two more Phillies singled in the fourth, Raul Ibanez and Pedro Feliz, but Lincecum breezed through a two-out at-bat against Paul Bako, using two vanishing change-ups to induce swings on strikes two and three.

But Joe Blanton, he of the 1.21 July earned run average, traded scoreless innings with Lincecum until the fifth. Through the first 41/2 innings, the righthander allowed as many hits as he collected.

Blanton singled to lead off the fifth, and went to second on Werth's one-out single. After Utley struck out waving at a diving slider, Ryan Howard loaded the bases when he reached on a slow single hit to shallow right. It was the Phils' first hit in five at-bats with runners in scoring position, but Ibanez spoiled the rally by grounding out.

Former Phillie Aaron Rowand hit a one-out double in the bottom of the inning, and went to third on Fred Lewis' infield single. Juan Uribe drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly to Matt Stairs in shallow right. Stairs charged to make the catch, and fired a sharp throw home. But Bako caught it low, and could not tag Rowand.

Though he had allowed seven hits in the first five innings, Lincecum appeared even stronger in the two innings following the Phils' aborted rally, pitching a perfect sixth and seventh. San Francisco added another run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Uribe.

Contact staff writer Andy Martino at 215-854-4874 or amartino@phillynews.com.

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