DOWN THE LINE

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy had better pray Tim Lincecum holds up. The Giants are going nowhere, Lincecum is their wonder child on the mound, and nonetheless Bochy brought him back after a 74-minute rain delay at Dodger Stadium last week.

Bochy said Lincecum assured the Giants’ staff he had pitched after rain delays, in high school and at the University of Washington. Lincecum later admitted he never had returned after so long a delay.

Lincecum, who does not ice his arm after pitching, said he felt fine after the game.

You can lose 100 games, but don’t dare lose him

“People have called me a freak of nature before,” he said. “Now they have another reason.”

Maybe we shouldn’t have picked the Mariners

The story line from opening week: Blown saves.

The Pirates blew a five-run lead in the ninth inning last Monday, one of a record eight blown saves on opening day. All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, whose two blown saves in the final weekend last season cost the Padres a playoff spot, blew his second chance this season.

The blown saves of greatest concern: The Brewers gave Eric Gagne $10 million, after he pitched poorly as a setup man for the Red Sox and before he was cited in the Mitchell Report, and he gave up a three-run lead on opening day.

And Mariners All-Star J.J. Putz blew his second save chance, then went on the disabled list because of inflammation around his ribs. That leaves the Seattle bullpen manned by no one who has spent a full season in the major leagues.

Not that there’s any pressure on the Cubs

Alfonso Soriano wasn’t supposed to hit leadoff for the Cubs. Brian Roberts was, but he’s still in Baltimore, after the Cubs and Orioles spent part of the winter and all of the spring failing to agree on what players the Cubs would trade for Roberts.

Soriano started the season batting second, behind Ryan Theriot, but he went 0 for 9 in the first two games. So Manager Lou Piniella restored him to the leadoff spot, flipping him with Theriot in the first week of a season in which the Cubs are expected to win and flipping out at all the questions about how he determines the lineup.

“It’s not the most difficult thing to do in the world,” he told reporters in Chicago. “It’s not as hard as doing the crossword puzzle of the New York Times.”

Welcome back, sir, whatever your size

Kent Mercker made his major league debut in 1989, and the well-traveled reliever has pitched for nine teams -- including the Angels in 2000, when he suffered a brain hemorrhage while pitching.

He’s 40 now, back with the Reds after Tommy John surgery. He made his first major league pitch in 19 months last week, but he said he didn’t feel like a rookie.

“When I ran in from the bullpen, I felt my love handles jiggling,” Mercker told Cincinnati reporters, “so I knew I wasn’t a rookie anymore.”

Let’s play two; let’s pitch 13

A tip of the cap to Dodgers clubhouse manager Mitch Poole, who hung Duke Snider and Sandy Koufax jerseys in locker stalls for the exhibition game at the Coliseum. Snider had the first hit for the Dodgers in the Coliseum, in 1958, and Koufax threw the last pitch for the Dodgers there, in 1961.

The Dodgers won that final game, 3-2, before a crowd of 12,068, over a Chicago Cubs team with a double-play combination of Don Zimmer at second base and Ernie Banks at shortstop. Koufax pitched a complete game -- in 13 innings.

No pitcher could try that today. If pitch counts did not get him, his agent would run out to the mound and get him.

-- Bill Shaikin