For the second straight season, the San Francisco Giants got shutout at home in game 162 by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Unfortunately, the fan base pushed that off to the side as we celebrated the managerial career of Bruce Bochy and rightfully so as he was the man who guided three teams to World Series titles.

Many former players from 2007 through 2014 descended to Oracle Park for Bochy’s final game. It was amusing to see the faces of Ray Durham, Pedro Feliz, and Fred Lewis who represent exactly what the Giants were when Bochy started his tenure.

Abysmal.

Then more and more we started to see the core members who were apart of the championship runs. Angel Pagan, Jake Peavy, Brian Wilson among others who all got great ovations and rightfully so as they brought the entire city what years of former players could not.

Yet even on Bochy’s day of days it almost felt as if the return of Tim Lincecum stole the show. After four years, Lincecum’s homecoming to 24 Willie Mays Plaza actually happened and the appreciation given off was so pure and thunderous as if the day was meant for him.

Smiles and tears coming from the fans. Hugs coming from former players and those who are still on the team display what Lincecum means to the city of San Francisco and the Giants organization. He started all of this.

His two Cy Young awards from 2008-2009 brought the fans in every time he was on the mound even with the team not having the capability to win games. He practically put the team on his back in the 2010 Postseason going 4-1 with 43 strikeouts. He was as dominant as any pitcher could be that October.

What also made Lincecum so great for San Francisco was him not having an ego. His love and passion he had in a Giants jersey yet still looking like this average skinny kid who was having fun made everybody love him more. If I may, he was Steph Curry before Steph Curry. Personally, I had a few encounters with Lincecum and he was always in a lively mood, always willing to stop and sign autographs for kids waiting outside the ballpark.

At 34-years-old he believed he could help a big-league team, yet no opportunity came knocking after the Texas Rangers released him in June 2018. Now 35, Lincecum has kept a low-profile living life in his hometown of Seattle and the Bay Area. But in the end, that’s what he always did even at the peak of his career.

But even with all the accolades it’s sad to know that baseball has given up on Lincecum yet the city of San Francisco will always show appreciation for “The Freak.”