Hunter Strickland's meltdown, on the mound and off, has Giants looking for help

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Hunter Strickland, the 26-year-old right-hander from Georgia who could throw a fastball through a barn door, found himself in his catcher's arms, in the World Series, which, by itself, sounds pretty good.

But, and, well, here's the thing, the folks around him were not jubilant, unless you count the crowd at Kauffman Stadium, which by then technically was a mix of thrilled to be pounding the heck out of Strickland and ticked that their guy was being yelled at by Strickland. Who stared at whom first, and who said what, and why any of that really mattered would be detailed (and shaded blue or orange) later.

What counted in what could be Strickland's final meaningful pitches of the postseason was this:

First, those pitches finished the San Francisco Giants in Game 2. The Kansas City Royals went to work on the Giants' bullpen on Wednesday night, won by 7-2, and head to San Francisco with the series tied at one.

[World Series: Five key moments from Royals' 7-2 win over Giants]

Second, they could bear Tim Lincecum's first meaningful pitches of the postseason. That is, unless Lincecum is hurt, so, yeah, Bruce Bochy's seamless bullpen has frayed at least a little. In the eighth inning, two innings after Strickland imploded, Lincecum, pitching for the first time since Sept. 28, left a batter in mid-count and returned to the dugout. He experienced tightness in his lower back. So, perhaps, we'll be seeing more of Yusmeiro Petit, or even less of Lincecum, or some middle-inning combination of the three, and it's a good thing for the Giants their manager is generally decent at sorting this out.

A very distant third: Buster Posey had to grab hold of Strickland, who presumably was tired of giving up October home runs (five, from 23 batters faced), because Strickland and Royals catcher Salvador Perez spent some time in the sixth inning disagreeing over which of them was being the bigger jerk.

When the game was over and he'd had time to pull his cowboy boots on, Strickland copped to, if not instigating, at least letting the situation – a two-run double followed by a two-run home run, all in six pitches, all advancing the Royals' lead from 3-2 to 7-2 – wreck his composure. To which the Royals almost certainly would have agreed.

Perez, who'd laced the two-run double, waited for Omar Infante, who'd banged the two-run home run, at home plate. They'd account for the last and the loudest of that five-run sixth, an inning that began with starter Jake Peavy on the mound and the score 2-2.

Perez said he thought Strickland was staring at him at second base, so he stared back rounding third, and this is where the game devolved into two kids in the backseat of an overheated station wagon on their way to Worlds of Fun.

"So he was telling me, 'Get out of here, whatever,' " Perez recalled. "So I don't know. You don't have to treat me like that. Look at Omar. Omar hit a bomb. I didn't hit a bomb. I hit a double."

So it went.

[World Series: Royals' bullpen shuts out Giants over final 11 outs]

This is about when Posey wrapped up Strickland, perhaps as much out of fear he might throw another fastball.

"I just feel like I wasn't happy with myself," said Strickland, at the far end of a whirlwind two months. "I got caught up and obviously didn't control my emotions like I should've."

He smiled ruefully and said he hoped he hadn't used up all of Bochy's trust in him, but that big fastball tends to get straight and Strickland has tended to leave it up in the strike zone. Ask Bryce Harper. He hit two of those, one of which might still be rolling. And, look, get six or seven innings out of a starter and these aren't an issue for the Giants, whose bullpen's back end is solid. But, Peavy went five-plus Wednesday night and Games 3 and 4 will feature Tim Hudson, who has been better in October, and Ryan Vogelsong, who'd done well enough in October until the NLCS.

These games tend to turn into bullpen events, and that means a club can't be short a man or two, whether that's for injury or flammability.

"We're going to need help in the sixth, seventh inning," said Bochy, who's been through more than his share of postseason series. "I like the way [Lincecum] threw the ball today. …So he can be in the mix.

"Now I'll have to see how he's doing tomorrow and where we're at, but I was happy for him. He should feel good about how he threw the ball. He's going to be a guy that, if he's healthy, we'll probably use in that area."

See how fast these things turn? In a five-run deficit, Lincecum retired four consecutive Royals, all through the heart of the order. He felt something pull in his lower back while facing the fifth – Alex Gordon – then threw one more pitch. He looked reasonably comfortable before that, liked his fastball, thought his changeup was workable, and suddenly was being chaperoned to the dugout.

"I think it's a combination of frustration and anger," said Lincecum, among the golden boys from championships in 2010 and '12, then banished from the rotation and, eventually, a specific role in the bullpen.

Now, it seems, they'll need him healthy and they'll need him effective, neither of which is a sure thing. That could be a problem for the Giants, particularly if bullpen acumen becomes a clear advantage for the Royals.

The Giants had taken a chance on Strickland, first when they claimed him off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates in April, and then again when they included him on their postseason roster – four times now – based on 38 2/3 minor-league innings followed by 25 big-league hitters faced in September. He arrived from Double-A on Sept. 1, faced 25 batters, threw some fastballs that threatened 100 mph, got some big outs, and away he went. Well, away they went together. It was a wonderful story until it wasn't, and it wasn't again Wednesday night.

"It is what it is and it's part of the game," Strickland said. "Obviously I'm not too excited about not performing. I'm going to make the adjustments and get better."

He might not have the chance. Or, the Giants might absolutely need him to figure it out, like, immediately. It's the nature of October, and a reasonable shot at their third championship in four years could depend on it. Now if they could just get Posey to let go of him.

More MLB coverage: