SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A few months after he was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Joc Pederson joined some Palo Alto High School friends and made the trip up to downtown San Francisco to watch the Giants hold the first of three parades. Pederson is likely the only person who was in attendance that day who later stepped into the batter's box against the biggest star of that 2010 team.
Pederson made it to the big leagues in 2014 and was a full-timer by the next season, giving him a few opportunities to face off against Tim Lincecum, a player he grew up watching on TV and during visits to Oracle Park. On this week's Giants Talk Podcast, he said those matchups stand out in terms of his past history with the Giants.
"It was always kind of cool facing Tim Lincecum just because I grew up watching him pitch, but I never got to experience the real Tim Lincecum," he said. "The Timmy I faced was pitching and he was very smart and knew how to pitch, whereas the Timmy that was the superstar knew how to pitch and had, like, the most electric stuff, too."
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Lincecum was far down the back nine of his career by the time Pederson broke through, but he still was capable of turning the clock back at times. In their nine matchups, Pederson fared pretty well, picking up two doubles, two singles, two RBI and striking out twice.
As Pederson was getting used to the rivalry, older teammates gave him a sense of what facing vintage Lincecum -- the two-time Cy Young Award winner -- was like.
"I heard stories, though, from past Dodgers that said he was about as gross as it gets," Pederson said. "That was the nastiest pitcher. You just chalked it up to being a tough three, four at-bats and he was going to go seven innings and shove."
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Pederson, who grew up in Palo Alto, actually had pretty good success against the stars of those teams he watched. He had two doubles and a walk in six plate appearances against Matt Cain, and while he's just 2-for-9 against Madison Bumgarner, he does have a homer, a difficult feat in that left-on-left matchup.
He also had a homer and single in four matchups with Ryan Vogelsong, who was the first member of those championship teams to help welcome Pederson to this side of the rivalry. Vogelsong is now a roving pitching instructor for the Giants and has been in their big league camp.