SAN FRANCISCO — It was bring-your-dog-to-the-ballpark day at AT&T Park, and before the first pitch Saturday night, the Giants’ clubhouse was a virtual pound as well. A group of players laughed when Tim Lincecum’s white bulldog, Cy, chased Brian Wilson’s little yip-yip pinscher down the hallway and into Manager Bruce Bochy’s office.

As it turned out, both dogs had their day.
Lincecum used his devastating change-up to shut out the Philadelphia Phillies through eight innings and Wilson didn’t allow a runner in the ninth as the Giants resumed their playoff push with a 2-0 victory.
It was the Giants’ major-league-leading 15th shutout this season. They already are within five of matching the franchise record in the San Francisco era.
This one was notable because it came against the highest-scoring team in the National League, as the Phillies’ swarm of powerful left-handed hitters kept swinging over the top of Lincecum’s disappearing change-up. It’s a pitch he didn’t have two years ago, when he got cuffed around by the Phillies in his major league debut.
And, yes, he remembers every detail of that game.
“The two home runs, the walks, (Shane) Victorino stealing bases “...” Lincecum said. “Definitely, a lot has changed since then.”
Giants center fielder Aaron Rowand was in the lineup for the Phillies when Lincecum made his debut May 6, 2007. When they bombed Lincecum again 28 days later, Rowand took him deep.
Rowand remembered what the scouting reports told him about the rookie.
“Fastball, curve,” Rowand said. “That’s it. If he even had a change-up, he wasn’t throwing it. You’ve seen what that pitch does for him. It’s taken him from being a star to a Cy Young, and probably more than once.”
The Giants managed two sacrifice flies by Juan Uribe, and Rowand made a nifty slide around catcher Paul Bako to score the first run in the fifth inning.
Third-base coach Tim Flannery aggressively sent Rowand when Uribe lofted a flyball to shallow right field with one out. The throw beat Rowand to the plate, but he twisted his body as he maneuvered around the tag.
“We’re taking the gamble there,” Flannery said. “The pitcher is coming up after that, and we weren’t going to hit for Timmy. You prep ’em and pray.”
Rowand received postgame intervention, too. He was struck just above the left elbow by a pitch from Joe Blanton in the seventh inning; X-rays did not reveal a fracture, but the elbow was stiff and swollen.
Rowand had just returned to the lineup Friday night from an eight-day absence after getting hit by a pitch on the right forearm in Atlanta.
“Apparently I’m a ball magnet,” said Rowand, who wasn’t sure which baseball god he angered over the All-Star break. “It’s frustrating when you don’t get it to nick your jersey or glance off. It’s square when it hits you.”
The Phillies squared up a few against Lincecum, but he tightened his grip with runners on base. His toughest escape came in the fifth, when Ryan Howard hit into the infield shift but second baseman Eugenio Velez failed to charge the ball in shallow right field. Howard beat the throw for an infield single that loaded the bases.
But Lincecum threw a first-pitch curveball to Raul Ibanez, who grounded out.
Lincecum (12-3) tied teammate Matt Cain and three others for the N.L. lead in victories. Lincecum’s 2.18 ERA is third in the league, behind the St. Louis Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter (2.10) and Cain (2.12).
The Giants are tied with Colorado for the N.L. wild-card lead, and if they edge themselves into the playoffs, the N.L. East-leading Phillies would be a likely first-round opponent.
And you know the adage about good pitching vs. good hitting “...
“Timmy’s amazing — executing pitch after pitch,” Rowand said. “He’s a horse. He and Matty, both of them. You can’t ever count out a team with two guys like that.”