Symbolically, Tim Lincecum walked to the mound against Cincinnati on Saturday as the Giants’ last line of defense against the forces of panic and despair.

It’s not quite fair to pile all that responsibility upon anybody’s shoulders in any single game in June, but there it was.

Freddy Sanchez had just gone down to a serious shoulder injury. Buster Posey has been down and out for a few weeks, of course.

The season is still young, and the Giants are still clinging to first place in the National League West.

But if the Giants were going to have a chance to feel halfway good about themselves this weekend, Lincecum was the one who had to start the party music.

And it did not happen.

Instead, after the Reds’ 10-2 victory at AT&T Park, there was mostly thick silence in the Giants’ clubhouse.

“It’s not about carrying the team, it’s just being a large aspect of it, and doing your job,” Lincecum said after giving up seven earned runs in four-plus innings, one of the worst outings of his glorious career.

“And I didn’t do mine today.”

What happens to the defending World Series champions if they can’t hit, if they don’t have Posey, and if Lincecum isn’t on top of his game?

We saw it Saturday — the sense of anxiety was a tangible presence amid the murmuring and the head-scratching in the stands.

Lincecum has done so much for this franchise, when he doesn’t deliver, the air gets mighty arid.

“I

know it looked bad today,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were off. Had a horrible game. This doesn’t happen very often. It just so happens it comes right after Freddy’s injury. These guys don’t make excuses.

“These guys, they’re not making excuses. “… It’s up to us to keep fighting. And these guys will.”

Usually, the charge starts with Lincecum, of course.

But this was the fourth consecutive — and easily the worst — sluggish outing for the two-time Cy Young winner, all dating to May 21, when Lincecum shut out the A’s.

In that game, Lincecum threw a season-high 133 pitches; that also was his last start before the Giants lost Posey, Lincecum’s trusted catcher, to a devastating ankle injury in late May.

In his four starts since, Lincecum has a 7.66 ERA, and his season ERA has gone from 2.06 to his current 3.41.

Lincecum had a similarly wobbly period last August, when he acknowledged some adjustment issues going from Bengie Molina to Posey behind the plate.

By last September, though, Lincecum was in lock step with Posey and was nearly perfect through the fall.

Right now, Lincecum is about as far from his September-October dominance as he can get.

“I still feel strong,” Lincecum said. “I don’t feel unhealthy. I don’t feel like anything’s bothering me. It’s just simply getting back to being me. Just driving to the plate, using the mechanics, keeping my rhythm.

“Kind of dumbifying myself, I guess you could say “… keeping it simple.”

Lincecum was all over the place from the outset, and the Reds were disciplined enough to make him pay; he threw 73 total pitches, only 36 for strikes.

He recorded only one strikeout, which, remarkably, is the lowest total of his career. In 136 previous outings (135 as a starter) — Lincecum had never recorded fewer than two strikeouts and had averaged 7.4 strikeouts per appearance.

That 133-pitch outing, in retrospect, sticks out like a sore statistical thumb.

“I don’t feel like it’s fatigue,” Lincecum said when asked about the effects of the May 21 game. “I don’t feel like I’m getting tired. I don’t feel like anything’s broken. I just feel like it’s a matter of just getting back to being me.”

That, perhaps, could suggest Lincecum has been thinking a little more on the mound now that he’s throwing to Eli Whiteside, not Posey.

In the third inning, there might have been a sign of some disconnect — with a runner on third, Lincecum threw a darting off-speed pitch that hit the dirt but looked stoppable.

Whiteside missed the ball, it skipped to the backstop, Brandon Phillips scored, putting the Reds up 3-0 and putting a scowl on Lincecum’s face.

Has the catcher change affected Lincecum at all?

“Not really,” Lincecum said. “Not at all. I mean, when you go out there, whether it’s with Whitey or (Chris) Stewart, you have to go out there and make pitches.”

Bochy said he continues to have the utmost confidence in Whiteside but added that he might get Stewart in there with Lincecum if the schedule works out right.

You count up all of the Giants’ woes, and you do have to ask: How much has to go wrong for them to be knocked out of first place?

At some point, it probably will come down to Lincecum, the Giants’ other key pitchers, and the refortifying of their last line of defense.

Read Tim Kawakami’s Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami. Contact him at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5442.

Symbolically, Tim Lincecum walked to the mound against Cincinnati on Saturday as the Giants’ last line of defense against the forces of panic and despair.

It’s not quite fair to pile all that responsibility upon anybody’s shoulders in any single game in June, but there it was.

Freddy Sanchez had just gone down to a serious shoulder injury. Buster Posey has been down and out for a few weeks, of course.

The season is still young, and the Giants are still clinging to first place in the National League West.

But if the Giants were going to have a chance to feel halfway good about themselves this weekend, Lincecum was the one who had to start the party music.

And it did not happen.

Instead, after the Reds’ 10-2 victory at AT&T Park, there was mostly thick silence in the Giants’ clubhouse.

“It’s not about carrying the team, it’s just being a large aspect of it, and doing your job,” Lincecum said after giving up seven earned runs in four-plus innings, one of the worst outings of his glorious career.

“And I didn’t do mine today.”

What happens to the defending World Series champions if they can’t hit, if they don’t have Posey, and if Lincecum isn’t on top of his game?

We saw it Saturday — the sense of anxiety was a tangible presence amid the murmuring and the head-scratching in the stands.

Lincecum has done so much for this franchise, when he doesn’t deliver, the air gets mighty arid.

“I

know it looked bad today,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were off. Had a horrible game. This doesn’t happen very often. It just so happens it comes right after Freddy’s injury. These guys don’t make excuses.

“These guys, they’re not making excuses. “… It’s up to us to keep fighting. And these guys will.”

Usually, the charge starts with Lincecum, of course.

But this was the fourth consecutive — and easily the worst — sluggish outing for the two-time Cy Young winner, all dating to May 21, when Lincecum shut out the A’s.

In that game, Lincecum threw a season-high 133 pitches; that also was his last start before the Giants lost Posey, Lincecum’s trusted catcher, to a devastating ankle injury in late May.

In his four starts since, Lincecum has a 7.66 ERA, and his season ERA has gone from 2.06 to his current 3.41.

Lincecum had a similarly wobbly period last August, when he acknowledged some adjustment issues going from Bengie Molina to Posey behind the plate.

By last September, though, Lincecum was in lock step with Posey and was nearly perfect through the fall.

Right now, Lincecum is about as far from his September-October dominance as he can get.

“I still feel strong,” Lincecum said. “I don’t feel unhealthy. I don’t feel like anything’s bothering me. It’s just simply getting back to being me. Just driving to the plate, using the mechanics, keeping my rhythm.

“Kind of dumbifying myself, I guess you could say “… keeping it simple.”

Lincecum was all over the place from the outset, and the Reds were disciplined enough to make him pay; he threw 73 total pitches, only 36 for strikes.

He recorded only one strikeout, which, remarkably, is the lowest total of his career. In 136 previous outings (135 as a starter) — Lincecum had never recorded fewer than two strikeouts and had averaged 7.4 strikeouts per appearance.

That 133-pitch outing, in retrospect, sticks out like a sore statistical thumb.

“I don’t feel like it’s fatigue,” Lincecum said when asked about the effects of the May 21 game. “I don’t feel like I’m getting tired. I don’t feel like anything’s broken. I just feel like it’s a matter of just getting back to being me.”

That, perhaps, could suggest Lincecum has been thinking a little more on the mound now that he’s throwing to Eli Whiteside, not Posey.

In the third inning, there might have been a sign of some disconnect — with a runner on third, Lincecum threw a darting off-speed pitch that hit the dirt but looked stoppable.

Whiteside missed the ball, it skipped to the backstop, Brandon Phillips scored, putting the Reds up 3-0 and putting a scowl on Lincecum’s face.

Has the catcher change affected Lincecum at all?

“Not really,” Lincecum said. “Not at all. I mean, when you go out there, whether it’s with Whitey or (Chris) Stewart, you have to go out there and make pitches.”

Bochy said he continues to have the utmost confidence in Whiteside but added that he might get Stewart in there with Lincecum if the schedule works out right.

You count up all of the Giants’ woes, and you do have to ask: How much has to go wrong for them to be knocked out of first place?

At some point, it probably will come down to Lincecum, the Giants’ other key pitchers, and the refortifying of their last line of defense.

Read Tim Kawakami’s Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami. Contact him at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5442.

In everywhere but the standings, the Giants seem so far removed from being a first-place club.

Their lineup is decimated by injuries, their offense is nonexistent, morale is shot and now their anchor, Tim Lincecum, is dragging in the mud again.

Lincecum had perhaps the worst start of his career and the Giants played with lethargy behind him, almost matching up like a Triple-A club as the Cincinnati Reds smoked them 10-2 Saturday afternoon.

Lincecum’s shoulders slumped as he allowed seven earned runs — tying his career high — and failed to retire a batter in the fifth inning. He didn’t strike out a batter after Drew Stubbs, who led off the game. It marked a career low for Lincecum, who had struck out at least two in each of his previous 136 starts.

Lincecum (5-5) had allowed as many as seven earned runs just once before in his career, June 16, 2007 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was his worst outing in what has become an alarmingly bad run. Whether you peg it to Buster Posey’s season-ending ankle injury on May 25 or Lincecum’s 133-pitch complete game on May 21, the two-time Cy Young Award winner hasn’t been the same since. He has a 7.66 ERA in his last four starts and definitely appeared to give in after Eli Whiteside tried to make a backhand stop on a wild pitch that squirted to the screen, scoring a run.

Whiteside, perhaps being exposed in an everyday role, also had more issues throwing to bases.

Meanwhile,

the Giants offense was limp against Mike Leake. By the end of the game, they featured a lineup of Emmanuel Burriss, Conor Gillaspie, Chris Stewart (at first base for the slumping Aubrey Huff, who was 0 for 3), Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz, pitcher Santiago Casilla, Pat Burrell, Whiteside and newest Giant Bill Hall.

Hall entered as part of a double-switch when Lincecum was taken out in the fifth. He faced four batters in the inning, giving up an infield hit, a walk and then consecutive doubles to Brandon Phillips and Joe Votto.

Lincecum threw just 36 of 73 pitches for strikes.

Yet the Giants remain in first place, largely because of their pitching and the flawed contents of the NL West.

The Giants needed a two-run home run from Pat Burrell in the ninth to avoid being shut out for the seventh time this season.

For more on the Giants, see Andrew Baggarly’s Extra Baggs blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs.

In everywhere but the standings, the Giants seem far removed from being a first-place club.

Their lineup is decimated by injuries, their offense is nearly nonexistent, morale is challenged — if not shot — and now their anchor, Tim Lincecum, is dragging in the mud again.

Lincecum had perhaps the worst start of his career, and the Giants played with lethargy behind him, almost matching up like a Triple-A club as the Cincinnati Reds smoked them 10-2 Saturday afternoon.

Lincecum’s shoulders slumped as he allowed seven earned runs — tying his career high — and failed to retire a batter in the fifth inning. He didn’t record a strikeout after fanning Drew Stubbs to lead off the game. It marked a career low for Lincecum, who had struck out at least two in each of his previous 135 starts.

Lincecum had allowed as many as seven earned runs just once before in his career, June 13, 2007, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

This was his worst outing in what has become an alarmingly bad run. Whether you peg it to his 133-pitch complete game May 21 or Buster Posey’s season-ending ankle injury May 25, the two-time Cy Young Award winner hasn’t been the same since. He has a 7.66 ERA in his past four starts and appeared crestfallen in the third inning after Eli Whiteside tried to make a backhand stop on a wild pitch that squirted to the screen, allowing a run to score.

Whiteside, perhaps being exposed in an everyday role, also had

more issues throwing to bases.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he would look to mix in backup catcher Chris Stewart more often in order to keep both backstops fresher. He dropped a hint that he would pair Stewart with Lincecum next time, too.

“But I don’t think that plays a part in this, I really don’t,” Bochy said. “I think Timmy would tell you that, too. Buster isn’t here, but Whitey does a great job with these guys.”

Lincecum agreed, saying his problem is between his ears — not behind the plate.

“I was flying all over the place,” said Lincecum, who threw just 36 of his 73 pitches for strikes. “I need to stop thinking about what my body needs to do.

“I don’t feel unhealthy. I don’t feel like anything’s bothering me. It’s just simply getting back to being me. Just driving to the plate, using the mechanics, keeping my rhythm.

“Kind of dumbifying myself, I guess you could say “… keeping it simple.”

The Giants’ offense appears plenty dumbstruck with all the injuries to key personnel. An MRI exam on Freddy Sanchez confirmed the diagnosis of a dislocated right shoulder, but Bochy said he wouldn’t have specifics on labrum or ligament damage until the former batting champ meets with doctors on Sunday.

It was tough sledding for everyone but Reds right-hander Mike Leake, who set a career high with eight strikeouts in eight innings. Pat Burrell’s two-run home run in the ninth kept the Giants from being shut out for the seventh time this season.

“I know it looked bad today,” Bochy said. “We were off. Had a horrible game. This doesn’t happen very often. It just so happens it comes right after Freddy’s injury. These guys don’t make excuses.”

By the end of the game, the Giants featured a lineup of Manny Burriss, Conor Gillaspie, Stewart (at first base for the slumping Aubrey Huff, who was 0 for 3), Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz, pitcher Santiago Casilla, Burrell, Whiteside and newest Giant Bill Hall.

Hall entered as part of a double switch when Lincecum was taken out in the fifth. He faced four batters in the inning, giving up an infield hit, a walk and then consecutive doubles to Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto.

Lincecum said he slowed down his motion on change-ups, which probably tipped the pitch. Unlike last August’s velocity drop, his stuff wasn’t the issue. He threw 94 mph and maintained it through the fourth inning. But his shoulder kept flying open.

“These guys have a good approach,” Lincecum said. “Obviously, they have an eye for the ball. Me being all over the place makes them simplify their at-bats.

“I don’t feel anything is broken. It’s just a matter of being me.

“You’ve seen me battle through this stuff, and we’re at the top of the division. I don’t feel we’re missing something. We just need to click.”

For now, the Giants remain in first place, largely because of their pitching and the flawed contents of the National League West.

For more on the Giants, see Andrew Baggarly’s Extra Baggs blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs.