"No one can tell Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw that nothing's at stake in the National League West.

They pitch for the second- and third-place teams in a race that's all but wrapped up, but neither was close to surrendering a thing Friday night. In fact, it was just the opposite. Each approached the game as the biggest of the year, and their desire and drive to outduel one another served as a splendid story line for the opener of a late-season series between the Giants and Dodgers.

In the end, the Giants (in particular, Santiago Casilla) flinched."