"With a victory Saturday night, the Giants assured themselves of heading into the All-Star break in first place, and Tim Lincecum dodged the indignity of heading to the All-Star game with a losing record.

Lincecum wasn't in peak form against the New York Mets at AT&T Park, but he was good enough to throw six innings of one-run ball -- protecting a one-run lead for five of them -- and three relievers formidably closed out a 3-1 victory that evened the Giants ace's record at 7-7.

So is Lincecum happy he can now go to Phoenix without having to be probed about being a 6-7 All-Star?

"Yeah, but they're still going to ask me about being a 7-7 All-Star," Lincecum said with a smile.

And what will his answer be to such questions?

"You know, I'm going to have to think about that," he said.

The protestations of Marlins manager Jack McKeon and others aside, there really shouldn't be any questions about Lincecum heading to the All-Star game Tuesday. His 19th start of the year was also his ninth in which he allowed just one earned run or fewer. And he will go to the game with otherwise glittering numbers -- a 3.06 ERA, 132 strikeouts in 123?1/3 innings and just seven home runs allowed.

All that said, even Lincecum conceded that his latest winning performance was a strange one. For starters, he faced 13 batters before he recorded his first strikeout, although he ultimately struck out six. Even weirder, in each of his six innings, he got the first two batters out and then allowed a runner via a hit or a walk. But it only hurt him in the first inning, when Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy smoked back-to-back doubles for the only Mets run.

"I wish I could've been better about that after getting two outs," said Lincecum, who allowed four hits while walking four. "But when you come out of it with a win, I think that's ultimately the best part about the game, and I can feel good about it, because it was good for us."

The Giants didn't exactly shower him with run support. All three of their runs came on batted balls that just as easily could have been double plays, but they at least scored two of those in the first inning to reverse the Mets' early lead."