Chris Lincecum met his son at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Jan. 25. He thought he'd stay for five or six weeks, tops, but it wound up being 18. Tim Lincecum was nearly five months removed from hip surgery and was ready to resume throwing. So he called on Chris, the man who constructed and groomed his distinctive delivery, and their work ensued throughout the state of Arizona.
It was there -- at a softball park on school days and a high school football field on weekends; at a community-college soccer field on some mornings and a substandard Minor League mound on others -- that Lincecum tapped into who he was and began to establish who he was going to be.