Tim Lincecum injury: Giants RHP aiming for Thursday start

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum was scratched from his start over the weekend due to a blister. The right-hander told reporters, including Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle, he hopes to return in time to make his next regularly scheduled start on Thursday.

The blister, located on the middle finger of his throwing hand, caused Lincecum to be scratched from the Giants' spring training contest against the Chicago Cubs. He didn't term the injury as significant at the time, as he said he hoped to continue playing catch.

Lincecum has made one start this spring, allowing three runs on four hits and no walks with one strikeout over 1 1/3 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It wasn't an inspiring debut for the formerly all-world Lincecum. The 28-year-old has watched his stock drop significantly in the past year. In his first three starts of the 2012 campaign, he allowed 16 runs on 22 hits over 13 2/3 innings.

Lincecum's struggles continued, as he posted ERAs north of five in each of the first four months of the season. He showed signs of improvement in August, posting a mark of 3.90 over five starts, and also fell below 5.00 in the month of September, but barely (4.63).

In total, Lincecum finished the year with an ERA of 5.18 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio (SO/BB) of 2.11. Entering the year, he boasted a career ERA of 2.98 with 2.97 SO/BB.