In the Giants' 5-2 exhibition victory Sunday, Lincecum faced the Milwaukee Brewers, whom he'll confront again in the April 7 season opener at AT&T Park. According to a widespread paranoid theory, pitchers shouldn't oppose regular-season foes too frequently during exhibitions for fear of becoming too familiar to hitters. This didn't bother Lincecum, who toyed with the Brewers by retiring all nine batters he confronted on just 27 pitches.

However, Lincecum did raise the subject of his first Major League exhibition appearance, which happened to be against the Brewers on March 7, 2007.

"They just racked me up for a couple [of runs] in the first inning," said Lincecum, who allowed three runs and four hits in two innings. "It's nice not to have that happen. It was not fun."

Against the Brewers this time, Lincecum went to only one three-ball count while throwing 19 strikes in 27 pitches.

"I'm trying to gain a better rhythm, more and more, as I go out there," Lincecum said. "I've told you guys that rhythm is my key and I felt like I had really good rhythm."

Other notable developments from the game included:

• John Bowker's three-run, sixth-inning homer off Joe Bateman, a former Minor League teammate. It erased San Francisco's 3-2 deficit. Bowker's path to the Opening Day roster appears to be blocked, since Travis Ishikawa has strengthened his hold on first base and the outfield is overcrowded. But it's worth wondering whether the Giants somehow will find room for Bowker if he continues to display this kind of power.

Bowker sounded like somebody who's still competing for a job.

"I always feel like I can show more," he said. "You always want to improve, do something that they like."

• Jeremy Affeldt's scoreless eighth inning. He escaped despite allowing singles to the first two hitters, wild-pitching them ahead and loading the bases with two outs. Affeldt struck out Scott Thorman to end the threat. It was a welcome resurgence for Affeldt, who surrendered four runs in his previous one-inning appearance.

"I got out of the work-on-things mode and into the get-out-of-this-jam mode," Affeldt said, explaining that he hasn't been able to command his two-seam fastball yet.

• Pablo Sandoval's three fascinating plate appearances. In the first inning, he swung at the first pitch, as he so often does, and grounded out. Two innings later, he fouled off nine pitches in a 14-pitch at-bat, which ended with a single to center field off Carlos Villanueva. In the fifth inning, Sandoval walked, something he did only four times in 41 games with the Giants last year.

• Buster Posey's first appearance against Major League competition behind the plate. The Giants' heralded 2008 top Draft choice caught the last three innings and drew praise from Affeldt, who frequently shook off his signs for most of the inning but forged a connection later.

"Against the last hitter [Thorman], he called the sequence," Affeldt said. "It shows his intelligence behind the dish. I was pretty impressed with that."