DETROIT -- Moving from the starting rotation to the bullpen is not as easy as Tim Lincecum has made it look these past couple weeks. For one thing, you have to find a seat in the bullpen, which can be awfully crowded at this time of year.

"Sometimes if you've been sitting in a certain spot the whole game, they'll let you sit there but I just hope to be able to sit down," San Francisco Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt said. "When you have like 13 dudes in the bullpen? You're just hoping for a seat. You're playing musical chairs down there. You're just waiting for some guy to get up and go to the bathroom and then you slide in there real quick."

So Lincecum has to wait his turn then? Prove himself as reliever first? Earn his pine time?

"Oh, we'll make room for him -- he can have my seat," Affeldt said. "If he keeps throwing like that, he can have all our seats. He can lay down on the bench if he needs to. We'll stand up."

Not a problem. Lincecum is bringing plenty of people to their feet as a reliever while returning batter after batter to their seat in the dugout. He took over with two out in the sixth inning and the tying run at the plate in San Francisco's 2-0 Game 3 victory over the Detroit Tigers and didn't allow a hit while striking out three in 2 1/3 innings. He has struck out eight batters without allowing a hit in 4 2/3 innings this World Series and has 17 strikeouts while allowing just three hits and one earned run in 13 relief innings this postseason.

Seeing the Freak race in from the bullpen has been bad news for batters. Tim Fuller/USA TODAY Sports

The bullpen door swinging open hasn't been this exciting since Charlie Sheen was strutting to the mound with "Wild Thing" playing. Lincecum takes the mound with that long, stringy black hair, the funky delivery and the exploding fastball, and opponents suddenly have a whole new attitude toward middle relief.

"When you have a guy like Tim Lincecum coming out of the bullpen and giving you the type of innings he does, it's not like it gets easier [for the opponent]," Affeldt said. "Sometimes teams are thinking, 'Well, maybe if we can get to their pen early we'll have them.' But it doesn't get any easier when Timmy comes in."

That's the crucial thing in this postseason. San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy hasn't restricted Lincecum to the overvalued, overhyped, overblown closer role. Teams now use their supposed best relievers only if they have a lead in the ninth inning, a situation when teams win 90 percent of the time anyway. The Giants not only are bringing in Lincecum earlier when the game is much more in doubt, they are using him for two innings and longer. He has pitched almost as much in relief as Madison Bumgarner has as a starter.