Scottsdale, Ariz. – In yet another sign that Tim Lincecum has embraced preparation, he rented a warehouse in Seattle over the winter, installed a synthetic pitching mound and threw buckets of baseballs to a net, or friends who were brave enough to catch him.

This is a big deal for a pitcher who used to come to spring training without throwing off a mound at all on the offseason.

Lincecum said he is tired of heading north after allowing gobs of hits and runs in the Cactus League for a lack of rhythm and starting the season “with a question mark and hoping. I want to start here and work up, and not necessarily take steps backwards.

“I just felt like more throwing would be the best thing I could do for myself,” he said, “not nececesarily throwing hard, but gettting good mechanics and the feel of that ball coming out of my hand from an earlier part of the offseason.”

The results were evident when he threw his first formal bullpen session of spring training Sunday. He repeated his delivery, kept the ball down and hit Buster Posey’s target quite a bit.

“He threw well, free and easy,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That Timmy, it’s like letting a horse out of the barn. He goes right away. He used all of his pitches and he was letting it go today.”

Lincecum believes he will have a lot more success in 2014 if he keeps his mistake pitches down. The past two seasons, with his velocity down, his mistakes were riding over the plate and getting crushed. He allowed a career-high 23 home runs in 2012 and nearly matched that last year, with 21.

So, while many pitchers toss their spring numbers aside, Lincecum wants to leave here with a minuscule ERA.

“When you have a two or three ERA in spring it’s usually a good indication that things are working well and you’re keeping the ball down in the zone, especially here,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m shooting for that goal of a two or three ERA. I’m shooting for keeping the ball down in the zone and limiting runners.”