It was hardly a fair fight: The Freak against The Weak, Tim Lincecum against the Mets.
It turned into the perfect storm, this skinny, shaggy-haired fireballer rediscovering his Cy Young form on a night when the Mets showed up as the hole in the bat gang.
Lincecum, over his seven shutout innings, fanned 12, passing Christy Mathewson with his 29th double-digit strikeout game in the Giants’ 2-0 victory over the Mets. He struck out Ike Davis and David Wright twice.
The little big man is still little, but he has gotten bigger, by design, thanks in no small part to 3,150-calorie In-N-Out Burger gorge-a-thons, and the poor Mets just happened to be on the menu.
“It seems to put a little bit more gas in the tank for me, per se,” Lincecum said. “Some foods aren’t going to give you the energy you need, but as I carry this newfound weight that I have, your body naturally just gets stronger and it gets used to it. . . . It’s not just feeling like the wind’s going to knock you over or anything like that.”
The Mets, down 1-0, had their shot to knock Lincecum over in the sixth when Carlos Beltran whacked a leadoff double to right and Ike Davis lined a single to center. Lincecum simply sneered in the face of danger.
“He’s one of those special guys when he’s got to turn it up a notch he can do it,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Lincecum got Ronny Paulino to pop foul to Freddy Sanchez, who whirled and fired a strike to home plate to keep Beltran on third.
“After that, just trying to get them to hit maybe a groundball pitch, or something where it doesn’t get out of the infield,” Lincecum said.
Mission accomplished. Willie Harris went down looking and Jason Pridie swinging at a 92-mph fastball.
Lincecum saved his best for last, striking out the side in the seventh (Scott Hairston looking), Jose Reyes (looking) and Daniel Murphy swinging at a full-count changeup on his 127th and final pitch.
“I just continued to make adjustments throughout the game mechanically,” Lincecum said. “I started hitting my spots later on there.”
Meek the Mets.
At 5-foot-11, 178 pounds soaking wet, the man they call Tiny Tim is hardly the prototypical scout’s dream. But he sure pitches big. Bigger than Mike Pelfrey. Bigger than former Mets prospect Philip Humber. Probably bigger than last year’s No. 1 draft, Matt Harvey, ever will pitch.
If and when Mets general manager Sandy Alderson feels compelled to trade Jose Reyes — and when became even more of a favorite with the news that the Giants have had internal discussions about their potential shortstop of the future — it would be nice if once just once, the baseball gods could be merciful enough to give them some long-lost luck in their relentless pursuit of a new franchise pitcher.
Lou Piniella, who is assisting Giants general manager Brian Sabean these days, looks at Lincecum and has flashbacks to Ron Guidry, old Louisiana Lightning.
“Yeah, the frame is like Guidry, but really reminds me is the way he throws the ball on that downward plane and he gets such great arm extension,” Piniella said. “Guidry basically was the same. . . . Lincecum is good.”
At any weight.
“He’s got four really good pitches and he competes awfully well,” Piniella said. “And his stuff speaks for itself.”
Lincecum took passing Mathewson in stride.
“It’s cool I guess,” he said. “I still got a lot more pitching to do, so hopefully those keep coming, but as long as we’re winning I think that’s the big thing.”
The Mets knew all too well what they were up against even before they began flailing away at Lincecum.
“He’s got the stuff, I think is the first thing,” Wright said. “You’re talking about well-above average fastball — great curveball, great changeup — then on top of that he’s got big-time deception just as far the windup, the mechanics.
“You have a lot flying’ at you,” he added. “It’s a combination of just his deception along with his overpowering stuff. . . . Some of the guys that have the best stuff aren’t necessarily big guys. It’s just all about generating that torque and that power and he’s found a way to do that.”
Reyes laughed when reminded Lincecum wasn’t exactly a giant.
“I know, but he got a big heart, man,” Reyes said.
steve.serby@nypost.com