SEATTLE (AP) - San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges following a traffic stop in his home state.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Steve Schatzel said Thursday that the 2008 Cy Young Award winner and former University of Washington star was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 5 in the town of Hazel Dell, about four miles north of the Oregon border, on Oct. 30.

An officer approached Lincecum's 2006 Mercedes and smelled marijuana as the pitcher rolled down his window. Schatzel said Lincecum immediately complied with a request to hand over the drug and a marijuana pipe from the car's center console.

The amount measured was 3.3 grams. Schatzel said police consider that a small amount for personal use, well below the maximum of 40 grams before possession is classified differently and carries a more severe penalty.

The incident was first reported by The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash.

"It's not really out of the ordinary. It happens every day," Schatzel said of the volume of marijuana Lincecum handed over. "It was about the size of a thumb, the whole thumb."

Lincecum could face potential fines totaling $622 for the misdemeanor possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia counts plus the citation for driving 74 mph in a 60 mph zone, Schatzel said.

Tim Lincecum's career began to bud with the Giants. ( Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

The 25-year-old All-Star starter entered a plea of not guilty through his attorney on Monday, according to records in Clark County District Court. A hearing that had been scheduled for Friday morning was canceled, pending a pretrial conference between Lincecum's attorney and a county prosecutor on Nov. 23.

Lincecum is currently scheduled to appear before a judge on Dec. 22.

The Giants said they were aware of the situation but did not immediately have a comment.

The native of the Seattle suburb of Bellevue went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 32 starts and 225 1-3 innings in 2009, his third season in the major leagues. He is 40-17 with a 2.90 ERA in his career, and could be getting a multimillion-dollar raise from salary arbitration this offseason.

Teammates consider the smallish right-hander a quirky perfectionist. They also consider him the "Franchise," the nickname they gave him when he broke into the big leagues only a year out of college. Others see his boyish face, shaggy dark hair, his diminutive frame - and his dominance - and call him "The Freak."

San Francisco chose him 10th overall in the 2006 draft out of Washington, and he instantly became the organization's top pitching prospect since Hall of Famer Juan Marichal signed with the New York Giants as an amateur free agent in 1957.

Dang Hippies! I still think he's a great pitcher....I have no idea what he's thinking but you live you learn.

LOL I could have told you he smokes pot. A lot more major leaguers than you think do. Never was my style but its becoming extremely common.

I guess a lot of players smoke when they're not playing, which is ok by me. When the season starts though I would recommend to lay off the herb & of course no driving under the influence. I guess he couldn't wait to get home hah...I have to wonder though is drug testing a sham?

GO ANGELS!

Do you think that qualifies for a 50 game suspension? Not sure if the MLB drug policy only refers to PED's or illegal substances of any kind.

The IOC defines MJ as a PED oddly enough. But no this shouldn't warrant a suspension. IT said nothing about driving over the influence. And speeding tickets, well those are a part of life, I've got two myself. He just happened to have weed in his car when he was pulled over. If he was high, maybe but no reports are claiming he was high.

I think he was smoking, officer says he could smell it. Do the rules apply to during the season not off season? I mean he's not working, he was driving [bad decision]. His daddy is gonna ride him for that one hahaha

That stuff smells, even when you aren't smoking it. No doubt he has before, the scent probably wasn't gone yet.

When is mother nature going to finally be legalized?

These prohibition laws against it are ridiculous!

I have athsma & I think it should be legalized!

He shouldn't have been driving & smoking, but I think a misdemeanor charge is a joke.

Quote Frank Zappa: The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.

My reasoning for him getting a 50 game suspension is this.

HCG and Marijuana are both on the banned substance/PED list.

Manny never tested positive for HCG, just had a prescription for it and had it in his possession.

Lincecum never tested positive for marijuana, but had it in his system.

Manny got a 50-game suspension under the banned substance policy, therefore Lincecum should get a 50 game suspension under the banned substance policy.

It's gonna be interesting to see how The Giants handle this one, cradle him or make an example of him.
Funny, I know the team is gonna send him to rehab ahhh how boring.

What an absolute waste of police time and tax payer Dollars. The hypocricy of weed being illegal and alcohol being legal is absurd.

This story is a hoax. I refuse to believe that anyone living in San Francisco would use marijuana outside of medicinal purposes. San Francisco is a city of justice.

Also, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom (who sadly dropped out) are awesome gubernatorial candidates. Vote for Jerry Brown, you clowns.

You were a major league player?

Please tell me that was tongue-in-cheek.

LOL!

Manny failed a test.

Lincecum has never failed a test.

>>>Tim Lincecum's career began to bud with the Giants.<<<

Someone forgot to include "No Pun Intended"

Go Angels 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A. i'm not that surprised.. sounds mean but this explains evvveerrrrrything lol
B. How embarrassing for the Lincecum family, his mistake as little as it was is now known by the entire public
C. I still like him a lot but hope he doesn't do that again :P

yeah yeah i hear the whole "marijuana/pot isn't as bad as other drugs" argument all the time its not like my school isn't immune in fact our drug problem is getting worse and worse. However I don't fly with that so shame on Timmy! *finger wag*

A Lot more players than you would suspect likely smoke year round, especially when going home after games to mellow out and relax. Geovanny Soto, Lincecum, Rex Hudler, Darryl Kile did too.

Plenty of players leave the ballpark and go drink, we generally don't have a problem with that, we shouldn't have a problem with players smoking weed.

Oh and btw..MLB does not test for Cannabis. Geovanny Soto was busted for it in 2009, but it was under international rules since it was during the World Baseball Classic.

We need to collectively grow up and evolve. It is NOT a performance enhancer even though the IOC classifies it as such (shows you how much they know)

Well, let me see...liquor isn't illegal and pot is.

I think that makes a difference.

Well it shouldn't!

FACT....Pot does less damage to the human body than alcohol does.
It bugs me to no end when people let outdated and wrong laws cloud their judgement.
ANother fact for ya...Pot was made illegal in the 1930's and the propaganda used to convince the people that this needed to be illegal included such 'gems' as "pot makes black men act crazy and want to go out and 'harm' white women". People bought this propaganda because they were scared, we've seen many many times that a scared population will go along with almost anything. Today we know that the reasons for illegalization were utter bs.

Now if you are arguing that you don't want our professional athletes to be 'caught' doing illegal acts, then you got a point but a very minor one still..what's the worst that happened to Tim, he gets a fine and is sent on his merry way..BIG DEAL..

I say blaze on dude. These guys are under enough stress with being under incredible pressure every day. You wanna go home and hit the bong after the game, nothing wrong there..nothing to see here..move it along