Tired of Tim

The road trip through Hell continued with another ugly loss to Colorado, 10-2.  This game featured all the current glaring flaws of  the 2013 Giants; shitty starting pitching (Tim Lincecum, 3-3, 4.70 ERA) and troubling defense. Three errors today... isn't that like 12 errors in the last seven games? Please tell me that's wrong. I can only hope this is what a a fielding slump looks like, not sure I have ever seen one before. Certainly not one this bad.

Last time he was very good. This time he was very bad. What can I say? Tim Lincecum is tiring to watch. I'm sick of it. We could always chalk it up to Coors Field.  After all, his numbers are very "mile high" :  5 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts. Sure, let's blame it on the the crappy ball park. I'm tired; tired of thinking about how shitty Tim's command is getting. I'm exhausted just reliving Tim's lovely error and spectacular balk.  Yeah, it was the frigging ball park.

Let's hope we play an error free game tomorrow. We must shake this streak of sloppy play before it defines us. Go Giants!

Coors Field

You knew it had to happen, the omens were all there.  The Giants had beaten the Rockies in 10 consecutive games.  The Giants had never before, since the start of divisional play, beaten a divisional opponent for 10 consecutive games.  Throw in the Giants recent propensity to play error-full ball and the Coors Field factor, where scores are high, and you get the result, Rox 10, Giants 9 at the end of a nearly 4-hour 9 inning game.

Madison Bumgarner did not pitch well, although his 7 earned runs could have, in a better world, been less.  He did not help himself with a throwing error.  He threw 102 pitches, and should have only thrown 101.  His last left the yard with the bases full in the fifth with 2 outs.  Bochy wanted him to finish the fifth so he could pinch hit for him as the first batter up.   Didn't happen.   8 hits, 4 K and 2 BB.

The Giants committed 4 errors in the first 3 innings.  There were mental errors that didn't show up as well.  Throwing to the wrong base to allow a runner to move up.  And why was Brandon Crawford bunting for a hit against DeLaRosa, who seemed vulnerable?  He bunted, but was easily thrown out in front of Madison.  Oh, and Coors.  Balls fly.  Like Pacheco's first home run, a grand slam.  We got some hitting, too, where we needed it to make the game close.  3 from Scutaro and Sandoval, 2 each from Posey, Pence and Pill (including a long home run from Posey in the 8th.  Marco Scutaro rested on May 1.  In April, he had 24 hits in 100 at bats.  Since then he has had 28 hits in 59 at bats, has hit in every game and has only had 3 games in which he has only had 1 hit. 

Matt Cain is a Winner

It was damn close to being Return of the Son of the Vortex of Suckitude, but Matt Cain channeled his inner Jack Morris and the Giants prevailed. The Man Who Would Be HOF'd never roped a single up the middle for a two-out RBI, I reckon, but he is Veteran Savvy Clutchness personified, and that's what Matty had going tonight. Grit. Fortitude. The Will to Win. After three big, fat, BP cheese-puffs got blasted out to fucking Wyoming, VSC was the only thing to shoot for. What's with all the long balls? Those were straight up bad pitches! Buster would set up inside and the pitch would float outside and into the hit-me zone. Other than those two innings, Cain did a decent impersonation of himself. Final line: 6-1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 6 SO, Game Score 37. Jeremy Affeldt delivered a six-up, six-down relief stint to secure the pitcher-win for Matty. Still think pitcher-wins are meaningful? Not that the baseball gods don't owe our lad a few.

The 2013 Giants are flashing some bat these days. They are 3rd in the NL in OPS and 4th in runs scored, but they have also given up the third-most runs, trailing only the Mets (15-23) and the Brewers (16-23). The first five games Matt Cain started this season ended in losses for the team. They next four ended in wins. I like wins, I don't care who gets the credit, but Brandon Crawford certainly deserves some for his clutch hitting. And did you see the barehanded grab he made in the 6th? Wow. That guy has some serious moves, and a cannon for an arm.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Son of the Vortex of Suckitude

More like the mutant bastard spawn, but that's a quibble. Another first inning and another egregious display of base-balling. The Giants made two errors--again--and that led to two runs. Then the hit parade started and never stopped. Here are Ryan Vogelsong's Game Scores (8 starts): 34, 42, 58, 49, 32, 20, 29, 21. He has allowed 44 runs, which is the most in the majors. I can't think about that too much or my head will hurt. Good thing the Giants are heading to a more familiar hell-hole for a four-game set. Nothing weird ever happens in Coors Field.

C'mon, Giants! Pull your collective heads out of your asses and get back to winning games.

--M.C.


p.s. Marco Scutaro extended his hitting streak to 14 games.

The Vortex of Suckitude

Toronto is in Canada, and Canada is, like, weird. Case in point:

click to enlarge

All that green stuff? That's bad. They have green stuff in Toronto, but it's not grass. Canada is weird.

The Giants are normally a stalwart defensive club. "They catch everything" I always say. Good thing no one listens to what I always say. The blow-by-blow does not explain the Hunter Punce hee-yuk overthrow that failed to keep a double play possibility in order. It does not explain Nick Noonan and his concrete galoshes. Or his failure to turn the double play when one was in order. The whole mess, I'm trying to say, was not just Barry Zito's doing. I mean, two errors are actually listed up there, but that's not the half of it. The entire outfield and three-fourths of the infield looked bad at one time or another tonight. In Canada.

It must have been the Vortex of Suckitude. Good thing they pass over after a while. The team's titanium necklaces don't work inside one of those. R.A. Dickey, apparently, can conjure up the Vortex when he needs it. And Melky Cabrera, don't forget about him. He can, too. Ryan Vogelsong has his work cut out for him tomorrow. Maybe Brandon Belt will keep hitting, and Pablo Sandoval, too. After all, six runs is usually plenty.

GO GIANTS!


--M.C.

Tim-like Tim

The Giants closed out a nifty 7-3 home stand by throttling the Braves, 5-1.  I, of course, decided to miss today's game in favor of " a good walk spoiled," or a round of golf as some people call it.  It is a shame that I missed the homers by Belt, Sandoval ( into the bay!), and Scutaro.  But it is a frigging crime that I missed Tim being so damn good.

Seven shut out innings, two hits, NO RUNS, three walks and seven strikeouts. That's like the good old days.  Sure, the Braves are free swingers and probably exactly what Tim needed. None the less THEY ARE GOOD.  We will hopefully be facing these guys in playoffs, that's how good they are. A truly quality win.  Sucks that I missed it.

But, yes. I am willing to go golfing every time Tim pitches, if I have to. Just the kind of fan I am.

What's Not to Like?

10 - 1!  14 hits for the Giants, a first inning home run from Pablo Sandoval, and 4 rbi (a personal best) for Gregor Blanco.  And he didn't even start the game.  Pitching?  We got some.  Madison Bumgarner allowed only 4 hits and one run in 7 innings.  He struck out 11 in 112 pitches, 70 of which were strikes.  Chad Gaudin finished the eighth and Jeremy Affeldt the ninth.

Everyone got hits.  Well, Brandon Crawford didn't, nor did Nick Noonan or Joaquin Arias, brought in late in the game.  Nor did Madison, for that matter.  But there were 14!  And did I mention 4 rbi for Gregor Blanco?  Seriously, much more fun that one of those tense last minute victories.