Monday, June 23, 2008

Disappointed Tim

This strange season has featured several crushing defeats and I'm sure we can all sense there are many more to come. Let's hope there are not many as bad as yesterday's 11-10 nightmare loss to the lowly Royals. Losing a game with a seven run lead is something that should happen every decade or so. Losing that game to a team just as crappy as us ( identical records entering yesterday ) is especially embarrassing. The "good" thing about such amazingly disgusting and humiliating defeats is that they get people fired...I'm looking at you Brian!

What about Tim? This 106 pitch, 5 inning grind started so well. Then it seemed like the early lead caused Tim to lose his edge. I know that sounds corny, but most of us can think of times when great athletes look pretty average when they don't feel the pressure. From Tim's quote I suspect that is what happened:

"It was just a lack of focus on my part. We had a chance to step on their throats when they were down, and I didn't help at all. After two innings, I didn't do anything to help us. I was laboring and just throwing the ball. I'm pretty disappointed in myself."

Two mediocre starts in a row. Nothing to get worried about, in fact, Barry Zito would call two starts like that a significant step in the right direction.

PS: R.I.P. George. Thanks for teaching me how to think funny. Check out the this lovely reminder of Carlin's brilliance.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brother Bob:
That was a strange game indeed. On the one hand, it's swell that we got so many hits and runs. Maybe Rowand is coming out of his funk. On the other hand, well shit... the bullpen is showing more weaknesses. Yabu's ERA was below 2 coming into this one, but he sure stunk yesterday.
No cause for alarm that Timmy has had 2 consecutive non-quality starts. Yet. This may be where his smallness starts to be a factor. Maybe he's losing some strength.
I'm going to miss George Carlin. He was special. One of the smartest funny men ever and one of the funniest smart men ever. His contrast of football and baseball was classic.