That was not supposed to happen. Everything was going along rather smoothly, then the proverbial wheels came off. It was like skipping along at top speed, I mean really hauling. Then, all of a sudden, a toe catches a crack in the sidewalk that was not there a second ago. Down you go before you know what has happened.
Tim Lincecum got his second loss of the year this afternoon against the a tough Angel squad. His numbers were spectacular through seven but ended up only solid after eight. Eight hits (two doubles), no walks, three earned runs and nine strikeouts. The rally that was his undoing was started by Torii Hunter, whose numbers are rather remarkable, and the amazing Vladamir Guerrero. The key pitch may have been an 0-2 pitch to Vlad. I said out loud to my Brother that Tim needed to really waste it, not just throw it close. Sure enough, Tim put a tough pitch just off the corner...exactly the stuff Guerrero has made a career of hitting. I guess there are alot worse people out there that can beat you.
It was a heart-breaking loss, but you do have to tip your hats to them. Tim's streak is over (he had not lost since April) and his impressive record of 26-2 when given 3+ runs is still pretty damn studly. Nothing to fear, Tim will come back stronger than ever next time.
But I do have to admit it still smarts. Kind of like when you skin your knees after falling.
6 comments:
Any game you lose after the 8th with a 2 run lead hurts. But when Tim's on the mound you feel untouchable, and it stings like something awful. This is the red flag the Brian Trust needed to see. Perhaps now he'll get a hitter. After all, he still has yet to replace Kent.
Jon Miller was really ragging on Bengie for the PB--that moved up the go-ahead run to third.
At least he didn't implode and give up 9 runs like Johan Sanatana. Tim giving up FOUR in one game is pretty damn rare! No walks, either.
I have given up mentioning all the bases that Bengie gives away. That one hit him right in the glove. Did you know that Tim has never had a different starting catcher?
I guess the play everyone is talking about is Pablo not throwing home. It would have been close but he did have to try...maybe he had a bad grip. He takes full blame this morning for making the wrong choice. I can't wait for the day when we have enough offense so that we can survive without error-free play.
Everybody in the media sure seems like losing three to the Angels is the end of the world. I bet we rebound against the Rangers, get a quality spot start from somebody other than Sanchez, survive Zito somehow and then everybody will be talking wild card again. Jeez!
There's obviously some big-picture Karmic event going on here. The series against the A's was a lovely exorcism of the horror that was the World Series of '89. We can put that behind us now. However we are not allowed to cleanse any of the bitter taste of '02. No, the Angels get to beat us still, even when it looks like we have them, with a good pitcher on the mound for us.
It's too early for this Giants team to congratulate themselves for anything. We have two fine young pitchers and one fine young hitter and not much else.
Yesterday's game, which I had the pleasure of watching on a great big TV, with my brother and a stomach full of great tacos, was simply a bodascious baseball game full of great plays and deep-baseball moments.
Do we have a new second baseman? The kid looks real good to me.
I like what I see of Downs too. Maybe he doesn't know that he isn't suppose to make it big. I get a bit of a Robby T. vibe from him.
After a couple good games, Nate sure looked feeble yesterday. A real weakness for the down and in breaking ball. I still have faith he will improve...check back next month.
Easy to overlook the return of Romo with all this other excitement. If he is as good as it seems, we have a bullpen of a very impressive nature. The rest of the league will notice. I predict in about a month we will trade one of those arms (like Affeldt or Howry) for a choice prospect from the Bosox, Yanks, etc.
In a weird way, I prefer what happened the past six games to what I have seen too many Giants teams do, lose two to a crappy team and then play up to the level of a good team and beat them twice. At least now they can think about improving against teams like the Angels (what a load of hitting those guys have) and not wonder how they could let down their guard against the As. Of course, this is probably as good as today.
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