...but WE WON anyway! Which I choose to look at as a very good sign. I had almost forgotten that we had a few other worthy fellows on this team, as well.
This game felt a lot "bigger" than just another April matchup of the NL rivals. If you are like me, you looked to Tim Lincecum and a dominant pitching performance. Well, it wasn't meant to happen...started well, 3 clean innings...but the fourth was ugly. Lincecum's effort ( 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts ) was marred by an almost complete lack of getting ahead in the count. Every hit in Tim's bad fourth came on a hitter's count. So, tonight, The Franchise needed help from his fellows.
And they stepped up! Buster with a couple huge RBI's, Mota's terrific hold, Roward with a clutch triple, Sergio and Brian with classic relief...take your pick! A true team effort and a win that we can build on. Let's take this series!!!
3 comments:
Not to mention another sensational fielding play by The Freak. That guy is amazing even when he pitches below his standard. And he was humming it in at 94-95!!
Groovy Lincecum link that's part of a RedBull advert. Looks like he's throwing the shuuto.
Huge win. I know, it's April. But the Giants have to prove they can beat the Dodgers, and tonight they showed a lot of spirit. You have to get the hitters going even on a pitching team. They still need to be "average" which was 4.33 rpg in 2010. Loved it when Rowand hit the triple--a homer in most parks. Nice to see Belt get a hit, too. And Buster is waking up. Look out for Buster!
http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2011/4/12/2106155/tim-lincecums-windup-in-super-slow-motion-too-cool
(another link to the video)
Great win, etc., etc..
I have been doing a lot of thinking about modern metrics. So much so, that I have come up with one of my own. It's acronym is TTHTGR or Things That Have to Go Right. It is an assessment at the beginning of the Season of the number of small things that have to go right during a Season for your team to win the World Series.
For example, for the Pittsburgh Pirates, their TTHTGR is approximately 12,574,389. In retrospect, for the 2010 SF Giants, the number was approximately 1,975 - 1,975 little things broke just right, enabling the Giants to win the World Series. For the 2011 SF Giants, given their relatively unchanged roster, Championship experience, & general studliness, that number was reduced to 1,200.
Early season trends are not good, but you can chalk off a few already:
- Aaron Rowand has made some decent contributions in the early season ... we're down to 1,199.
- Tim Lincecum & Matt Cain didn't contract some mysterious tropical disease in the off-season & appear to be just fine ... we're down to 1,197, & down another point for each good start by each of them. Now, we're down to 1,193.
- I postulate that a quality start by Jonathan Sanchez should count for -2 points. Tonight's your chance, Jonathan ... get us down to 1,191.
How about a TTHTGR countdown through the season?
I love it, Ron. TTHTGR. Things that have to go right. This reminds of my alternative MVP selection process, based on the belief that "Great Players Make Great Plays" or GPMGP. Anytime a player makes you say, "Allright!" you give half a point, any time he makes you stand up and shout"Fuck yeah!" you give a full point. Then you just add up the points at the end of the regular season. I realize this may prove to be labor-intensive.
Great game last night. Posey and Sandoval looked good, the rookie looks like me might be out of his slump, and Brian Wilson struck out the side for his first save! And what are we going to do with Rowand? He's playing out of his mind. I remember him being good in spurts in the past and he always came back to earth with a thud.
Maybe Tim will add a Golden Glove to his already awesome trophy case.
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