Sunday, August 7, 2011
Good and Lucky Tim
I'm really not sure what attitude to open this post with...
sarcastic - "Tim Lincecum didn't throw a shut out today and the GIANTS STILL WON! Go figure."
shocked - "Thirteen hits total, four by Jeff Keppinger, a catcher(gasp) not named Buster (Chris Stewart) contributing a ton...in other words: a real offense."
So, I will just fall back on fecking grateful - "Thank Willie! We beat the damn Phillies, 3-1, avoiding the sweep and staying barely atop the NL West."
Lincecum (10-9) didn't really pitch much better than mates Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, but he comes away with the victory. Displaying that amazing ability to avoid big hits, Tim (game score 68) limited the impressive Phillies to nothing but singles:
7.2 innings 7 hits 1 run 1 walk 5 strikeouts
The best part of Tim's effort was that wonderful finish he so often displays, especially when a rare visit from the Run Fairy has graced our presence. Most of the hits came in the first few innings and his velocity actually hit a game high in the eighth inning. An interesting moment came when Tim got whacked by Chase Utley's bat on a foul tip. You don't see that too often...plus it was refreshing to see the two gentlemen act so classy out near the mound.
Special Tip o' the Hat to newbie Keppinger. A four hit day is something special. Runner-up: Aubrey Huff's two walks were like a breath of fresh air.
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10 comments:
Twas a fine game! Hopefully the August woes will end here. Go Giants!
Giants had the opportunity to blow the game out several times, yet they only won 3-1. They should have won that one 10-1. They have an amazing way to not score runs, even when they should. Scoring 3 runs a game would have taken 3 of 4 for this series. Now two cold teams the giants and the pirates go at it. I hope the giants can take full advantage of the cold Pirates. Unfortunately the dbacks have the astros later this week. Friday Cain should face Nolasco. I have seen Nolasco get bombed several times after he dominated the giants once again. Hopefully the giants can watch some of those tapes and figure out how to hit this guy. Beltran hitting 244 as a giant. He fits right in so far. They all need to take the Sandoval fitness program. Cain pitched a great game and poor fielding as much as anything cost him the loss. Not sure if he could have gotten a win, but he could have avoided the loss with some better fielding.
Huff's 'hamstring / strawberry / hamstring w/ bruise' is bizarre. Who knows what's real? Beltran's sore hand thing is more troubling. The last thing we need is him on-the-shelf for a major part of his short Giants' tenure.
Stewart had a nice game. He brings so much more to the table than Whiteside, who is a truly poor Catcher. I still think that someone like Miguel Olivo could be pried away from Seattle & give us a little pop from that position. Sure, he's hitting .219, but he would be leading our team in HR's (he has 14) & would lead in RBI's per AB (he has 48 RBI's in 334 AB). God ... you know that we can't hit, when I am advocating picking up Miguel Olivo.
Anyway, good to see us win. Lincecum was very good - surprising that you're not all giddy about that, Jon. His big downer this year has been BB's & high pitch counts, but, after walking the first batter of the game, he didn't even come close to walking anyone else. He had total domination of Howard. As pointed out by Kuip or Kruk, he completed whiffs of Howard on 3 different pitches (slider, fastball, change-up).
Another note about yesterday. Even before Keppinger went 4-for-4 & Torres displayed his normal strikeout repertoire (yes, he did get a hit eventually, but he really looked like crap the rest of the way), I was thinking to myself that, maybe, it's time to shake up the line-up & get Torres out of lead-off. Possible line-up, using the same players:
Keppinger
Cabrera
Beltran
Sandoval
Huff
Schierholtz
Torres
Stewart
Lincecum
Or, the same line-up, swapping Cabrera & Schierholtz.
Yeah, the Howard ABs were sweet. Giants needed a win in the worst way. Let's hope it continues. Did you see Cody Ransom hit a HR off Clayton Kershaw and AZ won?
Giants face Phils seven times and score 2, 2, 4, 0, 2, 1, 3 runs for a grand total of 14. The Giants got the win in two matchups that favored them (Lincecum vs. Not-Halladay) and a split in the Cain/Hamels duels. Phils got two huge starts from their rookie and a big win from Lee. Giants scored half their runs in the two Lincecum games. It ain't Hunter Pence that makes them good--it's pitching.
Time to get back to the business of winning the West.
I sure don't mean to sound bleh about Timmeh but I guess he is in this quiet (yet spectacular) grind it out mode that is resulting in a string of excellent games. After all, he just lowered his ERA to 2.69...not Vogie territory but still like 6th in the league. Tim's lastest game scores show the trend I'm talking about. Starting with the Fourth of July (his last bad game) 44, 62, 63, 66, 68, 68, and yesterday...68. Sweet, huh? They aren't BOMBS, like Kershaw and Lee threw at us, but they usually keep us right in each game...no small task with this offense.
I really want to keep Torres out there for his defense...Beltran (assuming he's OK!) is not the right fielder we need in our ballpark. But it is painful to watch Andres swing and miss so much...that's a tough one.
He's the ace. Consistency is the hallmark of all great players. Even when he is "off" he gets guys out. It took until the 8th yesterday for his fastball to top out. He had to rely on his slider for the first few innings. He was cursing himself out when he gave up the run. Man, we are lucky to have him. Nine guys were drafted ahead of him. Two are studs (Longoria, Kershaw) and one is good (Stubbs). The rest, including five pitchers, are average major leaguers at best (like Brandon Morrow from Cal). What a coup for the Giants!
Cain: 63, 65, 43, 67, 35, 76 in the same stretch.
Vogelsong: 64, 46, 45, 62.
Bumgarner: 58, 69, 67, 25, 69.
I hope JSanchez can give the team a lift and a half dozen good starts in the time left. We need our lefties!
I'll be out of town for the next 11 days so you may not be hearing from me. Technically I'll be out of the country, in Germany. When I'm chugging that Bier I'll be thinking of you, MC.
Fabulous. Koslch, Pils, Alt, Marzen, Bock, Dunkel, Roggen, Rauch, Schwarz, Keller--I expect reports on them all.
@ Bob - if you have access to an internet connection when you first get up in the morning - you might be able to catch the end of a west coast night game from the previous day. Try it and see! Unfortunately, tv coverage is pretty unreliable.
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