Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Sweepy Tim

Did you say "Sweep"?
What? The floor? Well, I suppose, but I usually do that on the weekend....and its more like a vacuum than a broom.
Excuse me, what's that? OOOOHHHH. That kind of sweep!

Hell, yes...the good kind of sweep, as in: Tim Lincecum and Carlos Beltran carried the Giants to victory today against the puds, 3-1, and completed the beleaguered team's first series sweep since the Pleistocene. Timmeh was in good form (game score 71) and he got just enough help to pick up his thirteenth win, against 12 losses.

 7 innings......4 hits (3 doubles!)........1 unearned run........2 walks.............6 strikeouts

Lincecum must be thankful every time he gets to face San Diego. His domination of them this year is a big reason why Tim's stats are still looking pretty sweet, even if it is clearly not his best season. He improved to 9-4 with a 1.96 ERA lifetime against San Diego, which includes a blistering 4-1, 1.64 this year. Just think how bad off we would be if the puds were any good??

Mat Latos would probably tell you that the Giants' acquisition of Beltran was worth every penny and we should try to keep him. Truly, without Carlos drilling career homers #299 and #300 the Giants and Tim were staring at another disgusting loss. But should we go after him? Definitely not, in my opinion. Wrong position, wrong age, wrong injury risk, wrong agent/price. That is a couple too many wrongs for me. If we can't do better than that on the free agent market, like only two wrongs, then we are screwed.

p.s. Sorry for the rather extended absence from the blogging scene. I was shanghaied by some crazy Pyrates and forced to build a ship. A beautiful ship, I might add. Long story...if you are good I'll tell you sometime.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unless the new ownership leader does not want to spend any money, so what if the team pays beltran 36 mil for two years. An order with Beltran, Sandoval, and Posey should help this team win. With a second half ERA below 3, and the best in the N.L. second half, a middle of the road hitting team would have won a ton of games for this team. Instead going into todays game they were 26-30 post allstar break now 27-30. Romo has given up 3 hits and 1 walk in 13 innings, going into wednesday games with a whip of something like 0.29. Lopez did not have a good second half, but Bochy had him pitching more to righties. Affeltd, except for a recent outing had a very good second half, and even Mota, despite a couple of gopher balls actually has excellent second half stats. Castilla's second half stats are also awesome. Lincecum has been spectacular the second half as have been Cain and Bumgarner.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Ownership change: Neukom out, Baer in. I've no idea what it means, but I sure hope it means the Giants are still willing to spend money. Philly's payroll in 2007 was $89M, and in 2011 it is $165M. You have to spend to win. That's five straight years in the playoffs--how'd you like that? They spent it on pitchers after developing a homegrown core. Giants have the pitchers, need to spend it on some position players. The 2010 Giants surprised people, but surprises only work once. The pitchers need some complementary pieces in order to sustain the winning.

All FAs are old and are injury risks and have their best years behind them. That's why they are FA--they've been around. That's not going to change. It's not about WHO or HOW MUCH but about HOW LONG. The Giants, since Zito/Rowand, have been pretty cautious about long deals and big splashes. I don't expect them to play Boras' game with Beltran. Would he help the club? Sure. Seriously, you'd rather have the guys we have now (all glove, no hit)? The Giants need an OF who can actually hit. If it's Brandon Belt, great. But that still means Torres and Schierholtz and . . . ? (Ross is a FA). Help, please. I like the good gloves, but sheesh, the team needs some actual hitters. Not Darren Ford or Justin Christian.

Beltran will cost too much in terms of years (not dollars, he'll deliver the value, and the Giants have gobs of money), but attracting free agents with only 2-3 year deals means you get Mark DeRosa instead of, say, Jose Reyes. It's too bad. Beltran is really good, and even at 34 his defense is better than most guys in the game (except our guys), and he can obviously still rake. But it is terribly unlikely he'll stay, and I'd be shocked if they tried to get in a bidding war for him. Which is OK, but is raises the question of who IS a worthy FA target?

What are the team needs and who is out there to (potentially) fulfill them? Shortstop? Raise your hand if you believe Crawford will be ready. Left field? Sticking with Huff at first means Belt's best chance is left. RF? Can Nate sustain a full year of offense? CF? Can Torres rebound? 2B? Will Freddy be back? Catcher are 3B are All-Stars, barring injury. Are all the rest of the spots up for grabs? And how do they get filled with real-live, actual ML players who can give you AT LEAST league-average (and we hope better than that) production?

No upgrades means a 2011 repeat with three of the best pitchers in baseball having .500 records. So if not Beltran, then who?

Zo said...

@MOC - much to comment on in your post, but for now, only a response to the question about Crawford - DEFENSE UP THE MIDDLE. If that can come with a better bat, great, but if it is a trade-off (see: Tejada, Cabrera), then it is a bad one.