Start #18 Loss (3-10) 3.1 innings 7 hits 6 runs 1 walk 3 strikeouts
Did I already use this title before? Have I already written this post before? Is this nightmare going to end?
Answers: Not quite, No it just seems that way, and the 2012 Tim Lincecum nightmare does not seem to be anywhere close to being done. PLUS this time we get a few extra days off to ruminate over it! The lastest version was today's rubber game loss to the resurgent Pittsburgh Pirates, 13 -2. I guess I was fortunate to completely miss it (traveling to Sactown for the week) but I feel like I've seen it before. We have all seen it far too many times this year. Another low quality start ( game score 24 ) that featured some big blasts by quality hitters (Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker) as well as the embarassing hit to A.J. Burnett ( his first RBI since 2005! ). Tim is clearly no closer to getting his freak back on.
Well, let the All-Star Break conjecture begin. Is he out of shape? Does he need his Daddy? Is he smoking too much ganja? Maybe he's not eating enough In 'N Out burgers. The sad thing is that we will see articles about each one of these in the next couple days (if you haven't already).
6 comments:
Since, thankfully, I can't remember a Steve Blass situation on the Giants, the benchmark for a Giants Starting Pitcher crapping out from one year to the next was Vida Blue 1978/1979. Every start by Blue in 1979 felt like a horror show, as the team went from the relative euphoria of 1978 back to the more normal misery for that Giants era in 1979. (Knepper had a similar 1979 crash-landing, but had not established himself as a star to the same level as Blue, so it felt more like a youngster getting found out by the league.)
Blue went from 18-10, 2.79 ERA, WHIP of 1.17, 3rd in Cy Young voting in 1978 to 14-14, 5.01 ERA, WHIP of 1.51 in 1979. HR's allowed doubled. BB's went from less than 1 every 3.5 innings to nearly 1 every 2 innings.
To really drive home just how horrific he has been this year, Tim Lincecum would have to go 11-4 with a 3.75 ERA in the 2nd half just to match Blue's 1979 season.
Bochy repeats the line that they just need to let him work things out, but can we? LA won't be broken down for much longer &, now, just when we thought that we had made it a 2-team race, we are hearing footsteps again from below.
While everyone else in the league is fighting over Hamels & Greinke, should we snap up a slightly lesser light? Dare I say it ... Wandy Rodriguez? Or, do we give Brad Penny a few starts, while Tim goes to Fresno for some intensive re-tooling?
I think that we should be in panic mode - our bullpen (mostly Lopez & Castilla) is pretty unreliable. The Cardinals are evaluating Fuentes - should we be? If the investment is minimal, throw-aways like Lidge & Fuentes are at least worth a brief look.
It's July - let's do something!
Very happy for Matt Cain's All-Star start. Also, very happy that all of the Giants involved should be out of the game early.
I can't explain Tim, but let's not panic r/t the pitching staff in general. Remember 4 straight shutouts?
Heady things have been going on, including the Perfect Game (which contained "the best catch ever")and the zany All-Star selections. Sandoval deserves to start the game about as much as Obabma deserved the Nobel Prize. I'm a big fan of both men, but really...
Yeah, Tim was not good. Although, at the end of a two city tour wherein we went 1-5, you can't say that the Giants' fortunes ride solely with Tim. Yesterday, most everyone looked bad. Two of the 5 losses were blown saves, we should have 3 pitchers with 10 wins under their belt before the AS game. Zito, just to make it somewhat more surreal, got the lone W. Posey, 2 of 19 on this trip. Blanco, had a good game with 3 hits against Washington July 3, got another 2 Saturday, blanked the rest of the time. Pagan, 3 hits July 5, zippo the rest of the trip. A couple of positives: Pablo's hr power seems to have returned, and Theriot has done a heck of a job filling in for Freddy Sanchez, who will not be back.
Did someone say surreal? After hammering us (and make no mistake about it, Washington beat us not only on mistake pitches, a lot of them were good pitches, that they just hit the fuck out of), the Rockies, a team so bad that they have been compared to the 1962 Mets (http://www.denverpost.com/lunchspecial/ci_21020713/rockies-ineptitude-recalls-1962-mets) took 2 of 3 from the Nats.
Lots of line drives off Tim this season, fewer ground balls, more homers. He used to strand 75% of his runners, now it is only 60%. And the WALKS! Last year it was bad (3.6/9), now it is worse (4.7/9). Oddly, he still has swing-and-miss stuff and still whiffs guys (9.7/9 5th best in MLB)! It's like he has forgotten how to pitch. He is physically fine, from all accounts, but having tools is only half the battle, you have to be able to use them.
I'm still convinced he will right the ship. I don't know if demotion to AAA or skipping starts will do anything. He is Big Time Timmy Jim, he's going to have to figure it out in Real Time. When you get $20M/year to pitch, you goddamn better pitch. I say he gets the ball every 5th day and a "get 'er done, boy" from Boch and Rags. He'll figure it out.
It is amazing that the most spectacular pitcher we have ever seen, who DOMINATED the league and the post-season is now the WORST pitcher in the game. When he was great, he was the best. When he is bad, he is a nightmare. Even Barry Zito is better, can you believe it? You got to love a guy who goes "all-in." Bet the house or don't play, man. Nothing half-assed for our Timmy!
Panic rarely works out well, in life or in baseball. I can see the need to address some of our bullpen issues (if we had not blown two saves, we could be 3-3 on the recent road trip), but I cannot see a panic-induced Lincecum-related move that we would not deeply regret. It's July - let's be damn careful about doing something.
I have been saying this for over a month. You keep throwing the guy out there and expect something different, then your are going to be disappointed. With the all star break time off, make timmy your 5th starter and skip his first start. Give him a real break and let him come back with most of the THC out of his bloodstream and brain tissue. In two straight games he brainfarted with the pitcher in the batters box in RBI situations and threw a batting practice pitch each time. Give him time off, hook him up with Huff's Psychiatrist, and let his dad work with him for a couple of weeks.
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