Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Double Digit Junk Tim

Tim Lincecum brought some of the best junk of the season, the bullpen cruised, the defense choked and Buster Posey made a highlight film as the Giants dropped another game, 4-3 to the Mets in 16 innings at beautiful AT&T Park. Not only a gut wrenching loss but an epic waste of Buster (5 hits!!), who won't even be able to play on Tuesday after all that time behind the plate.  We have lost 12 of our last 14 games and the vultures are clearly circling.

The placement of  Brandon Belt in the third slot was amazing to me. How on earth has he earned that respect?  When I saw the lineup I pretty much had to laugh. By the end of the game, no laughter.  Belt went OH FOR EIGHT WITH FIVE STRIKEOUTS. That is quite likely the worst single game performance in many years. I am done with him, that was too painful to ever forget. I won't ever look at Brandon Belt again the same way. Our recent history of first basemen is terrifying, actually embarrassing.   Yuck, how about some positive notes....

Timmeh never seemed to be able to command his fastball ( no news there ) but all his other breaking shit looked sharp. His ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS were a season high by a couple and included loads of swinging strikes. That is my idea of a good time. It is rather amazing how fast Tim has gone away from any resemblance of a power pitcher. He still racks up the strikeouts but, boy howdy, does he throw a pile of junk! Curves, sliders and the endless change ups.  Sure seemed to work as he only gave up three runs in seven innings, and at least one of those runs was greatly aided by shaky defense. Tim Lincecum looks like he might be figuring out his new lively hood .... Wonder if we will get to see the progress continue?

And what about next year? Will he be a Giant? As each game passes, the outcome of the season gets less in doubt, but there are still huge questions to be dealt with.

Thanks for being you Buster.

7 comments:

Zo said...

The Giants picked up Jeff Francoeur. Yes, it is desparation, but I think he replaces Cole Gillespie, so no harm done. (I thought his name was Connor, is it the same guy?) In answer to your mini-tirade directed at Belt, he was put in that position because his recent numbers were SO much better than ANY of the other options. And THAT is frightening. Tim looked genuinely good. I was thinking this morning about "learning to pitch." His past has been so good that you kind of assume that he doesn't have much to learn. But maybe he does. This season isn't totally lost only because the NL West is such a shit pile. But really, I think the best thing is not to panic and wind up with another Beltran (trading value for short term lack of success). By the way, Wheeler starts Wednesday.

Ron said...

Cole Gillespie is an OSU College World Series Champion & Oregon native. Conor Gillaspie is the guy we had before - he's actually having a decent year for the White Sox.

If we were a factor in the race, I'd say that Jeff Francouer is the 2013 Pat Burrell. However, we are sinking closer & closer to irrelevance.

If we become 'sellers', can trade Sandoval for some legit prospects. The rest of our 'assets' are either untouchable or have little-to-no trade value.

If we go on a hot streak & remain 'buyers', then we need to plug our noses & do what it takes to land a Starting Pitcher.

Ron said...

Cole Gillespie is about to become a former Giant (DFA'd). Get ready for Kensuke Tanaka!

nomisnala said...

The reason Belt had such a bad game in the third position is because Bochy put him their in a game that almost anything but 0-8 would have meant a win. We do exactly what is needed to lose. How about when Timmy needed some of those K's he allowed wicked line drives that our fielders could not quite get at. Also the play where the ballboy got in front of Torres and he made a perfect throw to third but it was a millisecond late. The ballboy cause him to hesitate by about a second. Tonight with first and third one out, Blanco up, he smashed one about 120 MPH, but right at the pitcher and it is turned into a DP. Totally snake bit team. I guess the baseball Gods gave us two world series and now they are making us suffer. Pretty soon with play like this we will stop selling out.

nomisnala said...

Thank God we are in the easy part of our schedule, otherwise instead of being 3-14 in our last 17 games we would be 0-17. Although Bochy will probably go down as a hall of fame manager, he probably is responsible for at least half a dozen of the last 14 losses.

nomisnala said...

Matt Cain totally stunk it up today and could not get out of the first inning. I hope he is ok, but this is a new team low. Being destroyed by Zack Wheeler. This stretch is starting to accent just how lucky Sabean has been over the last few years. This team since June has been brutally bad. Almost unbelievably bad.

Zo said...

I find it hard to believe that Matt does not have some physical problem that either he or the Giants just aren't owning up to.