First, the game I actually saw: The RiverCats got two early runs ( the second one on a Pence sac fly ) and never really looked back as Ty Blach kept the Isotopes from ever mounting a threat. He didn't over power them but still racked up several K's. He looked very good. Cordier struck out the side late in the game and looked very nasty doing it. Adam Duvall put a lovely swing on a breaking ball and got yet another home run. He looks like he is ready for another shot. Of course, the reason we were there was Pence. Sac fly, ground out and strike out into a double play. No highlights but it was still wonderful to see his crazy on deck swing. Golly, I love that guy. What's not to love?
Next, the game I probably should have been watching: Tim Lincecum's solid pitching and Casey McGehee's grand slam propelled the Giants back into the win column with a convincing 6-0 thumping of the visiting Marlins. The Freak wasn't as smooth as his last outing ( he needed 107 pitches
to make it through 6 innings ) but he sure wasn't easy to hit ( only a double and 2 singles ). Timmeh has a nice trend going and if he can keep it up this could be quite the season indeed. After the game he said the key to this year is repeatable mechanics. Hell, I'll drink to that!
A couple other flashy things in the box score tonight: A three inning save by Petit. I love those and I love that guy. Buster got on base FIVE times, the last three by walks. He also caught Tim again and I bet we see a lot more of that. Brandon Belt got 4 hits and has his average over .300. He is red hot right now. Keep it going Baby Giraffe!
All told it was a marvelous baseball night in the state capitol. There were even fireworks! Too cool.
6 comments:
This was the first game I attended in the new era of River Cats baseball. It was great to be there with my brother, even though he spent most of the game staring at his telephone to follow Timmeh.
I was happy when Duvall hit his homer, since I've been raving about how well he's been hitting.
Here's a couple more interesting Tim facts:
His career record is 65-2 when receiving four or more runs of support; including 45-0 with at least five runs.
Eight strikeouts is definitely this year's high and something that is very easy to get excited about. We probably can't expect nearly as many K's with his "new" approach but it is nice to know that he can still bring it. Strikeouts are kind of like homers, there are other ways to get it done, but they can't be beat for crowd appeal. Chicks love the wiff! Hmmm, that sounds funny...
Only one homer allowed in 36 innings. And his walks are steady--only 14 in six starts, which is 3.5/9 his career average. There were a couple of innings where the Marlins hammered the ball but the Giants outfield made the plays. Otherwise Timmy got swings-and-misses with the curve and splitter, and got a lot of off-balance contact. He made Giancarlo Stanton look bad, which was impressive. Check out the numbers: 20 called strikes, 17 swing-and-miss strikes. Tim had movement and location!
McGehee's slam was great, he needed it and so did the club. He also hit into two more DPs, but that don't matter if you win. I predict he will set a GIDP record but the Giants will still be champs.
Glad you had fun in Sac. Can't wait to see Pence back in SF.
What format did you use for the photos? It was weird, Firefox would not display them at first (Chrome would), but then they "worked" the next time I checked. Computers clearly have their own minds.
Regardless, great pics--it's always nice to liven up the posts with some color and fun!
Tim threw a LOT of balls. 66 strikes / 107 pitches. I guess that was what you might call "effectively wild." However, he made some great pitches when he needed to. Like striking out Giancarlo Stanton with bases loaded. He had hella movement on his pitches, accounting for a good number of the balls. Still, he had so much going that he caught batters by surprise. Morse struck out a couple times on those high fast balls (not really so fast) that are above the letters.
FYI, as I've been showing in one of my side boxes, teams win a lot of games when they score at least 4 runs: in 2014, NL Teams were 920-293 when they score 4 runs. Still, that's even better for Lincecum, which shows, I think, more how the Giants have not always scored that much for him, as he has 252 career starts, and yet only 67 games where he got 4 runs of support.
Yet he's still 104-81 in his career, meaning he's 39-79 when he gets 3 or less runs of support.
This is the evolution I've been hoping to see from him this season. First a struggle to get K's but lowered BB's, but digging them gopher holes into the ground. Then once he gets confidence with that, he can start to integrate in his swing and miss stuff into the appropriate situation.
As a sign of that, the talk for this start is how Posey can catch him now, that his command is greatly improved enough that there are not constant balls in the dirt. He noted his knowledge of his mechanics, as well, as part of that. This, for me, was a very encouraging start, seeing him strike out Stanton like that, in crucial situations, instead of giving up the big homer.
Happy Lincecum Day once again!
Post a Comment