Monday, May 16, 2016

Farewell, Freak

The venerated and celebrated pitching star of the Greatest Era in San Francisco Giants History has a new gig. If you missed it, Tim Lincecum has "agreed to a deal" with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Cataclysmic news, to be sure, mitigated by its inevitability. The math was not good in San Francisco, and perhaps his looming presence had as much to do with the Cain/Peavy recent resurgence as, well, Righetti voodoo, random variation, or country boy cussedness. I'll go with looming presence. The specter of a Tim-signing put a little extra giddy-up in the Matt & Jake pre-game prep. He wasn't going to be a super-reliever, even though we've all seen him do that, and do it brilliantly, and even though most of us probably think that's what he should do, he wanted to start.

And the Angels granted him his wish.

I'm gonna miss you, Tim. You were grand. Never to be forgotten.

--M.C.


p.s. I can only wish the lad well. Except against the Giants, of course. Perhaps he'll whip the Dodgers in one of those Freeway Series, help out his old mates.

12 comments:

campanari said...

Of the what? twenty teams that sent representatives to his repeatedly delayed "showcase," only three reportedly showed interest, and one of those showed interest in him as a reliever with the game-entry music being "Auld Lang Syne." That makes me doubt that his presence loomed so as to make those old pros Peavy and Cain quake in their cleats. As for me, I am glad he will be an Angel, since I view the Angels as LA rivals of the Hated Ones; I am glad that he will not oust one of our young, promising pitchers from the bullpen; I am glad I can be pleased if and when he does well, and sorry if and when he doesn't, rather than fearing his failure and growing queasy at the mixture of sentimentality and grumbling, bitterness and bitchiness, that would attend his likely mediocrity.

I too wish you well, Tim Lincecum. Thank you, Giants and TL, for moving the ignus fatuus of Phoenix Lincecum to another venue in the other league, and not distracting us from the single-minded pursuit of winning, winning, and winning, game after game, in 2016.

Brother Bob said...

I was hoping for a chance to see Timmy in a River Cats uni at least once, but I'm happy for him. I hope he does great.
I think the Cubs will win it all this year. Why not? The "even year" stuff r/t our team is just an odd little coincidence that has zero bearing on future performance.

Ron said...

So, it's been about 18 hours since Lincecum was 'rumored to be close to a deal'. Is there a glitch? And, I wonder what the terms of the deal are, & what commitment the Angels have made to him regarding his utilization. I wouldn't think they promised much, given that no one has actually even seen him throw a true bullpen session. 40 pitches off a mound in cargo shorts without even building up to a crescendo or breaking a sweat hardly seems to be sufficient evidence that he is really ready to pitch in games.

Hope it falls through - then, I hope that we give him a sensible minor league deal to give him an opportunity to work himself back to the show in a logical manner.

Oh ... since you decided to introduce a total non sequitur, Bob - 'F' the Cubs. I'm already tired of their arrogant attitude. Go Cards (in the NL Central)!

Zo said...

Cards are struggling, with a record very much like the Giants. That June 3 game in St. Louis (which I will be attending) will be interesting. Hopefully, the Giants will continue to roll up to and past that time. And yes, fuck the cubbies.

nomisnala said...

Cubs can never win it all after what they pulled in 1908 with Merkel's boner. Cubs are playing over their heads. It is an even year in the twenty teens, and until we do not win it all in an even year, I am going with the giants magic. The WS is the giants in 2016 until proven otherwise.

nomisnala said...

I do think that neither Cain or Peavy have been consistently good, and had to be looking over their shoulders. Luckily for each of them, they are starting to come around. If this continues it is also lucky and good for the giants, and their fans.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Nothing wrong with being cocky when you're playing .750 ball! Seriously, a little arrogance is OK with me. There's a fine line between the necessary self-belief it takes to win and braggodicio, it doesn't upset me when it's crossed now and then. I like to see competitive fire. Makes me appreciate Buster Posey, preternaturally cool all the time. How does he pull that off? Amazing.

I don't have a pony in that race, so I don't care who wins it. I know who I'm rooting for and they wear orange-and-black. I do think that the cosmic forces shifted when the BoSox and ChiSox, perennial also-rans, won back-to-back in '04 and '05. That shift opened the way for the always-bridesmaids-never-brides Giants. The baseball gods are like Olympian deities: petty, deceitful, cruel, and far too involved with mortal affairs. I think it might be good karma to root for lovable losers to finally find triumph. I know it sure felt good when our team crossed that threshold. Hard for me to deny it to other long-suffering fans.

Zo said...

The cubs ceased to be "lovable" long ago. Too many obnoxious fans. Not at all genteel, humble, and well-mannered like Giants fans.

M.C. O'Connor said...

“I’ll probably never catch anybody like him again,” Posey said.

Brother Bob said...

Well I didn't say I WANT the Cubs to win, but it would be the least egregious alternative to the Giants winning again. My daughter Sarah just went to Chi and came back with a Cubs cap for my grandson, which stirred a controversy with her in-law family, who are evidently all Cards fans, which is reasonable since they live in Mo.

El said...

Great Timmy write-up at http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/ today.

Nice to follow the story from afar.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Yeah I saw that at McChronic--good stuff.

We had great time in our short visit to Chicago--wonderful city for tourists.