Ascending Tim

My Mom and Dad did a great job of teaching me a true American value: the love of Baseball. Each of them had a great personal history with long standing franchises. I always envied their tales of incredible pitchers that they witnessed: Bob Feller for my mother and Carl Hubbell for my father. Everytime I got excited by The Count, or Bill Swift, or Jason Schmidt (you get the idea) they would just smirk and tell me about some no-hitter or 16 strikeout performance or 4 consecutive complete game streak (you get the idea) and I would be put in my place. I'm too young for Juan Marichal, so I really didn't have any "ammo" to fight back with. Well, it looks like those days are over...

Tim Lincecum continues his journey into Giants history with his third complete game in the last four starts, two of them shutouts. Tonight he went the distance giving up a weak single and a double (to Pujols), NO WALKS and eight strike outs. All that in 95 pitches! These last couple CG's are not at all like the ones last year. Those were brutal 130+ affairs; this year's are efficient and economical. Hell, we scored 10 runs but the game was still only 2 hours long!! Oh yeah, just in case you want even more from Lincecum, he singled, successfully sacrificed, and made an excellent defensive play. Sounds like old time baseball to me.

I'm telling you, something else has clicked in place for Tim and he has taken it to a new level. Every time he takes the mound it feels like history is taking place. I think I say this every post: We are so lucky to be along for the ride.

I think I'm going to call my Mom tomorrow. Maybe we can talk some baseball now.

photo credit

The kids are alright

It took a journeyman minor-leaguer to give us the start we needed to win in Milwaukee. He gets his first MLB win--six shutout innings--and his first MLB hit. Matt Downs cranks his first home run. Nate Schierholtz pounds out four more hits including an 8th-inning jack. Last five games for Mr. Olympic: 3-4, 2-4, 2-4, 1-4, 4-5. He's a hacker in the great Sandovalian tradition, and he's "served notice" to Ol' Boch that he gets in the lineup every day. More blues for Mississippi Fred, he slashed a foul line drive that winged the Panda in the on-deck circle, made another misplay in LF, and added another K to his total. He got a big RBI early with an infield hit, but the positive contribution is lost in the glare of Olympic Nate's fireworks. More bench time for him, I'm afraid. Speaking of bench time, Aurilia's absence (bereavement leave) points out--again--his superfluous status. We don't need him. Let him go and free up the spot. Banished Jonathan Sanchez gets a measure of redemption with an impressive 3-K ninth. Way to go, kid.

Break out the forties, me buckos, this was a grand win.

Sad-Who-ski?

Links:
Today's game, from MLB.com
Chris Haft's piece
SF Gate
His very latest stats
Grizzlie stats

Keep the forties on ice, bra

When Prince Fielder hit the 3-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, he changed the win probability for los Cerveceros from 9.6% to 33.1%, good for a .235 WPA. It was a huge hit, of course, and the tying blast by Casey McGehee (.187 WPA) off Brandon Medders' first pitch was only slightly less dramatic. A fine start by Da Beezy was suddenly in tatters. Matt Cain hurt himself with walks last night when down 3-1, BZ managed to hurt himself with walks tonight while having a 4-0 lead. If you depend on pitching to win, you have to pitch well to win.

Another great performance for Pablo Sandoval, who kept delivering every time up. I seem to remember another 22-year old who flashed some skillz with the stick back in the day. I wonder if this 22-year old has as bright a future. Will Clark had the pedigree, of course, and the hopes and dreams of the faithful as well. I know we all remember the 96- and 100-loss seasons in 1984 and 1985. Clark's arrival in 1986 was like manna to the fookin' Israelites. Pablo emerged from minor league obscurity, leaping levels at age 21, establishing himself as a genuine prospect in 2008. Now he's one of the best hitters in the league! (Note that he and David Wright are neck-and-neck in OPS.) Can he be The Man for this team all seson long?

It was great to get to Hoffman in the 9th--he lowered the Brewers win expectancy from 50% to less than 10% in short order. Sadly, it was not to be for our beloved Gigantes. Brian Wilson, in a supreme act of closer one-upmanship, gave it all away. Hardy's game-tying hit was worth .369 WPA, and Fielder's coup de grâce came in at .386. Alas, I thought we had number forty in the bag. We'll see what Ryan Sadwoski can show us tomorrow.