As the resident Tim Lincecum freak here at RCM, I have taken it upon myself to regularly spew forth about The Enchanter. After all, don't Tim and Matt kind of go together. The Giants front office must think so...they were perfectly paired at Saturday's FanFest. So, any complete discussion of Mr. Cain really must include Mr. Lincecum. Hopefully this will be my duty for years to come.
And yes, this was a homework assignment. Do I get extra credit for being the first one turned in?
LINC LINKS
I figured a good start would be a few fun filled sites designed to inform:
general info with lots more links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Lincecum#Draft_and_Minor_League_career
a excellent video break down of his motion:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/mechanics/discussion/controlled_fury_tim_lincecum/
here's some stuff from FanFest '08 (Matt has some great quotes...Tim has another out pitch??)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/09/SPFLUV4JN.DTL
http://www.mercurynews.com/sportsheadlines/ci_8210696
and, finally, this one I find quite inspiring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwDmOBrZTVM
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
How the West was Won
Go to the ESPN NL Team Batting stats site. Click on the headers to sort by RUNS. We finish 15th of 16 teams. Sort by OPS. We finish 16th. But we had an inkling that might be so. What I find interesting is that SD, AZ and LA aren't that much better in those categories--all are 10th spot or below. Colorado is off the charts, of course, but we'll throw them out for the sake of discussion. Now click on NL Team Pitching. We knew SD won with arms, and the stats bear it out. We look pretty good, though. And LA and AZ are right there, too (sort by BAA--batting average against--and Runs allowed). Of course, they all won more games than they lost. And we finished in last place, 11 games behind LA (82-80). What's the deal? Was our fielding that bad? Not really. Go ahead, click on NL Team Fielding. I know, we didn't steal enough bases! We know how to sort for that, eh? Use "Expanded I" in Team Batting and you'll see we were FOURTH in the league! Hmmmm. Of course, we blew a lot of saves last year (Team Pitching, Expanded I), and more importantly, had few save opportunities, giving us a wretched percentage. So, I conclude from this deep and thoughtful analysis that we need a better bullpen. Not just a save artist, but setup men, set-up setup men, spot relievers, lefty-righty specialists, DP dudes, K wizards, and innings eaters. Whaddya say, amigos? How 'bout an exciting discussion about our bullpen? Hell, we gotta talk about SOMETHING between now and spring training!!!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
God Save Us
It takes a lot to get me to make two posts in one day. Here at RMC, we have focused on pitching--with good reason. We just might have our most exciting staff in decades. Hitting, sadly, is necessary, despite what Boch & Sabes think about little ball, stolen bases, and moving runners over. So, let us see what folks are saying about our hitting.
Read.
Weep.
A Giant Mess by Patrick Sullivan at The Baseball Analysts.
Position-by-postion-look at MLB's worst by Dayn Perry at FOX Sports.
Of course, we knew this already. But the Lenten season is upon us, and a little sackcloth-and-ashes routine is good for the soul. Time to get the mothballs out of those hairshirts and suit up. Meanwhile, keep thinking about Matt and his Seaver-esque mien, and Tim and his channeling of Ron Guidry. And the triumvirate of Wilson, Walker and Hennessey--an emperor will emerge from them as our Saves-ior. Right now The Beezy is engaged in some strange mystical posture, visualizing the Big Blyleven Hook blowing away batters. Join him on the yogic plane, O My Brothers. For it is written: only through the futility of the Diamond Nine can the One on the Hill achieve transcendence.
Read.
Weep.
A Giant Mess by Patrick Sullivan at The Baseball Analysts.
Position-by-postion-look at MLB's worst by Dayn Perry at FOX Sports.
Of course, we knew this already. But the Lenten season is upon us, and a little sackcloth-and-ashes routine is good for the soul. Time to get the mothballs out of those hairshirts and suit up. Meanwhile, keep thinking about Matt and his Seaver-esque mien, and Tim and his channeling of Ron Guidry. And the triumvirate of Wilson, Walker and Hennessey--an emperor will emerge from them as our Saves-ior. Right now The Beezy is engaged in some strange mystical posture, visualizing the Big Blyleven Hook blowing away batters. Join him on the yogic plane, O My Brothers. For it is written: only through the futility of the Diamond Nine can the One on the Hill achieve transcendence.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Super Tuesday
Not much going on in GiantsLand. The Super Bowl is finally fookin' over. The Hillabar O'Clinama excitement is just getting started. I'm glad we have made NO STUPID TRADES, but I'm dying for some baseball to talk about.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Worst trade of the Decade?
Alternate title: Sabashing!
How do you think you could evaluate the worst trade of the decade? How about these criteria: 1) it is used as a reference by guys who are not typical teeth-gnashing Giants fans, and 2) it is used in a reference that is not even about baseball.
The generally tremendous Mr. Tremendous has posted a post on www.firejoemorgan.com about an article about Ernie Accorsi's (NY football Giants General Manager) trade for Eli Manning being a good trade written by Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. Rather than read that article, I recommend the fjm article here: http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2008/02/small-sample-sized-revisionist-history.html.
The fjm guys write about bad sports journalism, pointing out just how bad it is in content, logic, grammar, and language usage and are merciless at it. The authors of this site are not SF Giants fans, alhtough they follow baseball closely. They are Boston Red Sox fans, although their comments skewer sports journalism in any media from any city. Here are some quotes from the article being skewered, and italicized comments from Mr. Tremendous:
"'What difference does it make what we gave up?' Accorsi continued....because that's how you evaluate whether it was a good trade."
Do you think Brian Sabean is like, "Who cares about Liriano, Bonser, and Nathan? We got A.J. Pierzynski and cash!!!!"
"My friend Doyel might know college basketball better than anyone, as well as the thug-filled, cracked-jaw-fest that is the MMA, but one thing NFL media rooks like him forget when discussing the Giants-Chargers trade is this caveat: The Chargers wanted fierce defensive end Osi Umenyiora to be included in the deal. Accorsi said hell no. It was the right move by Accorsi, and Umenyiora has been a force."
If the Twins had asked for Barry Bonds in the Nathan/Liriano/Bonser deal, and Sabean had said no, that would not have meant that Sabean had made a good deal.
OK, I realize that there are still more or less two years to go in the decade, depending on if you count 2010, but I think this is a significant entry. Discuss.
How do you think you could evaluate the worst trade of the decade? How about these criteria: 1) it is used as a reference by guys who are not typical teeth-gnashing Giants fans, and 2) it is used in a reference that is not even about baseball.
The generally tremendous Mr. Tremendous has posted a post on www.firejoemorgan.com about an article about Ernie Accorsi's (NY football Giants General Manager) trade for Eli Manning being a good trade written by Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. Rather than read that article, I recommend the fjm article here: http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2008/02/small-sample-sized-revisionist-history.html.
The fjm guys write about bad sports journalism, pointing out just how bad it is in content, logic, grammar, and language usage and are merciless at it. The authors of this site are not SF Giants fans, alhtough they follow baseball closely. They are Boston Red Sox fans, although their comments skewer sports journalism in any media from any city. Here are some quotes from the article being skewered, and italicized comments from Mr. Tremendous:
"'What difference does it make what we gave up?' Accorsi continued....because that's how you evaluate whether it was a good trade."
Do you think Brian Sabean is like, "Who cares about Liriano, Bonser, and Nathan? We got A.J. Pierzynski and cash!!!!"
"My friend Doyel might know college basketball better than anyone, as well as the thug-filled, cracked-jaw-fest that is the MMA, but one thing NFL media rooks like him forget when discussing the Giants-Chargers trade is this caveat: The Chargers wanted fierce defensive end Osi Umenyiora to be included in the deal. Accorsi said hell no. It was the right move by Accorsi, and Umenyiora has been a force."
If the Twins had asked for Barry Bonds in the Nathan/Liriano/Bonser deal, and Sabean had said no, that would not have meant that Sabean had made a good deal.
OK, I realize that there are still more or less two years to go in the decade, depending on if you count 2010, but I think this is a significant entry. Discuss.
10 days
Now that the Stupid Bowl is finally past us, we can look forward to the start of spring. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras. Thursday is Chinese New Year. And pitchers and catchers report in only TEN DAYS! That means homework for all the blog-meisters.
JCP: all things Linkster
Zo: The Beezy (now merely the second-highest paid pitcher)
Ron: Lowry & the Elusive No. 5
M.C. will stick with M.C., of course. Sharpen those pencils, trim those fingernails, and caffeinate those synapses, me bhoyos, it is work time.
JCP: all things Linkster
Zo: The Beezy (now merely the second-highest paid pitcher)
Ron: Lowry & the Elusive No. 5
M.C. will stick with M.C., of course. Sharpen those pencils, trim those fingernails, and caffeinate those synapses, me bhoyos, it is work time.
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