Barry & Leon

Good sportswriting is easy to find these days if you look outside of the "traditional" media and cruise the electronic world. One of my favorites is Edge of Sports, featuring the estimable Dave Zirin. In his latest piece, Boss's Boycott: The Bonds Vanishes, he compares our very own Barry Lamar to none other than LEON TROTSKY. Now Mr. Bonds has been described as The Devil Incarnate by many a "sportswriter," but this is the first time he's been linked with a commie revolutionary. For that alone, Mr. Zirin deserves your ear.

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(Both these images are taken from Wikimedia Commons and are in the public domain.)

Local boy makes good

The 2008 Giants are filled with these stories. The latest hero is Sacramentan Steve "Backup Catcher" Holm, whose 2-run bomb beat the Phillies yesterday. Was that win a TEAM EFFORT? Captain Gamer got 3 walks (he's now sporting a gaudy .972 OPS), Señor Clutch and The Dirtbag collected 2 hits apiece, the Sadler-Taschner-Walker-Wilson relief squad was dynamite, it takes a fookin' village, eh? But this post is focused on a man who has played 419 games in the minors, none above AA, with a lifetime .240 average. Steven Robert Holm is 27 and slugged a career-high .511 (15 HRs in 69 games) in 2006 for single-A San Jose, and last year managed a career-high .387 OBA (42 walks in 84 games) for AA Connecticut. He's been in the system since 2001, where he split time at 3B, 1B and catcher for Salem-Keizer. Holm's college baseball career was at Oral Roberts University where he was a GOLDEN EAGLE. In 2000, the young shortstop was the Mid-Continent Player of the Year. Former Giants pitcher Craig Colbert was also an ORU Golden Eagle.


UPDATE: check out yer bhoyo M.C. on ONLY BASEBALL MATTERS!!

Stopper Tim

One of the features of a truly great starting pitcher, of an "ace," is that special ability to stop a losing streak. By the sheer force of one's will (and talent), an entire team's momentum and fate can be redirected. This is what young Mr. Lincecum has demonstrated repeatedly so far this season; specifically, today's gem was the fourth victory by Tim following a Giants' loss.

This was perhaps Tim's best outing of the young season. His eight innings match a career high. The Enchanter gave up four hits; two of which were solo homers, while striking out eight and walking one. The numbers, while impressive, don't really tell the story. Tim set the tone immediately by striking out the first three batters LOOKING. Cool, huh? This kind of domination continued throught out the game. His best inning was the seventh; three outs from the heart of their potent order ON SEVEN PITCHES. Another thing I always look for is how a pitcher responses after a homer...how does he deal with the next batter? Tim was unfazed after Howard led off the second with an opposite field blast (boy howdy is that guy good!) as he got three straight fly outs. With one out in the eigth, Tim gave up a homer by their catcher, then a single! After a coaching visit, He finished his night with a fly out and, of course, another strikeout. The kid has poise.

Everything seems a little different with Tim on the mound. Even if we fall a behind, there is a sense that we can still win. There can be no doubt that we are all watching the real deal here. This all begs the question, and I am really asking for answers here,

WHY DOESN'T TIM HAVE A LONG TERM DEAL YET?

Is this something to worry about? Is it OK to live through arbitration years? Is Lincecum (and his Daddy) holding it up? Matt signed a biggie, right? What gives?

6.1 9 5 5 1 5

The Pirates clearly have our number, but so what? The rookies have been playing over their heads a bit and they'll come crashing back to earth soon and guess what? EVERYONE will have our number. The projections about this team losing 90-100 games will come true. We are hideously bad. Matt Cain was better today than the rest of our feeble offense. He had two hits including one of our two extra base hits. On the mound, the 9 hits were a season high. Inconsistency is M.C.'s bugaboo. Did the hamstring issue from last week carry over? Only one walk, that is a good sign. Five strikeouts looks OK for 6-1/3 IP, but in the context of 30 batters faced, it looks feeble. After all, Barry "Da Beezy" Zito struck out five yesterday. Talking points:

--Jose Castillo batting 2nd (.287 OBP, lifetime .296). Reeks of Bonehead-ism.

--Rich Aurilia playing at all. Put Lewis in LF and Ortmeier/Bowker at 1B. Send Richie away.

--Special Agent Jack finally got dinged with inherited runners. Bound to happen.

I sure hope Tim Lincecum pitches well tomorrow. There's not much else worth watching with this bunch. But we knew that. I really hope we get to see Matt improve steadily the rest of this season. I'm getting tired of seeing those "L's" next to his name.

Stressful Tim

It is only early May and it is already getting to be a challenge to put out meaningful commentary about Mr. Lincecum. (Who knew writing a blog would be this hard? Bloggers, maybe?) How does one exactly analyze a pitching performance? Well, how about...

END RESULTS: Hopefully in a couple years we will be back to this being the ONE measuring bar, but that sure is not the case now. (If you used this for Matt Cain, he looks a lot like Zito.) Bottom line, Tim definitely kept us in the game, as he has EVERY START SO FAR.

STATS: We all love the numbers, don't we? Six innings AGAIN and NO EARNED RUNS. Can't complain there. Only six hits, 3 for doubles though, no home runs, which is great in that park. Five strikeouts and two walks (one intentional) is not too exciting, but gets the job done. The two wild pitches that figured into the scoring are bad. I didn't see them and I wonder if Holm was a little overmatched. The worst number (AGAIN) is probably pitch count - 110 for six innings. However, much of that is due to errors that extended a couple innings and contributed to...

STRESSFUL SITUATIONS: This may be one of the most over looked aspects of evaluating pitchers, yet I feel it is crucial. Especially with our youngsters, it is all about MATURATION and these situations are where it happens. Tim was in an almost constant state of stress. Four of his six innings started with baserunners, twice with leadoff doubles. He responded wonderfully, especially against the amazing Utley, which he struck out looking and popped out twice, all in big situations. The best example of Tim's continuing maturation came against Jenkins, a pretty good veteran hitter. Lincecum went back and forth between fastball and changeup masterfully and the helpless Jenkins was no match.

All in all, if our defense had dealt with stress as well as our boy, we probably would have taken the series. An exciting weekend of close baseball against a very good team. Maybe we can build on it.

I know Tim will.

7+ 3 2 2 1 8

93 pitches, 60 strikes, 25 batters, 4 groundouts, 9 flyouts. EIGHT BIG PUNCH-OUTS. Best performance of the young season for M.C., and all he gets is another ND. As I listened to the frightening top of the 8th, when the Hurra-Cain suddenly lost it and walked his first batter (on four pitches), then got yanked for an INJURY, I promised Lucifer my soul if Tyler Walker would "hold on" and keep Matt's runner at first from scoring. The Big Sweaty did the job, and now I'll have to enlist Dan'l Webster's ghost for my defense. But it was worth it. Here at RMC, nothing is too great to sacrifice for our boy. We got your back, M.C.! And guess what else I told Mr. Scratch aka Satan aka The Hornéd Dude? I TOLD HIM I DIDN'T CARE WHETHER WE WON OR LOST. I TOLD HIM THE "RESULTS" WERE MEANINGLESS TO ME! ALL I CARED ABOUT WAS MATT'S "LINE." That's right, I'm a selfish, egotistical, barcalounger-lounging cad who doesn't care about the team! {insert maniacal laughter} Go, Matt! You da man!!!!!

(n.b. Phlegm just let us know that M.C. had "tightness," not a serious injury, thank God, or the Devil, or Allah, or The Big Kahuna, or whoever-the-fook's in charge of that department.)

This is the TITAN! Check out Barcalounger.com!

10th inning: Brian Wilson Friday night redux; 1st batter Pat Burrell, a walk, 2nd Geoff Jenkins, a blown DP but got the lead runner, 3rd Carlos Ruiz, K, 4th Eric Bruntlett ground out! A SAVE! A BLOODY SAVE! (See, I do care.)

"Human Highlight Film"

"Fred Lewis? The guy's a human highlight film!" --Dr. Jonathan C. Parsons, 2007

Continuing our series on the New Young Bucks, Mr. Fred Lewis has found himself in the middle of all things good and bad about the 2008 Giants. Our Little Engine That Could has been chugging along with an impressive .337/.419/.533 line over 29 games. The 300-400-500 (avg-oba-slg) plateau is the Holy Grail for a hitter. I think it is safe to say Fred is not going to slug .500 for a season, but I think he has shown a consistent ability to get on base. He has a patient, cerebral approach at the plate that will pay off in the long run, as long as the brass doesn't push him to "be more aggressive." Right now he leads the team in walks--a good thing for a leadoff hitter. I think his stroke will improve and I expect to see him develop into a solid all-field line drive hitter. The knock on Lewis is his age--he's played almost 600 games in the minors, and got tagged as an AAAA type. If you look at the stats, his strikeouts and lack of power have been his Achilles heel, but you can't complain about the .377 OBA. As we have seen, Fred has a raw, unpolished look on the bases, despite his speed. He has shown flashes of brilliance in the outfield alongside some real boners. I like to think those are just rookie lapses, and that his mental game in the field and on the basepaths will improve as well.

Fred is a former Southern University Jaguar. This Baton Rouge Historically Black University also produced the Brewers Rickie Weeks. The most famous Jaguar in MLB history is a fellow who was known for defensive and baserunning excellence, as well as a lot of strikeouts but little power from the leadoff spot. I'm talking about Hall of Famer Louis Clark Brock. I don't expect Fred to get 3,000 hits or 900 SBs, but I think he can be a solid player. If we can get some power hitters in the lineup, he could be a real asset at the top.