Good and Lucky Tim

I'm really not sure what attitude to open this post with...

sarcastic - "Tim Lincecum didn't throw a shut out today and the GIANTS STILL WON! Go figure."

shocked - "Thirteen hits total, four by Jeff Keppinger, a catcher(gasp) not named Buster (Chris Stewart) contributing a ton...in other words: a real offense."

So, I will just fall back on fecking grateful - "Thank Willie! We beat the damn Phillies, 3-1, avoiding the sweep and staying barely atop the NL West."

Lincecum (10-9) didn't really pitch much better than mates Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, but he comes away with the victory. Displaying that amazing ability to avoid big hits, Tim (game score 68) limited the impressive Phillies to nothing but singles:

7.2 innings 7 hits 1 run 1 walk 5 strikeouts

The best part of Tim's effort was that wonderful finish he so often displays, especially when a rare visit from the Run Fairy has graced our presence. Most of the hits came in the first few innings and his velocity actually hit a game high in the eighth inning. An interesting moment came when Tim got whacked by Chase Utley's bat on a foul tip. You don't see that too often...plus it was refreshing to see the two gentlemen act so classy out near the mound.

Special Tip o' the Hat to newbie Keppinger. A four hit day is something special. Runner-up: Aubrey Huff's two walks were like a breath of fresh air.

Matt Cain gives up runs

06 August 2011

To: Timothy LeRoy Lincecum, #55

From: Giants Management

Re: Sunday's game vs. Philadelphia



Throw a shutout.


And hope for the best.




--M.C.



p.s. Matt Cain has thrown 15 innings against the Phillies in 2011 and allowed seven hits and three runs, only one of them earned. He's walked three and struck out nine. His Game Scores were 67 and 76. He gets assigned a win and a loss for his efforts.

Phillies take their away series (and season series) against the Giants. Philadelphia has dominated on both sides of the ball in San Francisco, scoring 14 runs and giving up only three.

Attention Giants: plan not working

'Pitch like hell and hope you hit enough' was the mantra I was brainwashed into believing. Giants baseball is close, low-scoring games that the good guys pull out at the end because of superior superiority. And awesomeness. Don't forget the awesomeness. Awesome awesomeness, in fact. But that hasn't been working lately. They haven't done the 'pitch like hell part.' Well, some. But not every day. Too many other guys on too many other teams pitched better. And 'hit enough' hasn't happened since 2007 or something. The Giants, as a franchise, stopped hitting in the middle of the decade. I can't remember the exact date, somewhere at the convergence of Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Bruce Bochy. It's been pitching, pitching, pitching since then. OK, some defense and some big hits. But mostly it's about arms. Arma virumque cano and all that. (Vergil, you ignorant gobshites.) Like I said, there's a problem in the execution department. The theory is great. I'm down with the theory. I get the whole Pythagorean Runs thing. 'Runs prevented' is more important than 'runs scored.' Hey, I'm on board. You're preachin' to the fookin' choir here, laddie bucks. But ever since this team pulled in to Cincinnati on July 29th they have played some piss-poor ball. Now I understand that teams have slumps and whatnot, but you don't defend a title by watching the other team score. Or watching the scoreboard. C'mon Giants, win some goddamn games.

--M.C.

Gee, that was fun

The Giants scored eight runs on Wednesday but were soon cured of any notion of a resurgent offense by having to face Cliff Lee on Thursday. We often say around here that the Giants can make any pitcher look like Cy Young, and this past week we've seen Mike Leake, Johnny Cueto, Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, and now Lee look like Cy Young. At least in Lee's case you know he's really good--that was his fifth shutout this season. Madison Bumgarner had a rocky start, gave up back-to-back solo shots, and then kicked ass for the rest of the game. Sorry MadBum, you lose. The Giants can't afford to fall behind against most pitchers and certainly can't afford to fall behind against good pitchers. Losing six of seven will put a damper on any fan's spirits, but the Giants made sure to rub salt in the wound by announcing that Brandon Belt will be sent down and Mark DeRosa re-activated. I can understand the rook getting demoted. I'm OK with it--rookies get demoted all the time. He needs to play every day and get lots of reps at the plate. The roster will expand in September and both the Brandons will be back. But making a spot for DeRosa? Seriously? The guy has nothing left. It's not his fault--age and injuries have robbed him of what was left of his baseball skills. He can't do what the team signed him to do and should be released. I have no ill will here. DeRosa seems like a good guy and would have been a useful player if healthy. But the $12M is a sunk cost, like Miguel Tejada. Move on.

--M.C.

Streaks snapped

The Vogelstory has been one of the best of the 2011 season and one of the best SF Giants stories ever. He's the poster boy for perseverance and a reminder that drive and desire can overcome even the longest odds. You can teach an old dog new tricks--at 34 years of age Ryan Vogelsong has learned how to be a star in the major leagues. (Eat shit, Keith Olbermann.) The Giants improve to 12-6 in Vogelstarts and shake off the pesky Diamondbacks for at least another day. This is a much better club than most of us expected. I like the way they show patience and discipline at the plate and force pitchers to come in. Today they worked Vogie just like they worked Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. Fortunately the bats finally came alive with the FNGs contributing six hits, four runs, and four RBI. It is nice to see Carlos Beltran swinging the bat well, he makes a fabulous 3-4 combo with Pablo Sandoval. Let's hope they keep getting some help from the rest of the lineup. A few more runs last night and perhaps Tim's start isn't wasted and the Giants are two up and not just one. But that's milk spilled under the bridge, eh?

Philadelphia comes to town for four big ones. Roy Halladay pitched today and so once again the Giants will miss the über-ace. Tomorrow night is the southpaw showdown with Cliff Lee and Madison Bumgarner. Rookie Vance Worley threw a complete game against the Giants last time and will face the re-activated Jonathan Sanchez on Friday night. He has his own colorful history against these Phillies. Speaking of history, the NLCS Game Three re-match of Cole Hamels and Matt Cain happens Saturday afternoon. The final game features another re-activated pitcher, this time Roy Oswalt. He has the luck of the draw and gets Big Time Timmy Jim in what I predict will be an epic Freak-on.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. Giants snap the five-game losing streak and they snap the "can't score more than six runs at home" streak as well.

A Waste of Tim

The Giants offensive woes continue and what should have been a good pitchers duel decayed into a reptilian lovefest, with Arizona taking the second game of this big series 6-1. Playing with some luck and tons of energy, the revitalized Snakes join us as leaders in the NL West, but they clearly have the lead in the "mo" department. Good thing it is August. The race is on! Come on, you had to know it wasn't going to easy.

Of course, when Tim Lincecum (9-9) pitches like this it should be easy to win. Jeesh, he only gave up hits in one of the seven innings he worked. Although he was a bit wild, his velocity and movement were in top form. The numbers are solid but one slip up blew it (game score 68):

7 innings 3 hits 2 runs 3 walks 8 strikeouts

I've already heard about Tim's "one mistake" six times in the post game blabber. I didn't think it was a bad pitch at all... it just happened to be in some unknown minor leaguers happy place. Can you imagine the boost it must be to have some kid (and, no, I am not going to mention his name) get a hit like that? Actually, I guess we know pretty much how sweet that can be....gad zooks I miss Buster!

I'm going to break my rule of not speaking of the offense to say:
1. It probably is going to be a lot of fun watching Beltran. He didn't light up the boxscore tonight but every at bat was a liner and a good at bat. He's good...not worth half what we paid, but good.
2. Any residual enjoyment from watching Beltran was quickly evaporated by suffering through Nate Schierholtz tonight. He clearly needs time off but more importantly, his everyday status must be reconsidered. I have never been sold on Nate. A good player but corner outfielders MUST hit MUCH. Nate hits SOME.

One quick note for those of you that want to panic (and I know you are out there): The last time we had a five game losing streak we followed it with seven victories in a row. Think we can do that again?

Ugliest

The Diamondbacks have decided to make it a race. The Giants are now officially in a funk with a four-game losing streak. The sixth inning inning of the season (Sunday's loss in Cincinnati was game 108) saw the Giants toss away the mo' they had so brilliantly seized in Philadelphia. Inning number seven in San Francisco kept the ugliness alive as Matt Cain surrendered five runs. Giants pitchers allowed twenty runs in three games against the Reds. Cain had some bad luck on ground balls and got squeezed at home plate a few times, but he also made some poor pitches. The one to Ryan Roberts that drove in the second run was particularly frustrating with two strikes. An out there could have kept the wheels on the damn wagon. Arizona got a great start from Ian Kennedy--he allowed only six hits. It all started so well with Cain striking out Justin Upton to end the first and leadoff hitter Cody Ross belting a home run to open the bottom of the inning.  I was enjoying a bit of a "Bruce Bochy is a lineup genius" moment and thought maybe Matty could give the team seven strong with at least a shot to win. It was the fifth time in 23 starts that the big fella has given up five or more runs. Rotten timing for the club. Arizona won for only the third time in 10 games against the Giants this season. The 2010 Giants went 13-15 in August after a sizzling 20-8 July and before an historic 18-8 September in which they allowed only 50 runs. The 2011 team has been steady but not spectacular. The innings go 10-8, 10-8, 9-9, 10-8, 11-7, 11-7 (and 0-1). The months, after an 0-1 March, go 13-12, 16-12, 17-11, 15-11. After the loss tonight they are only one game up (61-48) on Arizona (60-49).

Let's see what Big Time Timmy Jim has going tomorrow because there's no joy in Mudville tonight.

--M.C.