Bob's Pair

from the fertile mind of Brother Bob:

How sweet to thrash the As 11-1 in the series finale! Especially combined
with Lincecum's gem on Saturday.
The Giant's offense has shown a nice ability to go off from time to time.
Although Molina and Rowand have indeed slacked off from their early torrid
pace, they both continue to contribute more often than not, and the likes of
Winn, Durham and Lewis are always a factor to respect.
Clearly special props must go to Aurilia for a big 5 RBI performance. I will
never stop LIKING Rich for what he meant in the past, and I love it when he
has his good days.
I think I can stop shouting,"Hey, everyone, Sanchez is pretty good too!"
While all the drooling over Tiny Tim (let's get real and use the most
obvious, best nickname for him- "the franchise"- gag me) is utterly
justified, there's another big baseball story going on in Frisco. (Another
nickname I secretly love, although it's forbidden to use).
These back-to-back wins in Oakland, with their back-to-back great pitching,
have produced the most schpilkas in me yet so far this year. I declare now
that the Giants have Co-Aces, two studs in the rotation who can shut down
any other team on any given day.
Can you imagine a Giants team in the near future with this as a foundation?
And then what if Cain & Zito relearn how to breathe through their eyelids or
something, and Merkin returns in full glory? Then what?

Half Way Tim

After a few starts that looked rather human, our true ace, Tim Lincecum returned in dominating form. This seven inning, 11 strikeout gem was highlighted by Tim's slick ability to get out of jams. Three times in the first 5 innings the A's had a runner at third with one or less outs. Each time Tim elevated his game and got the K or the DP just when he needed them. As I have mentioned before, Lincecum seems to be the only Giants pitcher that is markedly better with runners on. If anybody knows some stats out there to prove me wrong, I would love to see them.
As you probably noticed, we are at the half way point of the season, game #81. An easy and amusing exercise is doubling stats to see how the year is going and how it may turn out. Here's some "projected" 2008 stats for The Enchanter:

18 wins 2 losses (on a team this bad that is hard to believe)

220 IP 186 hits 228 k 86 walks (that's a whip of 1.24! Can he last that many innings?)

only 10 hr given up, but 20 wild pitches

Is that one hell of a season or what? Hell, Gaylord and Juan would be proud of that one.

PS: Beating the A's is a rare treat. Doing it with only 2 hits (3 baserunners) is especially sweet. Unfortunately, the doggers did us one better by winning without getting a hit. Gross, huh?

5 8 4 4 2 4

I must confess to completely missing any coverage of yesterday's game, another loss for our young Mr. Cain (4-6). It would seem that the game was actually one of the least distinctive or dramatic losses of the season. One indication of this might be the almost complete lack of blog action, more on that later. Anyway, it looks like an ol' fashioned whooping at the hands of a super talented pitcher, Cliff Lee (11-1). Matt's struggling 101 pitch, 5 inning performance was clearly no match. I must admit to being surprised that Denker was in the lineup. Tough chance; sit for a week, then go in against Cliff Lee. I really have my doubts that we are doing the right thing with Denker/Burriss. Otherwise, unless you are an Indian fan, this game is better forgotten.

Since I had to use the internet ( no TV, what a radical!! ) to get caught up, I thought I might take a second to check in with a few of my favorite fellow Giants blogmates. Normally, I don't like it when reporters report on other reporters, but I am relatively new to this amazing resource so I'm still quite giddy. Literally the best thing about this monkey-puke season is my daily journey into Giants cyberville. If you are like me, there are a few sites that I must check just about everyday. Here are a couple of my current favorites:

#1 McCovey Chronicles: This is a no-brainer. Obviously the hub of info and conversation about all things Giants. Some of my buddies are intimidated by the size, scope and "busyness" of the site, but I dig it. Be sure to look at the most current Minor Lines, the best way to keep up with our "future."

#2 El Lefty Malo: This site is the current favorite of M.C. O'Connor, "cock of the walk" here at RMC. This blog, which updates almost everyday, is consistently witty and super baseball savvy. This is one of the first sites that really made it clear to me that I could learn and enjoy more from blogs than from any regular newspapers.

#3 Giants Win: Another site that updates often, sometimes more than once a day. This site provides the service of gathering media highlights (articles, blogs, rumors, etc) and slicing and dicing it up. Always fun and a great way to learn about new sites.

#4 Bay City Ball: If you want intelligent, insightful and well documented Giants analysis, then this is the site for you. I have learned more in one article by Chris, then in a lifetime of reading Glenn Dickey so some other schmoe. The guy is super nice and a semi-regular "heckler" here, hope to hear more from you!

#5 obsessivegiantscompulsive: Another great correspondent and analyst is Martin at OGC. When I want a lengthy, meaty, detailed discussion of some Giants minutae, (and who doesn't want that regularly?) I head here. Martin has a great sense of the big picture and our future...and he's still very positive! Go figure.

These are the top 5 off the top of my head and I'm sure that I missed some other great sites. My apologies. I have no doubt there are several other blogs that are plugging along just like us and our beloved team. Let me know.

Where do you go when you miss a game? Is the newspaper or the Giants page enough? Which Giants Blogs can you not live without?

In-Game Feelings Duet

Brother Bob:

The point, if any, of my recent personal reminicsenses, is that what I care about is how baseball makes me feel, what makes it heroic at times, deeply moving at many times, maddening, heartbreaking, etc.

But I vow to tell no more family updates for now, and to keep the old stories to a minimum.

But I won't stop commenting on how players look, or whether they have funny names (you know I have dibs on guys whose name ends in "Z"- I can't wait for Valdez and Velez and Schierholtz to come back to the big club).

Which of course brings us to my true love, Jonathan Sanchez. What a pretty, pretty man. If he were doing this with the Yankees he would already be on the cover of GQ, would've had a guest spot on Letterman, and who knows he may already be on billboards wearing his undies.

Until Cain runs off a good long streak of wins, Sanchez is OBVIOUSLY the second best starter on the Giants. His upside is immense.

As I write this, Barry Zito, our #1 starter, our albatross, was removed from the game in progress against the dreaded Indians of Cleveland. Zito appears be "very disappointed" according to David Fleming. 3-0 Giants...hard hit ball past Bowker drives in a run!..."generous scoring" ...Taschner comes in........

Hey! Jon! Your turn!

J C Parsons:

Which means everything is now OK. Threat over, Zito is still in line to win. As my visiting Bro noted, Zito was apparently miffed at coming out after, what can only be called a magnificent job. It is great to see that he has some fire in his belly. I have always WANTED to like the guy, he just sucked SO BAD. If he could just be a crafty, effective, AVERAGE starter....

Bowker just hit his eighth homer! How many of you had him even seeing the majors this year? I love insurance runs. Now in the last of the eighth, Bochy is showing a little NL managing mojo, giving up the DH in order to make a defensive replacement. All the poor Cleveland fans are probably confused by actual baseball strategy. "Big Money" Molina delivers another insurance run!! ( I thought only good teams did that? ) Now Wilson gets a shot at an easy save with a 4-1 lead. Bang! The first hitter singles, of course. Maybe I'll just shut up until this is over. (Pause)

Wow, did that work well! No sooner did I "shut up" than Bang! a double play, then a fly out. A nifty victory from Barry Zito. (That phrase sounds strange...)

As Jon Miller pointed out, the Giants haven't lost in Cleveland in 54 years!

Disappointed Tim

This strange season has featured several crushing defeats and I'm sure we can all sense there are many more to come. Let's hope there are not many as bad as yesterday's 11-10 nightmare loss to the lowly Royals. Losing a game with a seven run lead is something that should happen every decade or so. Losing that game to a team just as crappy as us ( identical records entering yesterday ) is especially embarrassing. The "good" thing about such amazingly disgusting and humiliating defeats is that they get people fired...I'm looking at you Brian!

What about Tim? This 106 pitch, 5 inning grind started so well. Then it seemed like the early lead caused Tim to lose his edge. I know that sounds corny, but most of us can think of times when great athletes look pretty average when they don't feel the pressure. From Tim's quote I suspect that is what happened:

"It was just a lack of focus on my part. We had a chance to step on their throats when they were down, and I didn't help at all. After two innings, I didn't do anything to help us. I was laboring and just throwing the ball. I'm pretty disappointed in myself."

Two mediocre starts in a row. Nothing to get worried about, in fact, Barry Zito would call two starts like that a significant step in the right direction.

PS: R.I.P. George. Thanks for teaching me how to think funny. Check out the this lovely reminder of Carlin's brilliance.

8 5 4 3 1 8

Many of you heathens, our biggest demographic, probably celebrated the Summer Solstice yesterday. Whatever you crazy pagans did, maybe larval dodger sacrifce, it WORKED! It looks like the "Matt Cain Curse" may be lifted. (Photo credit and a fun and educational article!)

Yesterday was a game that Matt has lost several times in his young career. After 3 early runs off hard hit balls, and another unearned run, we were facing a big hole. Given our offense and Matt's track record, I figured we had dropped another one...to the crappy Royals no less. BUT NO. Something happened...was it John Castle's head first slide at first? (More likely the pair of 2 out walks that followed.) We tied it up in short order then busted it open later. All the time Matt continued to grind it out. He retired 15 of 16 at one point, dominant save for a bunt single that was quickly erased. His big key, as it has been during this current three game resurgence, is control. Matt has yielded a single walk in each of his last three starts, after averaging three per start over the first thirteen chances. The eight innings and eight strikeouts are swell, but the thing that has to be heart warming is the "W." Matt has worked this hard and brilliantly before, only to be tagged with yet another tough loss. But not this time...

What is the difference? Does Matt know?

"I feel a lot more comfortable recently. I think I need to keep that good mind-set going, and if they beat me, they beat me. It's crushing when you walk a guy and he ends up scoring."

Well, that's not very definitive. I have two theories:

1) The previously mentioned Solstice activities have successfully lifted a curse that Matt has unjustly been burdened with for low these many months ( a tale for another time perhaps??? ).

2) MOC, the chief boobaa at Raising Matt Cain, has or will shortly leave the country. No one is quite clear on the reasons for the "author's" hasty exit. It could be a scheduled and announced vacation, or...perhaps a bloodless coup at the offices of RMC. If anyone cared, rumors would abound. Baseball experts have noticed a significant "bump" in Giants success when the controversial blogmaster is, shall we say, indisposed. Look for a whole bunch of exciting wins for our beloved boys in the next few weeks.

Any other explanations for such a nifty Matt Cain win? Is the "hard luck" phase of his career finally over?? Or do we all have some wacky pagans to thank?

The Nines

A season can be thought of as a nine-inning game. One hundred sixty-two is conveniently divisble by nine: 162 ÷ 9 = 18 games. We just passed the 4/9 mark of the season, the 4th block of 18 games played. Let's take a look at each "inning" of the season so far.

1st: 7-11, .389

2nd: 7-11, .389, 14-22 overall

3rd: 9-9, .500, 23-31 overall (.426)

4th: 8-10, .444, 31-41 overall (.431)

Today was game 73. We lost, our record is now 31-42 (.425). That projects to 69 wins, 7 more than I figured. Who is willing to bet we will have an "inning" over .500 this season? Anyone?

Not me.

And speaking of that, I'm outta here. Friday, the Summer Solstice, we take off for points south. Our ultimate destination is Mexico. Zo, we rendezvous in Oaxaca on the 1st! Ron, we celebrate the 4th watching béisbol together (oh yeah, and your wedding a few days later). Yes, the Oaxaca Guerreros are in town and we are going to be there for as much La Liga action as we can stand! Los Guerreros are currently in the cellar. At least Los Gigantes are still ahead of the Crox and Puds.

I am not "blogging" for the duration. That's right, three weeks, no M.C. Speaking of which, Matt Cain pitches Friday. I will be on the road. One of the lads (JC? BroBob?) will have to step up and post while I'm gone.

So, hasta la vista, mis amigos. I will be back in mid-July.

GO GIANTS!