Love You Long Tim

Sorry for the late posting, but I can already feel it. Yeah, I can tell I have a bad case this time. I bet there will be a lot of it going around the next few days...No, not anything as pedestrian as a head cold, I am talking "Post-Lincecum Depression" and this time we have a lot longer to wait than 5 days!!!

As all of us Tim-junkies are well aware, the 2008 love affair with Tim Lincecum has come to an end. What an amazing ride it was! It was completely appropriate that the season finale was another dose of vintage Tim: another quality start, four little hits in 7 full innings, 2 walks and, of course, the strikeouts. THIRTEEN this time, with the lovely side note that Tim got the first nine outs via the "K". Don't you just love it how he can just turn it on when he wants to? Isn't that the definition of DOMINANT?

So why am I depressed? I'm addicted. I tried not to fall in love with strikeouts (they really are kind of boring and fascist) but as Tim's totals rose so did my dependency. After all, 265 little rushes can add up over a long season, especially a season with little else going for it. Who's going to give me what I need?? Is there some back alley where strikeout artists hang out? Maybe a website, free would be great, but if I have to subscribe it better include a nasty off speed pitch. I bet Korea or Japan is the ticket, those people are baseball junkies. Time to do some research!

I'll write a season review and all that crap later, as I am sure my fellow bloggers are busy doing right now. Me? I'm going to go watch some video highlights of ....well, you know what.

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7 8 2 2 4 6

Maddux? Check.

Dodgers? Check.

MC pitches well? Check.

No run support? Check.

Another "tough-luck" loss? Check.

Didn't I already write this post? Check.

Fuck this shit.


(From Andrew Baggarly's blog:
Matt Cain: 34 starts.
Times the Giants scored one run or fewer for him: 16.)

I am ........... Losing it

Season….long.

Team…..not so good.

Need more sleep.....It’s a sharp slider over the outside corner, and Omar Vizquel lines a single into right field, the runner scores and the Giants win the game! I say slider, it was a curve over the inside part of the plate. I say single into right, it was more of a dribbler picked up by the third baseman, thrown over to first for the out. I say Omar Vizquel, it was Pablo Sandoval. I say the runner scored, but it seems no runners were on base, and the Giants waste yet another opportunity. I say the Giants waste an opportunity, but since no runners were on, it was really not that much of an opportunity at all. I say the Giants win, it is actually only the third inning..... Mr. T here, for….just about anyone with two nickels to rub together! Do you like lying around in a comfy new bed, drinking light beer while watching your choice of over three hundred channels of flickering images until you pass out in a pool of pale, watery vomit and urine? I know I do! You want to pass out, you need your bed peed! And with Coors, there’s no thinking involved! Just like on when you vote! Which, in my case, is a damn good thing! You know that phone call? The one you get from your lazy assed slacker employee who is pretending to be sick, and you know that they're not, and that you are going to get dumped on by YOUR boss because they have yet again blown off work without getting their assignments done and you think, this person will never, never, never, never see a promotion as long as I work here... you know that phone call? It won't change. The Giants are really not very good! And I say that without asterisks, without qualifiers, and without disclaimers! So get on down to your Toyota dealer, right now, without hesitation, whether you are wearing clothing or not, no matter what time of the night it is, don’t fuck around.

Falsetto chorus:Don’t fuck around.

Notes and Errata: Of the 63 pitchers who have thrown 180 innings, Zito is 59th in run support. Last night was the 19th time in his 32 starts where the Giants have scored 2 runs or less. In the run support ranking, Matt Cain is 62nd. Miss Yankee Stadium? Some folks in the neighborhood might feel differently. Saw Dave Zirin speak and picked up a copy of his latest book yesterday evening, a very unassuming and interesting sports fan. A People's History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People and Play. His point - the next time you hear about how sports and politics don't mix - don't believe it. Sports have been used to serve political ends for a long time.

King Tim

Congratulations to Tim Lincecum, the new San Francisco Giants single season Strikeout King. With nine more K's last night, Tim boosted his total to 252 which passed Jason Schmidt's 2004 record. All true Giants fans are thrilled by this milestone, but even more exciting is the kid's future. What on earth can he do next year to top this!!??? Please, o' wise management, make sure we all get to enjoy this journey to stardom for his ENTIRE CAREER.

Oh yeah, he pretty much sucked last night. In a self described "garbage start," Tim gave up more runs than ever (6, should be four), went fewer innings (4.1, tied with when he got hit on the leg), and more walks (6, which he did once before). This all follows a dynamic stretch drive (for an award, not the division) which featured a couple complete games and a couple 8+ innings games. Is this one bad game enough to blow Cy Young award chances? Combined with Webb's 22nd victory, yes, I'm afraid it is. I do not think that Tim Lincecum will win the award. Being 5, and maybe, 6 wins behind Webb is too big a jump for a bunch of East Coast writers. But that is OK...Tim can't control those fools and I'm pretty sure he is not worrying about that. Right now, I hope all Tim is thinking is

It is good to be King!

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6 5 0 0 4 4

108 pitches, 73 strikes, 26 batters faced, 4 groundouts, 9 flyouts.

This was a game where the Giants fielders helped out MC big-time. Even Errant Throwin' got in on the act! Matt struggled but kept the lid on. He gets the True Grit Award for today. Too bad he had to go up against Lowe, a very tough pitcher. Of course, our pathetic offense makes 'em all look tough. (For the record, Lowe's FIP is 3.29, 9th in baseball, just ahead of Brandon Webb.)

I'm still reeling from the thoughtful and intelligent move by Bonehead to lift MC after six shutout innings! Hinshaw was studly in relief, keeping it deadlocked. I fully expected Cain to start the 7th and get yanked when he got up to 120+ pitches, two guys on base, and an unearned run already in. But Bonehead DID THE RIGHT THING and sat our boy down after a stressful afternoon. Although my haphazard foray into statistical analysis revealed that Matt is a good pitcher, in the upper echelon of starters, he can still improve. Walks are his Achilles' Heel, of course. But ground ball outs are the big indicator for me. With his high fastball he has to keep his other pitches down. If he is not going to get the swing-throughs on his fastball or change, he has to get them to beat it into the ground more frequently. (Note to MC: watch Maddux pitch.) Regardless, I'm really happy that he's come back strong in two starts after that bad stretch of three ugly ones. I'm still worried about the workload, but that is someting to fret about in the off-season. No career "W" vs. LA yet, but he'll get another shot at home (Friday?). The LAtriners will likely have clinched by then, maybe it will be a lineup of scrubs and call-ups. Kick some ass, Matt, and get your 9th win. If anyone needs a lesson on the silliness of assigning "wins" to pitchers, note that Barry "Da Beezy" Zito has TEN this season. Does anyone really believe he's a better pitcher than Cain?

How about ROMO?? Wow, three big outs on 11 pitches in the 8th!! The whiff of ManRam was serious studliness!! Then another three outs on 10 pitches in the 9th!! Then another three outs on 12 pitches in the 10th!! Have we found a REAL relief pitcher?? God, I hope so. Our bullpen has been hideous. The lowest 'pen moment of the season I think was Special Agent Jack's three consecutive walks last night to effectively end the game. There ain't no alibi for that kind of U-G-L-Y.

We are going to the 11th, still 0-0. I'm not sure I can endure the agony. I call upon all hecklers to give the post-game feedback.

Penultimate Matt: FIP, WHIP, and VORP

The statgeeks have some lovely acronyms, eh? Figuring that MC has his second-to-last start today, I thought I'd see how he stacks up against his fellows. I went to Fan Graphs and did a sort for all pitchers over 180 IP using FIP, or "Fielding Indpendent Pitching." (See a breakdown for that on THT's Glossary page.) The wunderkind, Tim Lincecum, leads the world in FIP at 2.62. There are 51 guys in the ML with at least 180 IP: 30 starts x 6 IP = 180. Thus my choice of cut-off point. This unfortunately eliminates some outstanding pitchers like John Lackey and Jake Peavy, both who've lost starts to injuries. Matt Cain is currently 30th, at 3.86. Think of FIP like an uber-ERA. It is supposed to be a better indicator of the things the pitcher controls--an attempt to reduce the team and park influences.

WHIP is an easy one. "Walks plus hits per innings pitched." Cain is 39th at 1.35 We know why. He's 10th in baseball (all pitchers) in BBs with 83. Zito, at 98, is "number one."

VORP is one of those things only a statgeek can love. "Value Over Replacement Player" borders on the psychedelic. (q.v. BP's Glossary) A team of "replacements" would only win about 20-25 games--think marginal big-leaguer, not an average one. If you sort for 180 IP, Matt Cain comes in at 26th, just behind Carlos Zambrano. The numbers are 37.7 and 36.8, higher is better. (Cliff Lee is the leader at 75.2, The Link second at 72.2.) MC drops to 35th if you include all 700 possible guys. (Luis Mendoza of the Rangers is last with a -31.6.) Barry Zito (-3.1) and Jeff Suppan (+1.3) are performing at about the level of a "replacement" starter, just to give you some idea. They are approaching "zero" value above any promotable AAA+ warm body. Jonathan Sanchez is at 15.8, besting the likes of Greg Maddux at 14.4.

I'll let you chew on that stuff. This is great fodder for off-season rants and 2009 planning! Meanwhile, Ivan Ochoa hits second today. He has a .546 OPS. Good choice to hit 2nd, Bonehead.

Let's hope Matt brings the gas today, and you can expect my usual "line post" after the game.

This Is Not About Baseball

(I want to abuse this wee daft forum with a bit of a rant about the world such as it.)

Communism died in 1991. Capitalism died last week.
Of course communism per se still exists in a few places(China, Vietnam,Cuba and Alameda County) But the big bear Russia keeled over,and China is a marketplace wet dream with the added benefit of totalitarian rule.
And of course capitalism still exists big-time, but something big happened. We have socialized the financial industry. We're going to hand over a sum of money equivalent to the amount of all the money that's been flushed down the rathole of Iraq in 6 years.
For that uberprincely sum we get a mountain of bad debt.
We have socialized our liabilities while continuing to privatize all the profits.
But I don't trust these rat bastards for a second. I think it's one last ripoff while they can still get away with it. Take the money and run. The very first thing these guys did in '01 was privatize the surplus. They just took it. Then they kept taking and taking, the richest 1% sucking the life out of the middle class, wanting to keep us anxious, fearful and compliant.
Don't get me started on 911, abuse of power,shredding of civil liberties, etc. Today's rant will stay focused on economics.
But actually, hell I'm spent. That felt good. Thank you.