The Gods, the Law, and the Lost Lead

As much as I would have loved to see the Giants keep a 9-1/2 game lead over the Dodgers, I never expected it. It seemed much more likely that the two teams would have to play some big games in September. I thought with the hot start that the Giants might come into those big games in the driver's seat. Alas, they may still do that. But as they say when the tying run scores "it's a whole new ballgame." I most certainly did not expect to see the Giants squander their 9-1/2 game lead in a span of 19 games. Here's the first 63 games of the year: 42-21 (.667), best in baseball. Here's the next 19 games: 4-15 (.211), worst in baseball. If you had told me in March that the Giants would be 46-36 (.561) at the end of June, I'd have been happy. A .561 team at the end of the season is a 90-91 game winner. You figure a club with some talent and pennant race experience could pick up a few extra wins down the stretch and that gets you to a playoff berth.

I don't know who that bleedin' gobshite Murphy was, but I can live without any more of his Law, thank you. Everything is going wrong for this team right now. They were nearly no-hit today. And the Dodgers have put together their best month of the season at the same time, winning 12 of their last 16 to sport a 17-10 mark for June. The Giants finish the month 10-16. It's the pitching that has really made the difference for LA as they've allowed only 73 runs with one to play tomorrow. The Giants, thank the gods, are off tomorrow. Speaking of the gods, we've angered them again. Doesn't take much, they are cruel by nature, and love nothing more than to spread anguish and despair.

It's a dark time, O My Brothers. The Giants straddled the halfway mark of the season--games 81 and 82--by getting 12 hits and scoring three runs in 20 innings. They lost two games in which their starters went 15 innings and allowed two runs. They started the second half of the season by getting swept in a four-game series for the first time ever at AT&T Park, which opened in the year 2000. It was an epic June Swoon, one that will live in infamy. It could be salvaged, of course, blotted from the history books by sending the Dodgers back to second place and finishing ahead of them. They've 80 more chances left to do that. That's a lot of baseball, my friends.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Oh, that was bad

So we know the Giants will live and die, like most teams, on the strength of their starting pitching. Unfortunately when a team is in a losing spiral like the one they are in now it hardly matters. The Giants got a strong start from Ryan Vogelsong on Thursday but poor work from the bullpen and an anemic effort by the lineup doomed them to defeat. Tonight Matt Cain gave the team seven shutout innings, but the same formula--feeble offense and wretched relief--kept the losing streak going. I thought I might talk about Sergio Romo, but so much is wrong with the club right now it's not worth singling anyone out.

The Giants scored 111 runs in April and 123 in May. They've only managed 92 so far in June. The swoon isn't just the offense--the team allowed 94 runs in April and 90 in May and they've allowed 112 in June. It's a team-wide mess. They are 10-15 for the month after a 6-1 start--that's four wins in their last 18 games. We knew they would not sustain the smoking hot start to the season. We knew they'd cool off and hit some rough patches. But this is really, really ugly and not at all what I expected. They aren't doing anything right. Perhaps we can feel good about a solid start from Cain as they certainly can't expect to stay in contention without the rotation performing the way they ought to.

It's Homer Bailey and Tim Hudson tomorrow afternoon.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

From Sublime to Shit

So Timmy threw a no hitter?  Wow.  I wish I could have seen that, it must have been very exciting.  I heard about it yesterday evening in the Cutthroat Bar in Markleeville, CA.  We were up in Yosemite for a couple of days.

It was stunning.  Even though I get there, if not every year, at least every couple of years, you always forget just how grandiose and beautiful it is.  The Giants, Tim's no-hitter excepted, seemed to have played some pretty shitty baseball.  We dropped another series to San Diego and have now guaranteed that we will not will a series against the Reds.  San Diego, if I need to remind anyone, is not a very good team.  Yet they are now 5 - 4 against the amazingly-still-in-first-place Giants.  Madbum was on the mound tonight.  Of course, the disaster of a fifth inning happened just as I parked the car at home and before I got the radio on.  So I don't really know how it unfolded and haven't bothered to check.  Cueto pretty much cut threw the Giants' lineup like a hot knife through butter.  Tim's no hitter has been sandwiched between four games of crap by the other starters.

No Hitter Tim AGAIN

In the middle of a dark, dark month (don't say the "S" word), Tim Lincecum delivered a ray of light and hope with his second career no hitter.  The helpless Padres never actually got close to getting a hit and only came up with one walk.  He set down the last TWENTY THREE in order! It was practically economical with a paltry 113 pitches, compared to 148 last time.  I'm still a little in shock, not so much about the feat as much as how he achieved it.  It was so smooth and in control. Shit, he even got TWO HITS and SCORED TWO RUNS!
Dude had a very good day.  I'm going to go listen, read and soak up the moment.  Tim is on the air right now!  Talk it up folks!

Padres Throw Giants a Curve

In this game we call "baseball" a team has to pitch, hit, catch, and throw. Tonight the Giants had trouble with all of those things. The Padres make it two in a row in San Francisco with another thumping, this time a 7-2 win. The reeling Giants could not figure out rookie Jesse Hahn who struck out eight, six in the first three innings, doing the most damage with a nasty curveball. The team is now 9-12 in June which officially qualifies as "swooning." You can swoon in June if you fly high in July, right?

Is it July yet?

Tim Lincecum takes the hill tomorrow afternoon, then the Reds come to town for four.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Padres Rookie Subdues Giants

Odrisamer Despaigne certainly makes the All-Name Team, whether he makes any other team remains to be seen. But he no doubt made a case tonight with an impressive debut against the Giants. He had an arsenal of pitches and was particularly effective with a changeup, or maybe two different changeups, and had the Giants off-balance all evening. Matt Cain had a great first three innings, then a nightmare 4th inning, then a great next three innings, then a nightmare 8th, highlighted by an error. The end result was 7-2/3, six runs allowed on seven hits. All the hits came in the 4th and the 8th. Perhaps the decision to let Cain continue after seven was a bad one. At this point, take the good and don't push it. A seven-inning, three-run start is usually a good one. Matty is not all there this season and I've no idea why. It looks like he can throw all the same pitches and that they have all the same action. It's like he either forgets how to pitch, or that he's predictable and the league has caught up with him, or that he loses his command for short stretches and puts 'em over the heart of the plate instead of the corners. When Tim Lincecum went from best in the league to what he is now, you could see the difference. He lost speed on the fastball, then couldn't throw the pitch for a strike. With Cain, I can't tell what's going on. He seems like Matt Cain, but the results are not there. An unfortunate loss tonight as the Dodgers got beat in Zack Greinke's return to Kansas City.

The Giants lost the first game in Arizona but took the series by winning the next two. Looks like that's the plan in San Francisco as well. Tim Hudson goes tomorrow and Tim Lincecum goes Wednesday.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Ace

Madison Bumgarner showed what the Giants are about and why he is the staff ace today in snakeville.  We got superb pitching and enough hitting to take 2 of 3 from Arizona.

Paired off against young Mike Bolsinger, Maddy threw 8 innings and gave up 1 hit.  He came in to finish the 9th with a 4 - 0 lead when Brandon Crawford erred to let the first batter, Jordan Pacheco, get on first.  Then Maddy gave up his second hit, to Ender Inciarte.  That was enough for Bruce Bochy, who summoned Sergio Romo in what was now a save situation.  Sergio promptly gave up a single to Martin Prado that scored the only Arizona run.  Paul Goldschmidt, however, hit into a double play and Aaron Hill struck out on a couple of excellent Romo sliders.

Here is something you don't see everyday:  A Crawford to Panik to Arias double play.  Speaking of young Joe Panik, how did he do in his first full game?  2 hits, a double and a single, and a 2-out rbi.  Brandon Crawford had 2 hits, including a triple and a walk and Hunter Pence had 2 hits.  Rbi's for Buster, Tyler Colvin, Crawford and Joe Panik.  Paul Goldschmidt got 2 hits in the Friday night opener, but no hits Saturday or Sunday.  He walked 3 times Saturday and twice Sunday, and hit into a double play.  Seems like a good idea to not let that guy beat you.