Tim Lincecum: This is Not Good…..
How bad has Lincecum been this season? Last night’s *bad* start was so *good* that he was able to shave two full points off his ERA ratcheting it down to a tidy 10.54. As we all know from watching Zito pitch for the last several years (excluding this year) it’s pretty hard to win a game when you give up a 4 spot in the first inning. Yes, Pagan screwed up making the inning more stressful but Pence, Victorino and Nix all found him quite hittable and all of that is on Timmy. We had our chances against Doc and could have scored more with a little better luck but you just can’t give up 4 runs in the first to anyone, much less Halladay…….
Timmy righted his sinking ship, only giving up one run the rest of his start. But, as we’ve also seen with Zito, after a team puts up an early crooked number they often ease into cruise control and don’t score much the rest of the way. Lincecum’s fastball was 91 or so for the first 3 or 4 innings. He seemed to throw a lot more off speed pitches and the hitters, in turn, are expecting them. That’s not a good ratio to get into. His FB dipped mostly to 89 in the 5th and 6th. Again, he threw so many sliders it was hard to tell if he still had a live fastball as the game progressed. It didn’t look or feel live to me……
I don’t think Lincecum is hurt the way I thought Wilson was hurt. His problems might be mechanical but it seems to me to be more mental. His swagger is gone. The confident grin, also gone. When the camera panned to him in the dugout before he ran to the mound to pitch the first he had a look on his face that looked like a loss. And he had the same look and expression the entire game. It was like a passive, pensive look that appeared to have a feeling of acceptance to it—like someone who was accepting defeat. Some pitchers throw “hit me” fastballs. Last night, Timmy wore a look that said “beat me.”
Back in the day, when Mark Grace would find himself in a slump, he would end it by finding himself a *slump buster*. You can look that definition up yourself if you want, I don’t want to seem like I’m condoning the practice. I don’t know what Timmy is going to do to come out of this. Maybe he needs his dad to come down and kick him in the ass. But one thing I know about competition is this: It’s easy to be a winner. When you win, everything falls into place—confidence, attitude, self esteem, etc….When you lose, you find out what kind of competitor you are. When you lose, you face adversity, and that’s when you have to do a lot of work to preserve things like *confidence*, attitude*, *self esteem*. Right now, to me, it looks like Timmy has lost it mentally. And if he can’t overcome it, this is a problem that will be a far greater influence on the ultimate outcome of the 2012 season than the loss of our quirky closer………
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I hit the sack early last night, so I just went through the last dozen or so posts from the blog a minute ago . . . I also thought that Timmy had an aura of defeat, e.g., when he was taking off his jacket to go out to the mound in the 3rd or 4th inning, his body language seemed to be saying, “I don’t want any part of this.” Ok, enough of the psycho-babble. Timmy knows himself better than all of us and I imagine that with the help of his coaches and father, he will solve his issues on the mound. Remember, every other time he has had a set-back, he has come back stronger and made us all question why we ever doubted him. I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Agree with the flavster about this being potentially a way bigger issue than losing Wilson for the year.
That being said, I watched the Rockies last night on TV, concurrent with watching the Giants on the computer. The Padres made them look sick. Stick a fork in them. Yes, they have hitting, but their pitching and defense is atrocious, e.g., Tulu made his 4th error last night (and he had 6 all year, where he won a gold glove). The only role they will have this year will be as spoilers.
I’ve always been a big believer in mental attitude and toughness at the highest level of competition. Aside form the rare phenom there is so little difference in physical talent that it makes all the difference. Lincecum needs to get his swagger back. Somebody call Kenny Powers.
Something you dont see every day, as I am driving to my office, the Space Shuttle Discovery flies right over K St and downtown DC…very cool.
One of the coolest things I got to do when I was a congressional staffer was to fly down to Cape Canaveral and we got to see a Space Shuttle being prepped for flight and they actually let us touch the heat panels, etc on the craft…Giants go down and Sharks:(
Who ya gonna call? SLUMP-BUSTERS!
The Rockies reminds of where they were a couple of years before made it to the World Series…they look more like a AAA team. The Dodgers hot start is making me nauseous…
Flav: Your last post on the last thread early this morning was dead on….
agreed. we all have favs, and “opinions” only, as blade quoted week ago.
I know. Thank you.
Dead wromg. As I posted, I never take exception to *jokes*, I take exception to some of the shit Flavor considers jokes-like the post from Loo trashing a ballplayer’s WIFE, for her weight… *MY* last post was the one right on-I will not have my chops as fan questioned because I make jokes about and criticize one of the FOF. If Z or anybody else wants to exempt Timmy and Posey from critcism, they may do so, “we all have favs, and “opinions” only.
It’s still early in.the season,lots of pitchers are struggling.Tim gave up only 1 BB and had 6K’s.He may be tipping his pitches though,that something he can make adjustments for.Not worried nearly as much as his melt down in Aug 2010.
Struggles for an SP have to be harder mentally because unlike position player who goes oh-fer you don’t get to go back out there the next day. I have no idea what’s up with TL, but as a coach used to tell me, it’s not how far down you get, it’s what you do about it. And yes, you do learn more about the team and yourself when you lose than when you win. SPs are pretty competitive vs. one another, so I don’t think TL can be too happy about being the one dragging down the group so far. He’s lucky to not be 0-3.
Loo mentioned crawford, and while no one knows about 8 yrs from now, so far the kid looks OK to me. He’s driven in some runs from down in the order, has some XB hits, and made some nice plays. He’s by far the best option right now–better than Theriot and his RH bat, or Keppinger, Arias or anyone else. Team has worse issues.
His error last night was on a tough play and didn’t ultimately mean too much. His first AB vs. doc, tho, did, and he looked bad swinging at stuff in the dirt and striking out with sacks full.
At 89-91, Linceum needs to spot his fastball, which doesn’t have a lot of movement. For some reason, he’s reminding me of Doc Gooden. His change up/spliiter is still fooling enough folks to keep the K ratio up above average. On a side note, since 2008 the NL league avg K/IP ratio has been 7 or above. The only other year it has reached 7 is 2001.
Lincecum now throws a fastball at the same MPH as Dan Otero. That seems to be the new reality.
His fastball speed has been deemed “fine”, but the man himself seems to think otherwise, as he’s thrown it less and less. And the change up becomes less effective as the difference in velocity is less. He wisely added the slider again last night. The slider is normally my least favorite pitch but he had no choice. Simply put, his arm is deteriorating and he’s going to have to compensate with better location of what he does have. The art of pitching is NOT throwing strikes, Tim is throwing fat ones, as his home run-to-fly ball rate of 28.6 percent attests, more than double the league average.
That an error didn’t ultimately mean much has nothing to do with Crawford. The correct statement would be that “luckily” it didn’t mean much…As to Tim ,his problems don’t take a rocket scientist to figure out- he’s no longer a power pitcher, he can no longer get away with terrible location. I’ll presume he’s come to understand this- he has to *pitch* now. As I’ve posted repeatedly- I do think he’ll figure it out. BTW, several people made jokes about his performance, and there’s not a damn thing wrong with that, either. As Blade said, *Z* needs to lighten up. As I posted in
the best post of the night “Making jokes, ‘tired’ or not, is a healthy way to deal with all kinds of problems, Tim’s being among the *least important* of them.
I don’t think anyone disagrees with you about making jokes (except maybe Z). The difference for you, apparently, is that you’re the only one allowed to make them……
And forget the fat-wife outlier joke. There have been a hundred+ jokes about Panda’s weight and/or poor performance jokes, Molina’s big titties, Vungo and Dirrrrrty Sanchez jokes and you spaz out at every single one of them. But when it’s time for you to drop an *In and Out* joke on Lincecum it’s all good, right? And I don’t give a shit about the single-single thing. In fact, as far as jokes go, it was one of your better ones. It was your response afterwards that I was addressing that, frankly, was quite hypocritical. You don’t let a joke go by about a player (whether it’s about their appearance or performance) without skewering the poster. And I would guess that every single blogger here would agree with that (Loo and WillieD already did above)…..
It’s bullshit but typical that you consider these fat jokes hilarious. There was nothing hypocrital at all in my response. Z is wrongo bongo, PERIOD.
There is nothing hypocrital AT ALL in objecting to his oft made accusation that I don’t want our players, ALL of them, to perform well. In fact, I consider it nearly scandalous.
Amusing that the POTD is the least funny of those “tired” jokes he referred to, BTW.
I think its WAY too early to mention Tim and Zito in the same post. I’m also not worried about his body language. I think the look on his face is a symptom of his struggles, not the cause. It ain’t always easy to put out the vibe you have everything under control when you’re struggling. I’m not hitting the panic button after 3 crappy starts. I expect him figure it out and still be the ace of the staff. I didnt care for the cheap shots Tim was getting on the blog last night either, but I get it that we all have our different ways of dealing with it when the team struggles. I just feel like for all the guy has done in a SFG uni he deserves a helluva lot more slack than he’s been getting around here.
This too shall pass…….
Okay, so the Timmy thing, a lot going on with him it appears, does he have a case of Zitoitis, got a contract and now he can’t handle the pitching, that is like saying cause of Zito’s two good starts this year Zito has finally figured it out is going to go 20-5 this year with an ERA below 4.00. That is just not going to happen. Tim will be fine whether he watch film, calls his dad, both of them sit down and watch film, whatever works I think Tim will figure it out way sooner than Zito did.
As far as the In house arguments over someones jokes, if you don’t like it forget about it, I am sooooo tired of all the PC police that are at the work place, in society in general. Because of TV and the information age, we get to hear about everyones fuck ups!! My first rememberence of this was Jimmy the Greek. so someone said something stupid or something that you didn’t think was funny, get over it. Those that live in Glass houses should not throw stones. Or if I go with the bible verse, “those that have not sinned cast the first stone”. There should be no Holier than thou attitude here!!
Oh one more comment, I heard on KNBR this morning Freddie had a set back?? pain in the shoulder, needs to rest it for a few days before going to San Jose. Anyone heard more on this?
shocker. No, there isn’t anything more on it. he’s made of glass. He’s got shoulder pain after a 4 inning minor league game and now he’s resting it. There is no fucking way in hell this guy is coming back for anything more than a few games………
I get it, Twin. You never take exception for jokes except for the following exceptions:
Pablo and his weight
Ray Ray and his struggles
Drrrty and his headcase-osity
I mean, really. I give Drrty shit for not covering bases, beaning his way out of ballgames, and walking too many. Your take is he has a mystery injury and he should be above criticism.
Buster is off the plate by 2″ on a FORCE OUT, and to you he’s obviously a head-case pussy who is scared to be back there.
If you didn’t pull the same shit we all do, you’d have a leg to stand on. Just own up to the fact that you do what we all do. And that’s give players shit. Deservedly or not.
the big titty jokes were the ones he most often object to, as I recall
You recall incorrectly. Just as you have claimed many of the In ‘n Out jokes to be not funny, I didn’t object to them as much as I found them juvenile and stupid. Like all the Bocock jokes. But when you can posit that a comment about Belt’s “fat” wife is the same as one about Belt himself, you just don’t get it.
“Pablo and his weight
Ray Ray and his struggles
Drrrty and his headcase-osity”
I actually don’t recall a *joke* about any of those. Find them.
As everyone SHOULD know, and as I posted in another of my spot on comments last night, the game isn’t about “what have you done for us last year”. Tim has been horrendous and (as far I know) seeing as he’s not God, he deserves criticism as much as anyone else.
BTW, this rot that others can’t make THEIR jokes is idiotic claptrap. Everyone here is extremely opinionated and
expresses those opinions freely.
And you jump down their throats when you object.
When someone posts something truly stupid, yes-I call them on it. For instance- your vehement, screaming, spittle laced insistence that Nate had played left field. That should have a cordial difference of opinion, but you were so adamant in the face of being so fucking wrong, that it became a BFD. One thing you should have learned in 5 years or so-you’d go broke betting with me on facts..
BUMGARNER’S MOTHER WEARS ARMY BOOTS!!!!
OK, Mike. For all the shit I’ve given Zito, I never wished death upon him. As you have gotten so ‘het up’ about with certain other people. I don’t really give a fuck who says what about who, but you do.
It’s not that others can’t make jokes, it’s your over the top reactions to them . . .
Oh knock that shit off. You know perfectly well that “feeding him to the sharks” was just one of dozens of posts about letting him go surfing. Just about everyone made them. Pretending that I really wanted that to happen is moronic bullshit.
All that being said, it sure looks like this is a fork stuck in the road for Timmy. He either has to find another 4 MPH on his fastball or start figuring out how to finesse shit.
The 0-2 pitch to Victorino was horrible. As was the 2-2 pitch in the previous AB. Those were way too hittable FBs. And when he misses with the slider, sayonara.
not that it matters much, but I never found Loo’s joke about the boxed up fat wife to be *hilarious*. I even wrote “LQTM” after it which means, as I assume you know, laughing quietly to myself. I found it amusing, as I do many things posted by Loo. It’s not like I’m slapping my knee and going “Oh Loo baby! That was fucking HILARIOUS!!!!”. True, I call many of his comments *gold*. But that’s a word I throw around casually the same way I say everything “sucks”–it’s a lazy way to communicate, I know……
As we all know, Lincecum is vital to any postseason hopes we have. Any suggestion that those making jokes and/or criticizing his performance are not hoping he’ll do well is the problem with Z’s post. Duh.I certainly never thought someone making stupid Big Titty jokes didn’t want him and the team to do well. I just thought the jokes were dumb. For sure, anyone who thinks they were funny is in no position to be doing a critique of the sense of humor of others.
,
Anyway, most experts don’t consider Tim the ace anymore, he’s really the three. I’d be ecstatic if he pitched like a three the rest of the way.
Anyway, most experts don’t consider Tim the ace anymore, he’s really the three
——————
But lately he’s been looking like #2 (rimshot)
I wasn’t questioning your response to Z nor have I questioned your allegiance to the team. But I’m over it now, hopefully we are moving on.
Fine. I never said anything to “get over” in the first place.
Not sure if this has been posted already or not but it is a timely piece from Verducci about closers.
http://tinyurl.com/cr4plzf
Well, as virtually every study has shown, it’s less important who’s pitching the ninth than having the lead in the ninth to begin with. In 1901 it was no different than 100 years later- teams won at the same percntage with a ninth inning lead. The closer has not made leads more secure than in the days when it truly was closer by committee, and when the best relief pitcher pitched when the game truly was on the line. Now, your set up guys and loogies do that and the closer strolls in with the bases empty to “save” what has already done been saved…
Jon Miller said in yesterday’s pre-game show that LaRussa was largely responsible for the disappearence of “closer by committee” due to his use of Eckersley every ninth inning no matter who he’d be facing (righty-lefty-history)
True. The intense durations of use and the increase in unjury was interesting to me. All of these closers caught up in throwing 95+ instead of learning how to pitch could stand to learn some more of the art. Wilson would spend so much time nibbling as he muscled pitches up there he would needlessly extend his outings. The 2010 post season was interesting how he really went after hitters, especially in the WS. I don’t have the pitch counts but it seems like his saves took less pitches to accomplish during that whole PS.
Dirt, on so many levels, this article is fascinating. Verducci did an excellent job . . . thank you for sharing.
Exciting finish in the NBA. Question remains: Who can out tank whom?
If Timmy had not set the bar so high for hmself, 2 CY’s, strike out king, etc how would all of you react to his start this year. It is only 3 starts after all. After that 1st inning he did seem to settle down. I think we all feel Tim should throw not hit ball everytime he takes the field. I think he still has great stuff. With 30+ starts left we will see what Tim is made of.
Oh, I think we’d be real happy with a starter who was 0-2 with an ERA over ten…gimmee a break. If NOT for those CYs and other accomplishments, everyone here would want his ass in Fresno at best. The reaction to his terrible work has been completely reasonable..
good answer
(just reminding myself)
🙂
Hey chuck, WTF, on your blog it says comments closed, is that till the draft in 9 days??
I set the ‘close comments for 5 days I think, and haven’t been able to update it fast enough
Ahhh, yeah. I put up a new post and just saw that the previous one had timed out.
I’ve been busy . . . fucking real world getting in the way and all that shit.
“You can learn little from victory. You can learn everything from defeat.” Christy Mathewson, arguably America’s first great sports hero. I got this quote from the admirable “The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball.” Frank Deford. Fascinating.
Good quote. Looking at the picture at SFGate of Raghetti visiting Lincecum on the mound made me think the same thing. Lincecum and the coaching staff are all getting some good learning right now.
Based on his interviews, Tim doesn’t seem too worried.
That makes one of us . . .
I don’t take his lack of concern as a good thing. And yes, it is my *opinion* that he seems quite blasé about it all. As always, dissenting opinions stated intelligently are always treated with respect ( from me )…
Pagan CF, Cabrera LF, Sandoval 3B, Posey C, Huff 1B, Schierholtz RF, Crawford SS, Burriss 2B, (Bumgarner P)
Not surprisingly, after having a rough night against two time CY winner Halladay, Belt sits against “career mediocrity” Joe Blanton.
Yeah, I mean Huffie is really hitting the shit out of the ball.
For all the supposed options we have, Buster is probably the best option at this point. Leave Hector behind the plate.
For all the supposed options we have at 1st base I meant to say . . .
I posted before that if Hector continues to hit and Belt doesn’t ,getting Posey at first base full time may not be a bad idea. Of course, that may mean he whose name must not be spoken might return..
Tim kept battling out there, struggling to find his talent. 4 earned runs in 6 innings is not up to his standards, obviously, but it’s not a terrible performance. Obviously, I’m not counting the run on the dropped fly ball. And who knows how the game might have played out if that ridiculous thing hadn’t happened.
The Giants’ offense didn’t come through on some opportunities. Tim knocked one of the runs in himself.
It was a travesty that the umpire expanded the strikezone so much for Halliday after Halliday complained about a pitch.
Yeah, missing the fly ball changes everything, but shit, the pitches to Pence and Victorino were terrible.
I didn’t “get” that pitch to Victorino. An 0-2 pitch, the type that TIm usually throws as an off-speed pitch in the dirt; but instead he tried to get a third fastball in a row past him. It didn’t make sense, unless that’s the so-called “book” on Victorino, but it still wouldn’t make sense even then.
I think “not terrible” is what you hope for from your #5 starter, but whatever.. as I’ve posted numerous times, he’s vital to our hopes for the postseason so, like everyone else, I hope he gets it together.
I said he’s struggling. But I’m also going to give him credit for battling to get it together out there, and there were some positive signs as the game went on.
There *were* positive signs- basically the same ones that were noted after his first start. It’s not so positive when the errors are repeated.
That applies to the other 8 guys out there as well . . .
Hey, as Z said (or somebody), he’s improving. ERA went DOWN to 10…
Anyway, no one chimed in with an opinion on when Valentine will be fired so I win with “whenever”. My prize is a couple lamb chops..
Chuck: It’s not, or should not be, Huff or Belt, they should both be in there until/if one or both show they can’t do it. Nate has had his 122 chances to show he can’t.
Crawford: he’s played well enough to keep his job for now, he still should rent.
Pagan and Melky: do they have a pact? One or the other hits?
Bumgarner: I repeat- this guy must have the dumbest agent in the game. Sabean stole millions from this kid. Good job, though…
Twin…..Bumgarner is just a dumb old country hick.He was saying on KNBR.Aww Shuckks where im from that’s alot of money and I can now not only get a “Milking Cow” but dang nab it maybe a “Angus Beef Cow” as well to feed the youngins down the road. You tell em Forest!!!!! But agree he pissed of Millions to sign this cheap bargin deal.
i’m not knocking him.. hell, I’m about the only one who wanted him after the velocity issue..this isn’t chump change, he’s probably giving up about a potential hundred million dollars…
Belt will get his 122 and more. Right now he looks worse than he did last yr. Completely out of sorts. Awful. Plus, the defense is so bad out there as it is, they have to put their best guy in RF.
Belt had 3 very good at bats on Sunday, some very bad ones against the two time CY winner. He should be out there. If one must have Nate, they can sit Pagan. Or Melky can take a seat and regroup. He’s 0 for 12.Belt is far more important to the team’s future than any position player out there, except Posey and Sandoval.
They’re 0-5 when Belt starts this year. He’s as much a jinx as the Sun Dressed Goddess.
He probably wears that flowery sundress to bed.
And 0-3 when Tim starts. I guess they should both sit the rest of the year..
You are a fucking moron.
Jeri
No reason why we shouldn’t rip Joe Blanton tonight.Rather see Belt get a crack against.him then Huff,who’s hitting a freakin .167 lifetime against him.And since Boch won’t start him against this stiff,there is no way he will.start against Cliff Lee.So it’s the Mets for maybe Belt’s next start.
Want to learn what a “dusthead” is? How about a father, who has a famous son that pitches for the Giants and just signed a multi-million dollar contract? He says that’s his son’s money and continues “to work the night shift at a food distribution company. He makes about $18 an hour. He used to make $40,000 at another job, but he says he likes this new gig because it allows him to umpire on the side. More than the money or the house or the amenities, he just wants to be near the game the way he was when his boy was around.”
You’ll also find out about the day his son pitched against the Hickory Crawdads. Moreover, you’ll learn a little bit more about a humble baseball player, who grew up in a town informally called, “Bumtown.”
Great article . . . http://sports.yahoo.com/news/giants-pitcher-madison-bumgarner-is-from-a-place-nicknamed–bumtown–almost-a-century-ago.html;_ylt=AlSys6Kj8R2x23xq33lZDjg5nYcB
Great Stuff Blade.Reminds me of some of my counsins and other family relatives i was able to visit out in Texas and Tennessee growing up.Just down to earth people.They would always say “Don’t sweat the small stuff” let in roll off your back.Good approach in life.
Alleykat, one of my uncles moved out of the SF bay area in the early 1980s and moved to Missouri, where he owns a large property with a couple of ponds for fishing and swimming. He loves it there for the same reasons you cited, as well as what was written in that article. Everything is much more relaxed and kick back over there.
Who’s the idiot if Bumgarner blows out an elbow?
Same guy who didn’t advise him on this. Giants would have paid far more for the same years if he had someone repping him. And I never said MadBum was an idiot so don’t infer that I did.
“I’m about the only one who wanted him after the velocity issue”
Another healthy serving of bullshit…
Do you know the last Giants P to have 4 K’s in one inning?
I wouldn’t have guessed this one in a million years.
I won’t ruin it for the slow Googlers.. Initials are JS, though.
My first reaction was, “Jerry who?” I honestly don’t remember the guy.
I remember the guy but not the feat. I don’t think he even rose to LiveFree’s “career mediocrity” level. I forget what his lesser label was.
Scoring change from last night: they took that E away from Crawford and gave Nix a hit.
I guess Crawford isn’t fat enough to be charged with an error like that.
I’m watching the Rockies and Jamie Moyer school the Padres, 3-0. Dude still hasn’t broken 79 MPH on the radar gun after 5 innings and it must be fucking with the Padres minds to see a Moyer with a 3-4 day growth of gray beard pitch circles around them. You can’t help but root for the guy. Also, I forgot what article I read yesterday or perhaps, this morning, but Harold Reynolds said, “I played with him back in 1993 and I thought he was through back then. Obviously, I was wrong.” Understatement if I ever heard one . . .
Well, those are 2 Crawford E’s that WON’T be changed. Jesus H. Christ our D sucks!
But apparently (and I checked to make sure), there is not a law that says you have to give up 4 runs because an error had been made…
Wow, you passed up a chance to make a burger/marijuana/lazy hippy joke.
Crawford might have been upset, because with the scoring change, Pablo had seized the team lead in errors away..
You know why we got out of that inning unscathed (I hate that expression) and have put up 2 early ourselves?
The Sun Dressed Goddess is gone. Our luck has changed for the better already.
When he gave up burgers,so did I. Solidarity.
Actually, I’ve never said anything negative about the dope. I use it myself. I might be a little jealous because he undoubtedly gets better stuff.
Geez louise….Giants have to get SHIT TOGETHER in the field.2 more Errors already Up to 16 and were not through game 11 yet.
Mr Double Bill . . . If you are around, give me a shout via email. Thanks!
Pablo Sandoval’s nicknames as per baseballreference.com:
Kung Fu Panda, Fat Ichiro or Round Mound of Pound
Never heard the last two…..
I thought Charles Barkley had a copyright on “Round Mound of Pound?”
Sir Charles is the “Round Mound of Rebound”
To bad Pagan can’t face Blanton everynight.Now 8-14 2B’s and a triple against this stiff.
Bumgarner just got caught on “Snot-Cam”…
Brewcrew, just walked-off with a win against the bums
Bums now on pace for only 133-29. Still tough to catch…
Yep, with Kemp’s 96 HRs and Billingsley’s 32 wins, I’d have to say they’re in..
Guerra blew the save.
It seems that Ramón Castro has also earned the Round Mound of Pound nickname. I’d think that there is just one qualification to mertt the title.
No, Mike, the best team isn’t with Huff and Belt in there. It’s with Hector behind the plate, Buster at 1st, and Belt in LF. I can’t believe Huff gets the start tonight.
Blanton? Christ.
Looks like Burrell’s on the Will Clark retirement diet.
There-you made a pleasant post with a simple difference of opinion. You’re still dead wrong, of course, but it was quite pleasant. I’m not going to use the smiley face anymore, but this *is* intended to be a non-serious post.
(it’s possible your LU will eventually be the best one, but not now) The major problem with it is that it wouldn’t happen unless Belt continued to not hit, in which case he’d be optioned to Fresno.
I will say that Huff is rapidly screwing this up. He had been hitting well but in bad luck,more and more he’s just not hitting. If he doesn’t pick it back up, I doubt they keep him.
as of right now, Huff and Belt are hitting .390 if you add their batting averages together…
Both need to step it up but Belt should be the first one to go. His at bats all year have been atrocious. He’s not ready, he’s got a mental problem, I don’t know. But he is not doing enough to stay up here………
Buster’s leading a charmed life at the moment — everything he hits either finds a hole or falls into no man’s land for a hit. And now he’s even getting gratuitous safe calls on steals of third. Good AB from Nate, he’s having a good night.
Now WTF happened? I just got through making homemade burritos for dinner and now the bases are juiced. It’s never easy with the Giants…
Well, as I posted earlier, he had three good at bats Sunday then poor ones against a great pitcher. He may go but he shouldn’t. His “at bats all year”? All 17 of them? He should be at first everyday against RHers, at least for 100 at bats or so. That or dump him, he has nothing to show in Fresno… IMO.
Nifty pitching from Bum to limit the damage. He’s one cool customer. You can’t teach that.
I think it’s because he’s married to a slump buster.
Gold, pure gold, James!
I wonder how Buster breaks *his* slumps . . . .
Ha, I don’t think you recognize how clever that post is.
I’m out tonight guys, not on top of my gm tonight. I’m expecting a W when I wake up tomorrow.
Admittedly, I didn’t think past the threesome with Mrs Belt and Mrs Bumgarner, BF.
I would be happy to see Belt traded at this point, too.To appreciate how ridiculous the way they are handling him is, take a look at Freddie Freeman’s stats.
Well, I’d rather see Huff trying to work his shit out rather than Huff. I know it’ll never get to Buster at 1st and Hector catching, but certainly the best lineup does not include both Huff and Belt at the same time. Nate? As of now at least, he’s hitting.
Crawford is losing it defensively.
He’s been Beyond the Valley of Awful tonight. He could have 4 errors.
Sounds like another shitty screenplay by Roger Ebert to me…
You didn’t like Debbie Does Dallas?
Whether one agrees with him or not, James is always gold.He brings a perspective that no one else does. I hope he causes all to look at things a little differently…
Thanks, Twin. I kinda blame and mostly credit you for drawing me in to this . . . . community.
Buster should go buy some ;lottery tickets tonight.
Hufffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuck. he’s our left-handed Aaron Rowand.
They need to not act like bloggers and give him SOME time. He had a terrible April in 2010 as well. As I’ve said, the most upside offensively has Belt and Huff both playing…if it was given a chance.
Crawford can’t hit or field. Other than that he’s OK.
It sure ain’t Crawfish’s night.
My, my. How genteel we are about one of the terrible nights for a SS in recent memory- 8 runners LOB and what could be 4 errors…
If we were down 4-2, it’d be a different story.
But what is their record when Crawford plays?
No, if he were a roundish Venezuelan it would be different..
See, Mike? That’s called baiting.
No, it’s called “truth”. If Panda had these last two nights in the field, it would be the only topic on the postgames and the blogs. I don’t “bait”, son. I may speak unpleasant truths… that’s not baiting.
Don’t call me son, old man. Don’t infer than I’m racist.
Casilla is the one . . .
Curious to see if Casilla can refute Verducci’s article in one inning.
Or validate 8 decades of study…
Refute!!!
Crawfish’s redemption.
Not hardly, but great play..
For tonight. Not for eternity
Now that was a sparkler.
Well, he saved his one good play for the last. Good pitching all around. No complaints there.
Couldn’t help yourself, could you, Mike. Yeah, we’re all racists here.
Or is it just me?
I didn’t refer to anyone here… stop distorting what I say..
I said what is true- the media would be all about the fatty if Panda had the games Crawford had. I shouldn’t have to say “but not Chuckie” for you to to understand. I’ve called one persopn a racist here ever, and it wasn’t you. Now stop denying a total truth just so you can have another argument.Yoy’ve paid zero attention if you don’t know that Panda would be being crucified as we speak..
Except that it looked like you were saying that about Chuck or the whole blog.
You just wanted to take it that way.
That’s why Crawford is are SS.That was a.hell of a play to end the game against a speedy runner from deep in the hole.
Please, he had an awful game. he did make one great play..
Yeah it wasn’t a good game for him,but the bottom line,no other fill in SS for the Giants makes that play to end it,they don’t have the arm strenght to make that play,Theriot forget it,Burriss no way either.
. Well, if drives in a couple of the 8 he left on,.that final play would be meanimgless. Sorry, he doesn’t get slack for sucking all night. Burriss, in every way, had the better night. It’s about time HE got some credit for how well he’s played.
Belt learned the hard way that when the manager asks you how you’re doing, it’s not a good thing to answer: “I’m pressing.”
And he said that if they want him to get better against major league pitchers, he should hit against major league pitchers.
Now, do you mean us or the media or all blogs in general?
Hey, that reply was supposed to be under the Burriss comment. This blog format gets confusing. I can look like an idiot enough without the format messing me up, too.