Tim Lincecum overcame a leadoff HR by Stephen Drew and some early wildness and ended up domintating the Diamondbacks in a 7 inning effort. Pat "The Bat" Burrell's 3 run dinger in the 4'th was the only run support needed and received as the Giants edged closer to clinching the NL West title. Key lines:
Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4. BA= .291. Huff Daddy scratched out a single to lead off the 4'th inning to start the winning rally. Buster followed with a walk and Burrell brought them all home. Ballgame!
Pat Burrell- 1 for 3, HR(20). BA= .251. Pat the Bat just picked the team up and carried it on his back tonight. This team needed a HR hitter and that's just what Pat has delivered over and over again. After Buster Posey, the biggest difference making in-season acquisition in baseball. No credit for Sabes though. He just go lucky.
Tim Lincecum- 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 11 K's. ERA= 3.43. Timmy looked a little shaky early on. I was afraid maybe the baseball gods had frowned on the presumption of adjusting the pitching rotation as they are wont to do at times. Timmy was ultimately stronger than the baseball gods. Interesting moment in the 7'th. With 2 outs, Timmy walked Kelly Johnson. Bochy must have seen something he didn't like, or at least questioned and went racing out to the mound. At first, I thought he was pulling Timmy because Boch almost never goes to the mound without the hook. Then, I thought Timmy might be hurt or sick. It looked to me like he was shaking when Bochy arrived at the top of the mound. Then(via lip reading) Timmy emphatically said "I'm fine." Bochy took him at his word and turned back to the dugout. Timmy stopped shaking and struck out Chris Young to complete 7 innings. Timmy gave a small fist pump on his way back to the dugout as the fans gave him a standing O. What a great effort by an ace pitcher!
Javier Lopez- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Perfect setup man to go against a heavily left leaning D'Backs lineup.
Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Save(47). ERA= 1.83. Wilson didn't look too dominating in giving up a leadoff double and a one out walk to Mark Reynolds. He seemed to get his mojo back in making Kelly Johnson look helpless on a K and then getting Chris Young to ground into a game-ending force out at 2B. WIlson's 47'th Save puts him just 1 behind Giants all time single season leader Rod "Shooter" Beck.
With the W, the Giants maintained their 2 game lead in the NL West over the Padres and reduced their magic number(any combination of Giants wins or Padres losses) to 3 with 4 games left to play. Since they play the Pads the last 3 games, a win there automatically reduces the magic number by 2. The Pesky Padres stayed alive by blanking the Cubs 3-0 behind the other Chris Young. In the Wild Card race, Atlanta maintained a 1.5 game lead over the Padres with a 5-1 win over the Marlins.
Madison Bumgarner gets the call tomorrow after 6 days of rest against Barry Enright. I like the Giants in this game. Bum has been lights out lately. He has the extra rest. the D'Backs lean strongly to the left in their lineup. Enright has bad peripheral numbers and the Giants have had a couple of looks at him.
4 games to go! Go Giants!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
according to the chron, and ill check in with baggs, seems that timmy is indeed sick...so that shaking you saw may have been the chills...hope he is kept home for the rest of the series and the next one too...last thing this team needs is a bug running around the dugout.
ReplyDeletewell, bochy may not have flipped timmy and zito, but he has decided to flip cain and zito...cain going on regular rest on friday.
i know that everyone is concerned that the giants (if they make it) do not face the phillies in the nlds...i disagree
phillies have chosen the 8 day schedule, so they can go with a 3 man....our top of the rotation on an 8 day schedule? are you kidding me? a fully rested timmy, cain, durty....then timmy again if needed...im sure the phillies dont want to face that
We have a wicked top 3, but so does Philly with Halladay / Oswald / Hamels. I think we have a stronger 4 than 3, so I prefer the shorter series, especially against Atlanta (our likely opponent).
ReplyDeleteWould you rather Timmeh-Cain-Durty vs Halladay-Oswald-Hamels or Timmeh-Cain-Durty-Bum vs Hudson-Hansen-Lowe-Jurrjens?
Bacci,
ReplyDeleteI was worried about the Giants picking up a bug in Colorado because some kind of flu-like illness was going through the Rockies clubhouse. Yes, it looked like Timmy's teeth were chattering, like a chill. Man, wouldn't that just fit in with Giants history if this season were to get derailed by a flu epidemic? If Timmy was sick last night, all the more awesome of a performance.
CSS,
Right now, I'm just rooting for the Giants to clinch the NL West title as quickly as possible. They can't control what ATL and Cincy do. I've learned over the years as a Giants and baseball fan to be careful what you wish for. Both Philly and ATL have very tough rotations, but the Giants rotation has been historically great in September, so it will be a great matchup no matter who they face.
It has been reported that Lincecum had a bad cough and was sick. Bochy went to the mound to ask Lincecum how he was. He was fine, so Bochy left.
ReplyDeleteA flu going through Rockies would help explain how they faded so badly. Hopefully the Giants can avoid the germs and stay healthy.
Also, Burrell wanted to play for his hometown team, so the GM didn't matter unless the GM wouldn't hire him.
Yeah, Wilson was in need of rest after his 5-out save the night before, thank goodness they were able to rest him today for the Padres series.
If anything, Bumgarner was too strong today, too rested, he was a bit wild.
OGC- Just to make sure, I was indulging in a bit of sarcasm on the Sabean/Burrell comment. It seems like the Sabean haters blame him for every move that doesn't pan out, but attribute every good one to luck.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope they kept Timmy away from the rest of the team. I saw a patient this week with runny nose, sore throat, dry cough and a fever to 102.7, pretty classic influenza symptoms, so I suspect an epidemic is already starting. I hope the Giants trainers have a supply of Tamiflu!