Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Game Wrap 5/4/2011: Giants 2 Mets 0

The Giants offense went back into hibernation, but managed to scratch out 2 runs. Timmy was sensational for 7 innings and the bullpen locked it down from there. Key Lines:

Mike Fontenot- 1 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .250. Fonty contributed to both the Giants runs as he scored after drawing a walk in the 6'th inning and drove in Aaron Rowand from 3B in the 7'th with a single up the middle. Rowand had doubled down the LF line and taken 3B on a ground out by Posey.

Aubrey Huff- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .211. The big guy seems to be coming out of it a bit.

Buster Posey- 0 for 5. BA= .250. Posey is struggling. He may need a day or two off to rest the legs, or else drop down a bit in the lineup.

Tim Lincecum- 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 12 K's. ERA= 2.47. I only saw the 6'th inning, but Timmy was absolutely sensational pitching his way out of runners at first and third no out situation. Freddy Sanchez helped by making a quick, accurate throw to the plate to hold Beltran at 3B on a foul pop that Freddy had to dive to catch. In the process of striking out 12 batters, Timmy set a franchise record for number of career games with double digit K's, passing none other than Christy Mathewson. How great is that?

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(10). ERA= 5.84.

The Win brought the Giants record back to .500 at 15-15. Considering that they have played 21 out of those 30 games on the road, I think they are in pretty good shape going forward. If Colorado makes their lead against the D'Backs hold up, the Giants will finish the day 4 games out of first place in the NL West, a game ahead of the Dodgers who lost earlier today to the Cubs.

Jonathan Sanchez takes the mound in the getaway game against Mike Pelfrey who can run hot and cold. The Giants have had trouble closing out series sweeps, but have an excellent chance to bring one home tomorrow.

5 comments:

  1. That is amazing about Timmeh setting the mark for 10+ K games.

    And it only took him, what, 15 seasons?

    What?...

    Really?...

    um, wow...

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  2. today, i became 100 percent positive that timmy is headed for the hall

    he didnt have his best stuff and still dominated the mets

    he is just too amazing for words

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  3. Bacci,

    I WANT to make some snarky comment about how you can not project the Hall for anyone just getting started in his 4th full season. I WANT to list a number of guys who started out as dominant as Timmeh who have fallen on their face and who were never heard from again...

    But...

    2 CY and 1 WS ring in their first 3 years?

    I am drawing a blank.

    Sorry.

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  4. The list of pitchers who have won consecutive Cy's is pretty short and pretty impressive. Timmy had a down season last year and still led the league in K's. Halladay's a tough customer, but Timmy looks to be on a mission to win his 3'rd Cy in 4 seasons. Pretty incredible stuff. We are witnessing one of the highest peaks of any pitcher in the history of the game. I guess the only question is whether he can maintain it long enough to accumulate the kind of career counting stats you need for HOF credentials, but yeah, the peak is already right there.

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  5. Normally, it would be folly to say such a thing only 4 years into a players career, but he is doing things that most 4 year players have not done, particularly the two Cy Youngs in his first two full seasons.

    Still, as DrB sagely notes, it is a matter of keep on keeping on, tallying the career stats that impresses the voters. Koufax did it over 6 year peak, ending his career at age 30, so there is precedence for as low as that, though Koufax had a 12 year career in total, struggling for 5-6 seasons before putting it together over two seasons in the middle.

    Plus, while I hope it is not true, but the conventional thought was that Lincecum's body would not hold up to starting pitching, that was the main reason why he fell to us at 10, all saw his talent, they just didn't think his body would hold up as a starter, they viewed him more as reliever. Based on what I've read, he is a freak physical specimen, so he could have a long career, but the worry is that his body won't hold up. So far, so good, knock on wood.

    I would agree on the mission as well. His tone over the off-season was that he was embarrassed by last season, so he worked on adding weight to his frame so that he could hump it up, as well as build more stamina to last into the post-season better (though he did great last season). It worked, with him now throwing 93-95 regularly whereas last season it was more like 91-93. It is drive and determination like that which gets you to the HoF (that is, assuming you have the underlying talent to harness...)

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