Back during the World Series of 2010, there were signs in AT&T Park that said, "let Timmy smoke" in reference to an offseason incident in Washington State and a ballot measure in the upcoming election of the time. Tonight, the signs might have said, "Timmy got smoked" in reference to the torching he took at the hands of the Nationals. This one was probably over by the end of the 3'rd inning when it was 5-0 and was definitely over by the end of the 4'th inning when it was 8-0 Nationals. I had a late meeting at work and missed it. Darn! Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 3 for 5, SB(15). BA= .256.
Brandon Crawford- 3 for 4. BA= .241. Crawford's WAR has jumped up to 0.7 in the last week or so.
By UZR, he is the second best defensive SS in the NL behind Starlin Castro. He is hitting .294 over his last 10 games and has raised his BA from .227 in that span.
Tim Lincecum- 3.1 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 6.08. I believe this was Timmy's worse outing of the year. He had looked progressively better his last 2 starts. It may have been jet lag or the 96 degrees game time temp, but it would seem that Timmy is back to square one with his quest to get his game back on track.
D'Backs and Dodgers are still playing as of the writing of this post.
Madison Bumgarner takes the mound facing Edwin Jackson who tends to run hot and cold.
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jet lag when he was sent to dc a day ahead of everyone?
ReplyDeleteseems the weather got to a lot of guys...funny as most grew up in weather like what they are experiencing in dc
pagan apparently misplayed two fly balls into doubles, but timmy was getting hit hard...and lets face it, when the pitcher is struggling, that does affect the d
its july....let timmy pout, let dad rant...he aint gonna get his head together in the show
craws d and his improving bat, pretty much solidify his position for now and the near future...and he came in 2nd in the as balloting...the cyberspace loves him
i do not understand tomorrows game time....really messes the giants up
Love the Giants. Always let it be said.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Doc, no more excuses for Timmy. He was in DC on Monday, as Bacci points out. IVs for all. Tim's a bad pitcher right now. Maybe from now on.
As it always seems nowadays, when things are falling apart, Tim cashes in: Desmond went yard in the 3rd. (It wasn't that bad a pitch. He beat a decent curve, like he knew it was coming.) But then Espinoza singles to left. Then promptly steals 2nd, then, next pitch 3rd. With 2 outs. Tim gave the standard (required) one look back to 2nd. Like he felt that decorum would hold Espinoza on the base. That's on you Tim. Get your head in the game.
It's not like this kind of game should be surprising him. I expect him to be mentally prepared to react to getting hit hard. He seems to have no idea how to control the pace of the game.
Craw's D? I'm the first to admit that I don't know UZR metrics. I know what I see. He's alright. Better than average. And yeah, the ball came up on him in the 1st. But, he's gotta catch that. If he's living on his D (OPS 610), then he's gotta sparkle a little more than he has. 2nd in the All Star Vote simply means that the Giants have officially become vote beggars. It's kinda pathetic. Aubrey Huff, 2,000,000 votes. That's 2,000,000 times Giant fans look like douches.
There's going to be games like these. That's OK. And, I don't want to be negative. Backlash be damned, this is an amazing time to be a Giants fan. But, let's not sugar-coat our weaknesses. We act like we've got a full rotation. But we've got REAL problems at the 4 & 5. That won't be a problem in the playoffs. But it will be a problem getting TO the playoffs.
Love the Giants. Always let it be said.
The thing about D is what you see is not always what's real. Crawford makes errors on plays it looks like he should easily make and that's what sticks in the mind, but he also gets to a lot of balls that other shortstops would not get close to, so if you score it by total possible plays vs plays made, he is a very good defensive shortstop.
DeleteI have to chime in here because it seems like some fans are seeing a completely different player in Craw then what I see. First of all, how does your WAR go up after 10 games in which you score a total of 1 run and drive in 0? Do they use the same formula to determine WAR that they use to determine the BCS champ? This guy doesn't belong in the Majors and he is at least the 5th best SS in the National league according to you Dr. B?
ReplyDeleteHis defense is average at best. His glove and range are decent but his arm is below average for a SS. His bat is a joke. You can dig up as many stats as you want to try and support Craw but you can't deny that empty feeling you have in your gut every time you see him at the plate in a clutch situation. This guy is Brent Mayne in '99 without the average. Soft like Charmin.
As for Timmy, where are all those Timmy defenders who were totally dismissing my suggestions that we should have traded him in the offseason? I had several spirited debates with OGC about why they would be better off without him, I had no idea how right I was. A small scale example of what happens when you wait too long to trade a good pitcher was Ubaldo Jimenez last year. He went from one of the nastiest pitchers in the National League in 2009-2010 to a trade chip that netted Colorado a handful of garbage. Guess what Timmy is worth now if we tried to trade him....
Boy, it doesn't take much to get the boo-birds out in force. I'm willing to give Lincecum a gimme on this start. He did OK in the first inning but just ran out of gas in 100 degree heat. It happens to the best of us (as well as the worse). I'll be more worried if he is still scuffling in his next two starts. Loyalty only goes so far.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to talk spirited debates, we have had a number of them over the past few years where generally the Giants have done as well as I have said they would, if not better given 2010, and not crumble and be terrible, which was your stance back then.
There are some pitchers you need to keep, almost no matter what, and I think Lincecum is one of them. If you are claiming you knew he was going to be bad, show me your quote. I think trading him at this point would be similar to trading Gaylord Perry. I'm only willing to trade him if he's not going to sign a long-term extension with us before he reaches free agency. We cannot let him get away without some value, and I would trade him before next season if he will not sign something long term.
Crawford is amazing with the glove. I watched that video of him goofing around with fielding balls and you can't do that unless you are a wizard on defense. If you haven't seen it, that is all you really need to understand our love for his defense.
His bat is not great or good. Yet. He had a very good contact rate last season, and while it has gotten worse this season, he has made progress as the season has progressed, culminating with a roughly 700 OPS over the past month or so, which is average (to slightly good) for a SS. Even if you allow for him only as average on defense, if he can deliver average defense and offense at SS, that is 2 WAR (roughly $10M in value) for half million salary, that helps pay for our expensive starters. If he is above average defensively, which we believe he is, that makes him a 2+ WAR player, or above average.