The Giants unleashed a sustained offensive attack for the second game in a row while Tim Lincecum pitched the first no-hitter of his career. Key Lines:
Buster Posey- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .325. Buster is hitting .385 over his last 10 games. He hit .374/.426/.636 for the month of June.
Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .269. Sandoval has been working his way out of his slump for about a week now. Tonight he looked totally locked in. He was not swinging wildly. He was not off balance. He was swinging at good pitches and driving the ball.
Hunter Pence- 2 for 4, 3B, HR(14). BA= .265. Pence has also been trying to break out of a slump. Tonight he put a major hurt on the Padres. The triple came with the bases loaded. He drove in 5 runs on the night.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, HR(10). BA= .261. Belt is looking a lot more confident up there. On his hit last night and both hits tonight, he is looking much more relaxed in his swing with a much stronger follow-through. Not chopping at the ball nearly as much.
Tim Lincecum- 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 13 K's. ERA= 4.26. Timmy looked really strong today. His velocity on the FB was only 90-91 most of the game but he had all his pitches working and was able to mix them effectively. FB, Cutter, Curve, Split-Change, maybe a slider here and there. Talk about waking up the echoes! This was true Vintage Timmy, except for the velocity of course. He was strong enough to throw 148 pitches and complete the game. I really thought he was about done after 102 pitches at the end of the 6'th, but he seemed to catch a second wind for the 7'th and 8'th innings. The 9'th started a bit weak with the FB only getting to 88-89 and a lot of elevation on the pitches but he got a third wind and made some terrific pitches bringing it home. I figured he had a great chance at the no-no after Pence made a great catch on a line drive by Amarista in the 8'th for the 3'rd out. Man, did The Rev ever look pleased with himself after making that catch! I think he enjoyed that one way more than the triple or HR.
This was Timmy's 5'th QS in his last 8 starts. Through all of his struggles, Timmy has maintained strong peripheral stats. He now has 124 K's against 48 BB's in 116.1 IP on the season. Over his last 10 starts, he has 68 K's against 23 BB's in 62.2 IP which is better than his season ratios. He has been particularly strong in his last 3 starts with 31 K's against just 7 BB's in 21.1 IP. We could be in for a strong second half from Big Time Timmy Jim! Just hope he still has the rubber arm that allowed him to throw 180 pitches a game in college.
With the Win, the Giants remained in 4'th place, 6.5 games behind the NL West leading D'Backs who topped the BrewCrew 5-4. The 2'nd place Dodgers edged the 3'rd place Rockies 1-0 behind Zack Greinke. The Dodgers sit 2.5 games behind the D'Backs with the Rockies 5.5 games back. The Pathetic Padres slipped to 9.5 games back in last place.
Barry Zito takes the mound tomorrow in search of a 4 game series sweep facing LHP Eric Stults.
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Maybe Timmeh's aversion to heat is over. It was a hit, humid night tonight in SD.
ReplyDeleteI think it is clear that Timmeh will AT LEAST receive a QO, but I am getting more and more confident that he will hold down the #3 spot in the rotation next year.
We'll see. Money is the wild card in these things. Once he hits FA, all bets are off, IMO. Games like this just make it more likely that some overeager team will come in and offer him the moon, something the Giants might not want to match and shouldn't.
DeleteI was thinking the same thing... If he tanks, the Giants won't want him. If he keeps pitching well, other teams will pony up the money for him. To me there are many more realistic options for him leaving than there are for him coming back.
DeleteI think QO was the best bet at the beginning of the season and is still the best bet now.
DeleteI should add that I think a QO is close to a no-brainer barring a complete collapse or severe injury in the second half. I just think some other team out there is going to see a chance to attract some season ticket buyers and make a big offer that the Giants should not match.
DeleteThat was the goods. What a game.
ReplyDeleteNow that was a fun game to watch. It had offense, defense, and of course great pitching!
ReplyDeleteI felt like I was watching vintage Timmy tonight. It was fun watching John Miller's no hit call, Posey's bear-hug, and celebration at the end.
Lets hope this gives the team the spark it needs going into the 2nd half.
LG
DrB, has there ever been a team with so many accomplishments both as a team and individually as the Giants these past 5 years. They have won World Series, MVPs, Cy Youngs, Rookie of the Year, Batting Titles and they have also pitched three no hitters. An amazing team.
ReplyDeleteI think that's right. The Giants of the 60's had 5 HOF'ers, Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Perry and Cepeda, but no championships, 1 Cy Young(Mike McCormick, go figure!), 1 MVP(Mays). I think Willie Mac and Cepeda might have been ROY's but that's about it. Doesn't really compare to the current team. I wonder how many HOF'ers this team will produce, though? Longevity is such a huge factor in HOF voting.
DeleteI'll add that there were 2 no-hitters by the 60's Giants: Marichal and Perry.
DeleteGuess, but Dodgers in the 60's probably had a number of them, maybe Cards too. Reds and A's in 70's, particularly A's.
DeleteBut to your point, none really in last 30 years or so, that comes to mind, Yankees I guess in 90's, maybe Red Sox when they were winning in mid-2000's. Would be interesting to compare.
HOF, right now only Posey appears to be sure thing, barring injury. Cain could do it on longevity. Lincecum probably would have to take the Eck route. Bumgarner has had a good start, but I have to wonder if the mechanics the Giants tried to fix early on, but stopped trying and let him return, affects his long-term physical health. But no injuries so far that I know of, so very small worry on my part, he just needs a long career like Cain, I think, though if he finds another gear soon, he could join Posey.
Everyone else would need a really long career into their 40's at a good level. Romo would be interesting if not for his injury probability, he's been so dominant, if he can keep it up into his 40's, I think he's got a chance.
DrB, I get an "A" for fotune telling.
ReplyDeleteAnonymousJuly 13, 2013 at 2:17 PM
I am glad my 2 favourite bloggers KIssed and made up. :)
Giants and Padres series, is also about 2 really good managers trying to keep their teams in the mix.
Comments about Tanaka, are so true.
Watching him and seeing just how happy and positive he is, must be like a calming sedative for all the boys.
I expect a big performance tonight from Timmy. A dominant outing in fact.
Go Giants,
Thanks Doc for your continued good reporting and your insight.
Richard in Winnipeg
Good call, Richard. Yeah, Timmy has been showing signs of coming around for awhile now. One thing I think I've mentioned, but maybe not enough, is he looks to be in great shape this year after a couple of years of being either too thin or too heavy from the In-N-Out diet plan.
DeleteNice call!
DeleteI was driving over the grapevine (with In-N-Out in me belly) listening to the Padres Homer announcers get frustrated. After the 2nd inning of Strikeouts I knew we had something very good on our hands. Saw the last 3 innings, it was so great to see Timmy pitching with confidence. I think that's the difference. He gets all those pitches working, the velocity can be less of an issue.
didnt listen to the friars radio feed, but watched their tv feed for the final 2 innings
ReplyDeletethey were very respectful and after the second out in the bottom the ninth, stopped giving pbp...just let the video tell the story
listened to the friars radio post game and the biggest complaint was....how giants fans take over dogfood park.
good game for everyone
but even should the giants sweep the friars, they will still be 6 games under 500 and need to look at serious offers for timmy, pence, jeremy and others
bacci
Unfortunately, Kruk and Kuip were not available on my MLB TV package so I had to watch the Padres feed. I thought their team of Dick Enberg, Mark Grant, Mark Sweeney and Kelly Crull did a great job. Of course, Grant and Sweeney were Giants for part of their playing careers. Grant can be bombastic at times but he was terrific last night. Enberg, of course, is a nationally known TV broadcaster whose resume speaks for itself. I remember when Enberg made a name for himself as a young Angels broadcaster. I thought he was better than Scully back in those days, but I've never been as high on Scully as most people.
Delete6 games out at ASB: No way is Sabes selling.
ReplyDeleteI expect maybe a small addon, no idea where.
I predict this team will seriously re-group. Get Voggie,a dn Casilla back.
They fight till the end of September.
The mere fact, that they watched Timmy throw 148 ptiches for his No No; the team will gut it out.
Go Giants
Richard in Winnipeg
I'll put the over-under for selling vs buying at 8 games back by the deadline. I agree Sabes won't sell as long as the deficit is just 6.5 games.
DeleteF@#$-Yeah! (Just had to say it for old times sake)
ReplyDeleteGot to watch the final two innings on the hated four letter network. Glad to see Panda & Pence help Timmah (Go Dawgs!). Kudos to Richard from Winter-peg! Love reading this site, as well as Shank's & OGCs!
ReplyDeleteNWGiantsFan...currently in TX