Results tagged ‘ Arizona Diamondbacks ’
Timmy, Giants Baffled by San Diego Padres
After Saturday’s momentum-swinging (or so us Giants fans hoped) victory over the San Diego Padres, many people billed Tim Lincecum’s Sunday afternoon rubber match start as crucial, perhaps even the most important of his young career considering the ramifications that winning a series against the division-leading Padres would hold. Fans were tentatively cautious that our ace could go out and return to his Cy Young form, or at least get through six solid-ish innings without getting hit too hard.
But instead the above picture of him walking off the mound for good in the 4th inning tells the story. It is Lincecum, the back-to-back Cy Young winner, the one nicknamed “The Franchise,” heading back to the dugout with his head down after giving up six runs without getting through even four innings.
It’s definitely a cause for concern now. I know that Timmy and us Giants fans hold him to such high standards since he has performed so extraordinarily his first full years in the big leagues. And when he’s had starts that for most pitchers would be good but not fantastic, everyone’s asked, “What’s wrong with Lincecum?”
But after a string of lousy starts; after giving up four runs in the first inning of his last start for the first time in his career, then coming out today in a game against our biggest rivals right now and pitching so poorly, it’s fair for Giants fans to definitely be worried about our star player.
Many people have called KNBR locally and written on local blogs to speculate what Lincecum’s issue must be, and the theories range from “he must be hurt” to “he needs time off” to “he’s smoking too much dope” and “he’s not smoking enough dope” (of course the latter two theories aren’t shocking, coming from San Francisco, where people sell “Let Tim Smoke” t-shirts outside our stadium). I kind of feel wrong to put a firm diagnosis on Lincecum when I know nothing about baseball mechanics compared to guys like his father and team pitching coach Dave Righetti.
But I guess like everyone else, it’s fair game to talk about it and wonder. He’s definitely not the same pitcher that wowed the baseball world the past two years, that had experts who claimed his size would lead to a physical breakdown baffled and awed over his delivery. His velocity is down, he’s allowing a ton more walks and he can’t dig himself out of big innings.
What I want to believe is that it’s all mental; that Lincecum is, in a way, pulling a Zito, feeling the mental pressure of becoming one of the faces of the franchise, of having a large contract. I want to think that all he needs is a side session with his dad and maybe a couple days off, and he’ll be back to good ole’ Timmy.
At the same time, however, I can’t help but fear for the worst. I know the team wouldn’t be running Timmy out there if he were seriously hurt; I’m just concerned that he is physically worn out and won’t be able to regain the velocity on his fastball or his dominance on the mound back at all, let alone down the stretch the next couple months. I hope that this is something that he can work on in the offseason; that he just needs a better workout regiment or something. If you go back to the Zito comparison, he improved after a summer spent working out with Brian Wilson, and now that he’s relaxed mentally and separated himself from his $126 million dollar contract he’s become a better pitcher.
But hell, I really don’t know. If any of you guys who might’ve come across my blog want to comment with your theories, have at it; all I can hope is that Lincecum can turn it around soon, or else we’ll be missing the key of our pitching staff in the most crucial part of the season.
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A few random notes from this series…
1. Jonathan Sanchez had to put up or shut up, and after his predictably poor performance against San Diego on Friday, it’s time to leave the bold predictions to the fans. I’m glad he’s passionate, but it wasn’t appropriate for him to declare we would sweep the Padres after a bad start in Atlanta and considering his Jekyll-and-Hyde style of pitching, as I like to call it.
2. I am done with Aaron Rowand. In my preseason blog entry I predicted that Rowand would have a better average this season and that he’d be a crucial part of how the Giants did this year; boy, it looks like I was wrong. It’s so frustrating watching him come to the plate (whether in crucial at-bats or not) and either strike out or hit into a double play. Would I like to see him turn it around and be one of the veterans to help carry the team into September (and possibly beyond)? Of course, but not if it means taking playing time away from Aubrey Huff, Andres Torres or even Jose Guillen (even though his defense is shoddy). If he can pinch hit late in the game and start to get hits when it counts, maybe I can reconsider this stance; however at this rate I don’t even want to see him in those situations.
3. I’m okay with the Jose Guillen trade. It’s like picking up Pat Burrell–the other team is paying most of his contract to go away, and we traded away a very low prospect to get a proven bat. I was initially concerned about the whole “clubhouse cancer” moniker, but I agree with the fact that he’ll be happy and cooperate as long as we keep playing well and have a chance for the playoffs.
4. This next stretch of nine games is CRUCIAL. Three in Philadelphia, three in St. Louis and then three at home against the Reds. We NEED to have a .500 road trip, then come home and take two out of three from the Reds. After that we play two more series at home against the Diamondbacks and Rockies, the latter of which worries me a little more.
So let’s break down the remainder of August. If we have a 3-3 road trip, then come home and take 2/3 from the Reds, sweep Arizona and take 2/3 from the Rockies, that’s a 10-5 record to finish August. I’m probably being a little too optimistic to think we can win the series against the Reds, and maybe a .500 road trip is too hopeful, as well. But all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and remain very cautiously optimistic.
In-Game Notes: Giants at Diamondbacks (Pitching Staff Faltering, Bengie Contract Question)
This looked like a good game for the Giants for the first couple innings. We took a 1-0 lead off a wild pitch and got it up to 3-0 with an RBI triple by Matt Cain that scored two runs.
But then the floodgates opened, and here we are only in the third inning with Bumgarner now in for Cain and the D-Backs up 9-4.
It just seems like the entire team is falling apart piece by piece. The pitching has been terrible this road trip, including with our aces Lincecum and Cain. Our catcher and one of the biggest hitters on the team Bengie Molina has been looking tired to say the least, both offensively and defensively. Tonight he let two pitches get by him for two D-Backs runs before Bochy took him out on a double switch, and lately he’s looked awful at the plate; in one game in LA he hit into two double plays, and that poor hitting has so far continued into Arizona. Oh, and Freddy Sanchez screwed up his knee again yesterday on a weird play and who knows if or when he’ll be back this season.
But getting back to Bengie…I think with how he’s played lately the Giants aren’t going to resign him. For most of the year I’ve been of the opinion that he should be resigned to a one-year contract (with a club option for a second year that they wouldn’t necessarily have to exercise), but now I’m starting to waver on that. It’s hard because I love Bengie; he’s been one of the most consistent guys on the team the past couple years from his solid at-bats to the way he handles the pitching staff. But I think management is using the past month or two of the season as a [big] part of the deciding factor as to whether they offer him a new contract, and what they’ve seen of him lately definitely won’t play into his favor. That combined with his past comments where he seems to be brusque about the idea that they might want to replace Molina with Posey right away next year makes me think management won’t bring him back.
At the same time, however, one can argue that the Giants front office can’t not (double negative, oops) bring Bengie back, considering they’ve hardly given Buster Posey a chance to play at the Major League level. He’s come in what, once since they brought him up during their series in Philly? So unless they start giving him a lot more playing time to wind down the season, it would be difficult to just throw him in there to be the starting catcher in 2010, and without Bengie the only other option would be Eli Whiteside.
So should the Giants bring Bengie back, and if so at what cost? I still wouldn’t be against having him come back, but I wouldn’t want to sign him to a big contract (i.e. more than a year); management already has a bad reputation for giving unnecessarily large contracts to veteran players getting to the end of their playing time (*cough cough Randy Winn, Edgar Renteria, Dave Roberts*).
A couple random notes now: I liked Jon Miller’s call of Andres Torres’ mental error in the second inning of tonight’s game where he told him to “wake up”. It’s refreshing to hear the frustration in a broadcaster’s voice to the point where he gets blatantly critical of a player, and it was definitely appropriate there.
Finally, I just wanted to say that I was psyched to come to the front screen of MLBlogs the other day and see a link to my blog and my picture up along with several others. It’s cool to get some acknowledgement that maybe some people are reading my blog, and to those of you who do I appreciate it. 
Ugh, double play ball by the Giants to end the inning, and Colorado’s winning 10-6 in Denver. May have to turn away in order to avoid getting more annoyed/depressed.
Penny For Your Thoughts?
It’s 9-0 Diamondbacks in the ninth inning, and Kruk and Kuip are now covering a rock-paper-scissors match between two kids. At this point I would rather watch that than the game…but hey, I’m a masochist when it comes to this team, so I still have it on in the background.
Oh look, Bob Howry can pitch decently–when there’s no pressure on him.
Thanks Bobby.
No wait, he just gave up two doubles in a row. 11-0 Arizona. Finally. I was getting worried that Howry might suddenly become a dependable guy out of the bullpen.
Yeah, I’m bitter tonight. We’re getting absolutely whooped by a team that’s 15+ games under .500 when we had a chance to sweep them and gain ground on the Rockies in the NL Wild Card, since they lost to the Dodgers earlier today.
Can I say I’m that surprised? Not really. Joe Martinez was probably kept in too long but hey, the bullpen has been battered lately and it was evident from the get-go that we probably didn’t have another comeback in the bag tonight, especially as the runs started to pile up.
To me, this game makes it obvious that we need someone else in the five-hole of this rotation. One can argue that the Giants have more things to worry about than who the fifth guy in the starting rotation is (like their offense), but I still think it’s of concern. Sadowski and Martinez have both been feel-good stories coming onto this pitching staff and looked decent in their first couple starts, but both subsequently went downhill in their outings. Plus as I recall, both Sadowski and Martinez benefited in their first start or two from a rare outpouring of offense by the Giants that guaranteed wins for them in those starts.
So I’m of the opinion that the Giants should find a more reliable guy to plug into the five-hole. Yes it’s the fifth spot in the rotation, but every game counts going down the stretch if the Giants have any semblance of playoff aspirations left and we can’t afford to have Joe Martinez getting blown up in any game, whether it’s against a contending team or not. Who should the Giants’ fifth starter be? Well the first name on the tips of many Giants fans’ tongues is probably Madison Bumgarner. He’s been brilliant at the Double-A level with a 9-1 record and an ERA under 2.00–but the problem is that he’s only in Double-A right now. You can’t just have Bumgarner skip Triple-A and come immediately to the big leagues, no matter how much of a phenom he looks like right now. Even if the Giants might be making a playoff push here, I wouldn’t want to see his development hurt or him rushed too much for that sake. Promote him to Fresno soon and at least give him a couple starts, then if the Giants are still in it in mid to late September, maybe consider giving him a shot at his first Major League start.
Who else? Eh, maybe you can throw out a Kevin Pucetas at me, but he’s got an ERA over 4.00 and besides, the past two times the Giants have brought up a minor-leaguer to fill in the five-hole it hasn’t worked out too well.
The most intriguing option to me is Brad Penny, who was released by the Boston Red Sox yesterday and is garnering interest from many teams, including the San Francisco Giants. Has he struggled lately? Yes. For the year he’s gone 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA, and in August his record is 0-3 with an ERA of 8.31. But he is a veteran pitcher and would be benefited by pitching in AT&T Park. Plus as a former Dodger he’s familiar with the National League West and he would probably enjoy the opportunity to stick it to his old team since they didn’t part ways well. And hey, he’s out there for $1 million. If we’re paying Rich Aurilia one million dollars to be a benchwarmer so management doesn’t have to be the heavy and outright release him, can’t we pay Brad Penny that to quite possibly be the best #5 guy we’ve had all year?
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Almost Rocky Mountain Meltdown Part II
Oy vey.
Brian Wilson had one of his characteristic heart-attack games again tonight, except this time he made it way too much of a nailbiter and actually gave up a couple runs, thus giving all Giants fans flashbacks to last night (which we are all already trying to repress). Thank God Sergio Romo was able to come in and save it; I don’t think I would’ve been able to take a Rocky Mountain Meltdown Part II, San Francisco style.
But I can’t get mad at Wilson for this one whatsoever. He was likely worn out from last night when Bochy used him for more than two innings. Wilson had a spectacular outing last night when we truly needed it, probably one of his best ever as our closer, so I can’t blame him for tonight (especially since we won in the end).
On a side note, can we please not credit the Gigantes jerseys for the fact that we won tonight? Amy G mentioned after her postgame interview with Ishikawa that the Giants are 7-1 when they’re wearing their special Latin heritage threads, and for me it was just reason #247 that points to the fact that I feel I could do her job better than she can. Not to sound arrogant, but come on. She hugged Jonathan Sanchez after his no-hitter, and even worse the first words out of her mouth to him were, “Ay dios mio! Felicidades!” I’m sorry, I just can’t get over that. She can’t be taken seriously as a journalist. Period.
Okay, enough of that. Aiming for more positivity. As a Giants fan I have much bigger things to worry about than the lack of interviewing and reporting skills of a commentator.
Yes, we beat the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight without Freddy Sanchez (who’s on the DL until September 2), Pablo Sandoval (except for the pinch-hit AB where he got intentionally walked), and Bengie Molina. Yes we beat Dan Haren after a gut-punch of a loss last night. I’ll give my team some props for that.
But come on. They are the Arizona Diamondbacks, Dan Haren or not. If we’re going to have any semblance of a contender left we should without a question be able to take two out of three from them if not have an outright sweep. And with the Colorado Rockies continuing to ride their momentum with an extra-inning win over the Dodgers tonight, we have to keep winning to keep up with them.
Yes, I know I’m still talking like there’s hope left, which sounds contradictory to my, “It’s over” attitude from last night’s entry. I’m not saying it’s likely that the Giants are going to claw back and wind up in the postseason, but after thinking about it I realize all is not lost yet. But this team is going to have to show they won’t wilt under serious pressure and gain some serious momentum by having a very good homestand against the Diamondbacks and Rockies.
On another side note, my mom surprised me today by coming home from work really po’d about the Giants after the debacle that was last night’s 14th inning. ”I’m done with them,” she said. “They have too many highs and lows and I’m sick of it. It’s like a rollercoaster and I hate it. There’s no hope left.” It was kinda funny and ironic that she was just as cynical if not more about the team than I was after yesterday, to the point that she was saying she wouldn’t watch them and almost wouldn’t let me watch the game in her room. At one point I teased her by telling her that one of her favorite players (Travis Ishikawa) had gotten a double, and she replied, “F*** him.” When I told her the Giants had won tonight thanks to Ishikawa’s three-run home run, I asked her if she was jumping back on the bandwagon, and she replied, “Maybe.”
All is not lost if I can keep my mom from turning her back on the Giants.
Gut-Punched
Wow.
There are no words that can fully encapsulate what it felt like as a Giants fan to see the Colorado Rockies win that game against us in the 14th inning on a walk-off grand slam after we’d just gotten three runs. Seeing the first pitch hit that hard, hearing Duane Kuiper say, “This isn’t good, folks”, watching as the Rockies celebrated…I don’t know.
I felt numb and weak. It’s like at that moment you could feel all other Giants fans around the Bay Area react by collapsing on the couch, gaping at the TV, covering their eyes or shouting profanities at Merkin Valdez in disgust (or all of the above).
I don’t know…maybe I sound really dramatic. One of my friends who isn’t a sports fan thought I sounded like someone had died when I answered the phone. But I can’t really help it; that kind of reaction to a loss like this is the pure definition of a ‘diehard fan’. I do live and die with this team. I am really emotionally invested in them (maybe too much). But what can I say? I can’t turn off my passion and just be one of those casual fans who jumps on the bandwagon and comes to the park when the team is doing well or their slugger is about to reach a home run milestone. And even after this loss, I still can’t throw down the remote control and just say, “Forget this team, I’m done.” I may be upset now, but I’ll still probably be back tomorrow watching them again because I can’t help it. I stuck around through all these crappy years, and I can’t turn my back on them now.
But this loss…man. I just can’t explain eloquently how much it hurt. It was nothing like any of their other losses this year. It wasn’t like the three times Bob Howry has choked and given up a walk-off home run to the opposition, which had me irked and frustrated with a sense of unshakeable deja vu. It wasn’t like the bad series they’ve had against bad teams, like at PNC Park or at home against Cincinnati. It wasn’t even as bad as Saturday when the Giants were leading 6-1 and coughed up the lead, big-time. This one topped them all by far. I mean, they were ahead three runs almost five hours into a game, and that should have meant it was over; that’s what I expected, anyway, and I think it was safe to do so. But to have it end in such a dramatic way, with the walk-off grand slam after pretty much writing this in pen as a win and a 6-5 road trip…God. It just gave me flashbacks to how the 2004 season ended for us when Steve Finley hit that grand slam for the Dodgers to beat us and propel them into the postseason. Even though this one doesn’t clinch a playoff birth for the Rockies since there’s a month left of the season, it sure as hell feels like it. The Giants as they’re currently constructed just don’t seem like they’re good enough to get hot down the stretch and gain all this momentum and overtake the Rockies in the Wild Card. I mean, no one even thought they’d be contenders this year (and rightfully so). I know in some ways that should mean I should be grateful for the surprisingly good season they’ve had overall, but I’m not, really; it just makes me more bitter about tonight’s loss. With this pitching staff, I feel like we would’ve had a shot in a short series in the postseason, but now it looks like we’ll never know, at least not in 2009.
I know there’s another month left of the season, so statistically all is not lost. And of course I’d like to be proven wrong; I would love for the Giants to get on a hot streak and sweep the Diamondbacks and Rockies coming up. But it just doesn’t seem realistic. Regardless of what happens though, I’ll still stick around til the end because I can’t just ignore my team, even after all this.
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