Results tagged ‘ Tim Lincecum ’
Miami Marlins 7, San Francisco Giants 6: The saga of Tim Lincecum continues
Same story, different game.
Tim Lincecum looked good, very good at times against the Miami Marlins.
His fastball was topping out at 93 mph.
He held the Marlins to one run through five innings.
He successfully managed to work himself out of jams in the first and fifth innings.
But, oh, that blowup inning.
And what makes the blowup inning more frustrating is that is could have been avoided.
Let’s relive Lincecum’s disaster inning this time.
- Omar Infante doubles
- Hanley Ramirez strikes out looking.
- Giancarlo Stanton singles, scoring Infante (first sign of trouble)
- Logan Morrison walks (second sign of trouble)
- Bryan Peterson singles to right, but doesn’t tie game only because the Marlins held up Stanton at third (third sign of trouble)
- John Buck flies out to DEEP center. So deep that all three runnners tag up (fourth sign of trouble)
- Chris Coughlan homers. Marlins lead 6-3. Lincecum is removed from game (time to call the fire truck, even though the house has already burned to the ground).
When asked if he had any second thoughts about going to get Lincecum earlier, manager Bruce Bochy got grumpy.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bochy said. “Who he’s facing? The bottom of the order? As much as we’ve used the pen? His pitch count was fine. I didn’t struggle at all. If I’ve got to take him out with who he’s facing, we’re hurting.”
Hey, Boch. You’re ace is who is making $21 million is 2-5 with a 6.41 ERA. We think you’re hurting.
To Bochy’s credit, Lincecum did only throw 97 pitches when he was lifted, 60 of them for strikes. And the bottom of the Marlins’ order is hardly tearing it up. But there were some tell-tale signs that Lincecum was heading down the worn-out road to destruction in the sixth.
The hits to Infante (hitting .340) and Stanton (hitting .289) are somewhat excusable. But when he walks Morrison (hitting .224), you have to start wondering.
When he gives up a hit to Peterson (hitting .188), red flags should start going off in your head.
The LOUD sacrifice fly to Buck (hitting .170)? Hello? Even with Lincecum facing Coughlan, hitting .106 at the time, it may have been time to get him.
But he didn’t.
It’s not about Lincecum’s arm right now. It’s as much about his psyche. Getting The Freak right does not involve a start when he’s second-guessing himself.
And that alone should have made Bochy second guess himself.
UP NEXT
The Giants turn next to Madison Bumgarner to face Mark Buerhle at 1:10 p.m. Saturday. At least the offense is still producing.
Colorado Rockies 5, San Francisco Giants 4: Defense lets Tim Lincecum down, and that’s OK with Bruce Bochy
Tim Lincecum got somewhat lost amid the late-game theatrics in Tuesday’s loss to the Rockies.
Lincecum’s final line was nothing to write home about — four runs on seven hits and three walks in seven innings. Yet through five innings, Lincecum was very good, allowing just one run on three hits and one walk.
He retired the side in order in the first two innings, striking out three. He did not allow his first hit until the fourth inning.
But things rapidly went awry in the sixth with Angel Pagan’s foolish decision to attempt a shoe-string catch on Troy Tulowitzki’s liner to center.
Instead of playing the ball on a hop for a single, Pagan tried to make a lunging catch. But the ball went under his glove and all the way to the center-field wall for a single and a two-base error. If Tulowitzki weren’t so hobbled by a bruise foot sustained Tuesday, he would have easily rounded the bases and scored. Instead, he simply jogged to third.
Ever the apologist, manager Bruce Bochy gave Pagan a pass.
“That’s part of the game when you’re hopefully playing aggressive,” Bochy said. “I don’t want these guys to go the other way. I probably would have felt worse if he had backed off and caught it on one hop there if he had a chance to catch it. And he was pretty close to catching that.”
OK, there’s a difference between playing aggressively and playing smart. The Giants need to play smart, and they need a manager who understands that.
First, as a center fielder with a ball hit directly at you, you have to know that if you miss it that will lead to big, BIG trouble because it’s unlikely someone will be there to back you up. It’s much different on a ball hit to either gap, when either the left or right fielder could be in position to back you up.
Also, the situation dictates how you play that. If there’s a runner on third with two outs and the liner to center is hit, yeah, be aggressive. Try to catch the ball to prevent the run.
But this was with one out and no one on. Then it becomes a risk-reward situation. You could A) catch the ball for an out; B) play the ball on a hop for a one-out single to a slow-moving baserunner who will clog up the basepaths; or C) miss the catch and potentially turn it into a four-base play.
The smart play is to play it on a hop and trust that Lincecum can work around the one-out single … like he had done previously in the game.
Instead, there’s a runner on third with one out. So Lincecum pitches around Todd Helton for his second walk, trying to set up a double play. He gets Michael Cuddyer to hit a grounder, but it’s right over the third-base bag for a double, scoring Tulowitzki.
Then Lincecum walks Ramon Hernandez to load the bases. Lincecum gets Jordan Pacheco to hit a fly to shallow center, which should have afforded Pagan a chance to throw out the slow-footed Helton. But Pagan’s throw is nowhere near the plate, and Helton scores.
Pagan’s aggrssiveness led to two runs being scored. It led to two of Lincecum’s three walks (which were basically intentional). It led to a stressful inning that caused Lincecum’s pitch count to mount. And it led to Lincecum to wonder what he needs to do to pitch better when in fact, he did his job.
But apparently all of that is perfectly fine with Bochy.
Los Angeles Dodgers 6, San Francisco 2: Tim Lincecum sooooo close to being old freakish self
If I told you that Tim Lincecum regularly hit 93 mph on the speed gun, walked just two and struck out eight, including Matt Kemp three times as part of an 0-for-5 night, you’d have to think it was a great night for the Freak and the Giants.
Oh, it was a so close to being true.
The game got away from Lincecum in the fourth inning, and Giants could not recover. Lincecum put himself in a bad position by leaving some pitches up. But his outstanding start to the game was completely undone by one bad pitch.
Giants fans had to feel good after Lincecum got through the first inning unscathed. He mixed in a walk and a single in-between three strikeouts in a 24-pitch frame.
But he was back to his dominant self in the second and third innings, with his fastball hitting 93 mph and his slider at 87 mph, a good 3-4 mph bump from his previous outings.
Then came the fourth. It started with Andre Ethier lacing a double to right. Lincecum left a pitch up and Bobby Abreu slapped it into center, with Ethier holding at third.
Juan Uribe hit a ball sharply to third that Joaquin Arias was able to glove, but slipped when he went to throw Abreu out at second. That went for an infield single as Ethier scored.
A wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third before a James Loney struck out for the first out.
Lincecum walked AJ Ellis on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. Dodger skipper Don Mattingly pinch-hit for pitcher Chad Billingsley, calling on Tony Gwynn Jr.
But Lincecum jumped out to an 0-2 count. And that’s when he hung a curve ball right in the middle of the plate that Gwynn whacked to right for a three-run triple. Dodgers 4, Giants 2.
And that was it.
“You’re questioning yourself during games and during situations like that,” Lincecum said. “It’s just about execution. That’s what it comes down to making a better pitch in a situation where you’re ahead in the count, it’s in your favor and you’ve got their guy guessing. So why give the guy a cookie down the middle that he can see well?”
Why indeed. Lincecum got out of the fourth with the 4-2 deficit. He would pitch the fifth before exiting with 101 pitches, 74 for strikes.
The fourth inning had a double-negative effect on the Giants. It created an opportunity for the Dodgers to get Billngsley out of the game.
The Giants tagged Billingsley for seven hits and four walks in four innings, but again failed to big hit to break the game open.
Actually, two Nate Schierholtz plays on the basepaths really hurt the Giants.
In the second, after drawing a one-out walk, Schierholtz was caught stealing second base. That was followed by a walk to Arias, single by Brandon Crawford and single by Tim Lincecum that produced the game’s first run, when it should have produced at least two.
In the third, it got worse for Schierholtz.
Melky Cabrera had a one-out triple and scored on Buster Posey’s single. Brandon Belt grounded into a force play, but Schierholtz singled to put runners on first and second. Arias singled to center that appeared to score Belt, but Schierholtz made a big turn around second and scrambled back to the bag. Matt Kemp alertly saw this and threw Schierholtz out BEFORE Belt came across the plate.
That’s two runs the Giants left on the base paths, perhaps even more.
As we’ve said before, the Giants don’t have the kind of offense to keep making mistakes that prevent runs from being scored.
UP NEXT
The Giants get a day off Thursday before opening a three-game series in Arizona, who are riding a five-game losing streak.
Milwaukee Brewers 6, San Francisco Giants 4: Tim Lincecum is wild as Bruce Bochy bungles
It was another episode of Dr. Lincecum and Mr. Freak. We’ll let you decide who’s the genius and who’s the monster.
The Giants suffered their fourth straight loss after what started as a mind-numbing start by Tim Lincecum but then finished strong.
Lincecum started by throwing 11 of his first 13 pitches for balls. One of the strikes was a swinging strike at pitch out of the strike zone. The other strike resulted in Corey Hart graciously hitting into a force play.
The Brewers score their first run without a hit — on hit batter, two walks and a wild pitch. Jonathan Lucroy had the only hit in the inning, a two-run single for a 3-0 lead. Lincecum threw 24 pitches in the inning with only 10 strikes.
The second inning also another disaster, 26 pitches, two more walks before Lincecum escaped a bases-loaded jam without allowing a run.
Then he flipped the switch, retiring the last 10 batters he faced.
“To see myself, a guy who’s been able to do things my way and get away with it, it’s a little different to have to grind through things when you never really had to,” Lincecum said. “I’m getting in modes where I’m overthinking things too much instead of just going out there and trusting. That’s the biggest thing, go out there and have confidence in what you’ve got that day.”
BOCHY BUNGLES AGAIN
On Thursday, with runners on second and third and out, Giants manager Bruce Bochy pinch-hit for the left-handed Brandon Crawford with the left-handed hitting Nate Schierholtz, who had been mired in a 1-for-22 slump. Schierholtz hacked at the first pitch he saw and fouled out. The Giants did not score in that inning.
Flash forward to Friday night. The Giants loaded the bases with one out and Lincecum due up in the fifth. Even though Lincecum had only thrown 84 pitchers — 34 his last three innings after 50 in his first two — Bochy decided to hit for his pitcher in an effort to get more runs. So who does he send into bat? Schierholtz, who struck out swinging. The Giants wouldn’t score any more runs that inning. Travis Blackley came into the game to pitch in the sixth and the Brewers scored their fourth run of the game on a SUICIDE SQUEEZE PLAY!!!
ODDS AND ENDS
- The way things are going for the Giants, little things because huge things. In the Giants 3-run sixth that tied the game at 4-4, umpire Ed Rapuano’s blown call turned out to be a huge play. The Giants had just scored two runs in the inning and had Buster Posey on first with nobody out. Angel Pagan appeared to beat out an infield single, but Rapuano called him out. But if Rapuano makes the right call, Posey is on second and Pagan on first with no one out. A passed ball with Brandon Belt hitting moves the runners to second and third. Then when Belt shoots the ball past Rickie Weeks for an error, that play scores two runs, instead of one, and the Giants take a 5-4 lead. Rapuano’s makeup call on an infield squibber by Emmanuel Burriss a few plays later did not help the Giants recoup that lost run.
- Sergio Romo goofed by pitching to Aramis Ramirez with runners on second and third and two out in the seventh. If he pitched to Ramirez, it should have out of the strike zone to get him to chase and strikeout. With the open base, it would have better to go after Alex Gonzalez. Instead, Romo came into A-Ram and he smacked it into left for a two-run single, the difference in the game.
- Angel Pagan extended his hitting streak to 18 games.
UP NEXT
Madison Bumgarner goes for his fifth win when he faces lefty Randy Wolf in a 1:05 p.m. FOX game. Wouldn’t be surprised to see this lineup:
CF Angel Pagan
SS Joaquin Arias
RF Melky Cabrera
1B Buster Posey
C Hector Sanchez
LF Brett Pill
3B Connor Gillaspie
2B Ryan Theriot
San Francisco Giants 2, San Diego Padres 1: Another positive step for Tim Lincecum
Tim Lincecum is still not the Tim Lincecum we are used to seeing dominate teams. But he made another positive step in that direction.
After getting his first win of the season Monday in New York, Lincecum got another win in a solid eight-inning, 122-pitch outing against the Padres.
So let’s break it down, the good and the bad.
GOOD: He got his first quality start of the season, giving up no earned runs in eight innings. His ERA is at 5.74 now.
BAD: His velocity is still not what we’re used to seeing. He hit 90 and 91 at spots, but was consistently at 89 mph most of the game.
GOOD: He stayed at 89 mph all the way through the game, even as his pitch count got up into the 120s.
BAD: He struggled to knock batters out with a strikeout pitch. He only had five, his second lowest-total this season despite facing a season-high 31 batters. And three of those strikeouts were to the opposing pitcher, Anthony Bass.
GOOD: Even though the Padres were hitting the ball, they were making outs. The Padres only managed three hits and none of them left the infield: a swinging bunt by Jesus Guzman in the first inning, a grounder by Yonder Alonso to second baseman Emmanuel Burriss in the second inning which was originally rules an error (correctly), then changed to a hit (incorrectly), and a bunt single by Will Venable in the eighth.
BAD: Lincecum walked four.
GOOD: Yes, but only one of them came after the third inning.
BAD: If not for two stellar running catches to the warning track by Melky Cabrera in left, it would have been much worse for Lincecum.
GOOD: After those hard shots in the fourth, Lincecum set down 8 of the next 9 without much fuss. In fact those outs by Cabrera were part of a stretch when Lincecum retired 12 of 13.
BAD: It was the Padres.
GOOD: It’s part of a longer stretch. Lincecum has now allowed one earned run in the past 13 innings (0.62 ERA) and two earned runs in his past 17 innings (1.06 ERA).
OTHER NOTES
- Pablo Sandoval went 0 for 4 to end his season-opening hitting streak at 20. A blessing in disguise maybe. The Panda appeared to be pressing in recent days and did not look good Saturday, making out on first pitches three times.
- Angel Pagan’s bunt single in the eighth extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
- Brandon Belt had the big hit with his two-run double in the seventh inning. He’s hitting .278 now.
- Lincecum broke up Bass’ perfect game bid with an infield single in the sixth.
- Santiago Casilla recorded his third save in three tries, striking out one and only allowing a baserunner on his own error.
- Before the game, the Giants sent pitcher Eric Hacker back to Fresno after his quality start Friday and called up reliever Steve Edlefsen to give them seven pitchers in the bullpen again.
UP NEXT
Madison Bumgarner faces lefty Clayton Richard. No word whether Saturday’s hero Belt will be in there vs. a lefty or if we’ll see Brett Pill, or even Buster Posey at 1B (day game after night game) and Hector Sanchez catching. We’ll look for Belt in there (either at first or left field) and scuffling Nate Schierholtz to get a day off.
San Francisco Giants 6, New York Mets 1 (Game 1): Tim Lincecum pitches better … ish
A look at the box score Monday in New Yokr may give the appearance that everything is right with Tim Lincecum.
The Freak gave up one run on five hits and struck out eight. Sounds good, right?
Well……….
He also walked five and labored to get through five innings, throwing 108 pitchers (60 for strikes).
So instead of being wild in the zone (as he has been in his first three starts), Lincecum was wild out of the zone. When he got ahead 0-2, instead of giving up 0-2 hits, he threw balls that we’re easily out of strike zone — easy takes, as Mike Krukow put it.
And he did this even after the Giants had given him a 5-1 lead or 6-1 lead.
If you’re up five runs, with no one on base, throw strikes.
It seemed, at times, that even when Lincecume wasn’t to throw strikes, he could not.
He threw no fewer than 17 pitches in any of his innings, throwing between 22-28 pitches in the second through fourth innings.
He loaded the bases in the fifth on two walks and a single, but got out of it when Emmanuel Burriss bailed him out by turning a nice double play on Lincecum’s 108th pitch.
Lincecum came into this season trying to focus on throwing more strikes and avoiding walks. He walked 86 batters last season, second most in the National League.
Coming into Monday’s game, he had walked only four. He walked five on Monday. So the approach may have changed some.
But he still needs to find command of his fastball.
Like we mentioned before, the Mets are not raking the ball right now, so it was a favorable matchup for Lincecum to work out his kinks.
He’ll get another favorable matchup in his next start, at home Saturday against the NL-worst hitting Padres.
But then after that, it’s at home against the Brewers on May 4 and at the Dodgers on May 9.
So the Freak needs to get this thing ironed out soon.
Philadelphia Phillies 5, San Francisco Giants 2: Nine good reasons why you should not panic about Tim Lincecum
Another Tim Lincecum, another rough start for The Freak.
Lincecum gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings of work, his longest outing of the season (ouch!) in the loss to the Phillies on Monday.
And while there is certainly concern for the two-time Cy Young winner, there’s certainly no reason to panic … yet.
So for each of the nine first-inning runs Lincecum has allowed this season, we’ll pass along nine good reason NOT to panic about Lincecum.
1. He lowered his season ERA. OK, fine, it may have been only because he came into the game with an ERA at 12.91 and now it sits at 10.54. But it’s something.
2. If the defense had helped him out, Lincecum would have had his damage minimized if not eliminated. Placido Polanco’s one-out double should have been caught, instead of falling between Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera. Pagan then did not field Hunter Pence’s single cleanly, eliminating any chance of a play at the plate with the less-than-fleet-footed Polanco. Laynce Nix’s two-run double, which capped the first-inning scoring, should have at best been a one-run double and more like a one-run single, but Cabrera could not get to the ball before it headed to the wall in right. We’ve seen a lot of this from Cabrera this season (thank God we’re not depending on him to play CF). This issue may actually have a bigger impact on Brandon Belt. The Giants’ best defensive outfield alignment in Cabrera in left, Pagan in center and Nate Schierholtz in right. But Monday, Schierholtz said so Aubrey Huff started in left and Belt at first. After watching his defense struggle Monday, we may see more of Schierholtz patrolling AT&T Park’s tricky right field.
3. The Giants are used to having one of their five starting pitchers struggling. They’ve been used to it since 2007.
4. After the first inning, Lincecum limited the damage, allowing only run on four hits over the next five innings. Through three starts, Lincecum has a first-inning ERA of 27.00. He’s given up nine runs in the first inning this season. In 33 starts last season, he gave up a total of 8. If he can get THAT figured out, things should improve.
5. Who needs to worry about Tim Lincecum when you’ve got Barry Zito!!!!
6. Lincecum’s drop in velocity can be attributed to a lack of control than anything else. Lincecum said all through the spring that the has struggled to locate his fastball, leaving many up. That fact, and the fact that he is looking to reduce his 86 walks from 2011, has led to the reduced velocity. If you can’t control your fastball, what do you do? You take something off of it so that he can gain more control. According to CSNBayArea.com, Lincecum was throwing between 90-92 in the first inning, when he gave up those four runs. After the first, he threw between 89-91. Why? To gain command. We expect once Lincecum finds his rhythm and command, the mph on his fastball will rise back to the 92-93 that we are more used to.
7. The upcoming schedule is a favorable for Lincecum. His next start is slated to come Sunday in the New York. And even with their hot start, the Mets are still the Mets, hardly a vaunted lineup. And even with the fences moved in a bit, Citi Field continues to be more of a pitchers park. Then Lincecum should miss the series in Cincinnati (good thing) so he can open the next homestead against the crummy Padres.
8. Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner are both locked up through 2017.
9. We’ve seen Lincecum go through funks like this before. And we’ve seen him work his way out of these funks.
Colorado Rockies 17, San Francisco Giants 8: Tim Lincecum gets haircut, then gets rocked
Well, thank God for Barry Zito.
Who would imagine we’d ever write that a week ago?
But a lot of assumptions we had about the 2012 Giants in spring training haven’t been fulfilled so far in the regular season.
We thought the offense would struggle. Nope. The Giants are averaging almost six runs a game so far this season.
We thought Brandon Belt was going to rake. No. He’s hitting .091 this season.
We though Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner were ready for the season. Well, so far we haven’t seen that, particularly from Lincecum.
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum delivers against the Colorado Rockies in the first inning of their baseball game in Denver, Wednesday, April 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)
But before we get to the ugly details of Wednesday’s game in Colorado, let’s get to the stuff apparently everyone wants to know about — The Freak’s new haircut.
Lincecum had about 4 inches of length cut off his locks during Tuesday’s day off in Denver. But his hair was so long, it was hard to notice.
So we’ve included a picture from Wednesday game with his new haircut, and one from spring training, so you could see the difference.
The big difference we want to see is on Lincecum’s pitching.
The Freak got knocked around for six runs on eight hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings, the shortest outing of his career.
Yet Lincecum needed 76 pitches to get seven outs.
His velocity was good, topping out at 93 mph. But he struggled to locate his fastball, which was up and catching too much of the plate. The Rockies then pounded those pitches, even after falling
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum throws to the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a spring training baseball game, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
behind 0-2 or 1-2 in the count.
“Just sloppy baseball for me,” Lincecum said. “Not really executing pitches, missing a lot, and it’s going to hurt you, especially in this park.
If there’s silver lining, it’s that Lincecum wasn’t alone in his pitching struggles, leading some to claim that the Rockies didn’t put the baseballs into their famed humidor Wednesday.
“I actually thought his stuff was a little crisper, he was just up,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Lincecum. “He left a lot pitches up, a lot of mistakes when he was up in the count. Tough time putting hitters away, really across the board with the staff. Rough night for the staff.”
Rockies starter Jeremy Guthrie couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning, when the Giants erased a 6-0 deficit with a seven-run fourth.
But that didn’t last long as Guillermo Mota came into the game and gave up five runs (four earned) in one-plus innings. Jeremy Affeldt didn’t fare much better, giving up five more runs (two earned) in two innings.
The low-point came when the Rockies put up a seven-run inning of their own in the fifth.
Ramon Hernandez’s single scored Todd Helton with the fourth run of the inning, then the Giants failed twice on the same play to get the third out of the inning.
Angel Pagan’s throw from center was not going to be in time to get Helton at home. Brett Pill went to cut the throw off, but instead deflected it to the right of home plate.
Catcher Hector Sanchez chased the ball down and threw to Affeldt covering home in time to beat Michael Cuddyer trying to score. But Cuddyer stopped short and headed back to third.
Affeldt threw to Pablo Sandoval, who ran Cuddyer back toward home. Sandoval attempted to throw to Sanchez at home. But Pill, who was between Sandoval and Sanchez, thought the throw was to him and attempted to catch the ball and swipe tag Cuddyer going by in one motion, and failed to hold onto the ball.
As Cuddyer scored, Sandoval picked up the ball and threw to Brandon Crawford at third trying to cut down Hernandez trying to advance. But Hernandez pulled a Houdini act in avoiding Crawford’s tag and was safe at third. That allowed the Rockies to pile on two more runs in the inning on a double by Chris Nelson and triple by Eric Young Jr., and take a 16-7 lead.
We’ll try to find some other good news to report.
- Nate Schierholtz got his first start of the season and belted two solo home runs and added a sacrifice fly.
- 2B Emmanuel Burriss went 3 for 4 with three RBI.
- Pablo Sandoval smacked two doubles, keeping his bat hot.
- Buster Posey’s case of the shingles is not that serious, as Posey himself said. He came into warm up Affeldt between innings when Sanchez was getting his gear on. He also flied out in the eighth as a pinch-hitter.
- Despite giving up 17 runs on 22 hits, the Giants pitchers didn’t allow a home run. Small consolation, I know.
UP NEXT
Madison Bumgarner hits the start against Jamie Moyer at 12:10 p.m. Thursday in a battle of diverse ages. We’re not sure what the lineup is going to look like, but if we had to guess, this is what we’d say.
CF Angel Pagan
LF Melky Cabrera
C Buster Posey
3B Pablo Sandoval
1B Brett Pill
LF Nate Schierholtz
SS Brandon Crawford
2B Emmanuel Burriss
P Madison Bumgarner
Let’s see if we’re right.
Buster Posey gets shingles, Tim Lincecum gets a haircut, Brandon Belt gets the shaft
Wednesday started out as just as any other mid-week day after a day off in Denver that followed a Barry Zito shutout.
Then things got REALLY wacky.
First came the announced lineup for Wednesday’s game at Colorado that did not include Brandon Belt.
This came just two days after manager Bruce Bochy said, when talking about Belt’s day off on Monday: “I think we’re getting a little caught up here. There’s no panic (with Belt).” And then he said Belt would be back out there on Wednesday.
Then Wednesday’s come, and no Belt. What?
We’re guessing Bochy wanted to get Nate Schierholtz his first start on Wednesday. Then after doing that, he looked at the lineup that would have had a struggling Belt No. 5 followed by Schierholtz No. 6, then Brandon Crawford and Emmanuel Burriss, and he didn’t like it. So Aubrey Huff, who had a nice game Monday, gets the start.
OK, it’s not unreasonable. But with the lefty Jamie Moyer starting Thursday, we would expect Brett Pill to start at first base. That means no Belt starting the entire Rockies series, which is a lovely park for a struggling hitter to find his stroke.
Then, Lincecum showed up to the park with four inches of hair lopped off, saying that he “just wanted a haircut.”
But that story would take a backseat to the next nugget: Buster Posey was out of the lineup with shingles.
Shingles is triggered by the same virus that causes chicken pox, leading to painful blisters. Posey has blisters on his arm, left shoulder and back. Posey said he had chicken pox as a young child, but the virus stays dormant in the box and can be flared by a cold, lack of sleep or stress.
So beware Ozzie Guillen.
Posey said he started to feel worn down toward the end of spring training and the blisters began to emerge Sunday.
“You feel zapped,” he told CSNBayArea’s Andew Baggarly. “I just feel worn down still. I’m planning on being in there (Thursday), though.”
Posey has been told the condition generally clears in four or five days, but can last as long as three weeks.
Given that, we wouldn’t be surprised if Posey plays first base on Thursday, with Sanchez drawing another start behind the plate.
Still two hours until game time, and no word if Brian Wilson is clean-shaven or not.
Giants 7, Athletics 2: No freebies from The Freak
Is it possible to scatter six extra-base hits? Well, Tim Lincecum found a way to do that Saturday against the Oakland Athletics.
Lincecum gave up six hits — one single, two triples and three doubles — but only one run in six innings, his longest outing of the spring.
Five of those extra-base hits came in the first two innings, but Lincecum worked his way out of a trouble with a little help from Nate Schierholtz.
It was all part of Lincecum’s pledge this spring: Throw more strikes.
“No walks,” he told CSNBayArea.com’s Andrew Baggarly. “It’s a huge thing for me. It’s about getting ahead, and even when you don’t, not being afraid to throw a wrinkle down the middle. For me, that’s a two-seamer. Hopefully, you induce a ground ball or something.”
Lincecum’s 86 walks last season ranked second in the National League last season (with extra thanks to Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito being hurt for a good portion of the year). Also, his 3.99 pitches per batter kept Lincecum from going deeper into games.
He was worried that was the case Saturday when he came in after the fourth inning and was surprised to find out he was only at 48 pitches.
“I was like ‘oh, I guess it’s not as bad as I thought,” he said.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
- The offense got off to a slow start, managing just one hit in the first three innings. But the Giants got it going in the fourth with a single by Freddy Sanchez, double by Melky Cabrera, sacrifice fly (with two strikes) from Pablo Sandoval, double by Nate Schierholtz and home run from Ryan Theriot.
- Theriot’s home run was one of three on the game for the Giants. Sandoval and Angel Pagan added solo shots.
- Pagan, coming off have a wisdom tooth pulled earlier this week, went 2 for 4 with a stolen base and home run.
- Brian Wilson allowed an unearned run, but also walked two in his two-third of an inning. He also struck out two.
mlblogsmoresplashhits
Recent Comments