Photo by Bill Zarchy

Coming into tonight’s game, there were only two ways for this series to end: either the Dodgers win it all and end up tied for first place, or the Giants win it and take a nice, comfortable six-game lead in the standings. There was no middle ground, or so went the narrative. Of course, that’s the natural inclination, but most likely the result would be somewhere in the middle.

The other narrative comes from the blockbuster trade the Dodgers pulled off, trading for superstar shortstop mediocre third baseman Hanley Ramirez and LOOGY Randy Choate. This trade was seen as an aggressive sign of the “win now” approach of the new ownership group in their bid to win the NL West, as they took on $30-plus million in commitments to risky players. The Giants responded, in their own way, trading minor league second baseman Charlie Culberson to the Colorado Rockies for veteran shortstop Marco Scutaro and cash.

The Scutaro move is classic Brian Sabean – trading stagnant prospects for a veteran at the deadline to fill a need. I actually really like Scutaro, both from watching him as an A early in his career, his stint in the excellent documentary A Player to Be Named Later, and since then as a surprisingly decent player for the Blue Jays and Red Sox. It’s going to be interesting to see where Scutaro is going to play; second, short or third, and who ends up being the odd man out in the Giants lineup.

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Tim Lincecum is officially back. No, not Back, with a capital B, like he was in his 2008-09 years, or even his pretty good 2010 and really good 2011. No, he’s back to being bad, like he was before he was good, like he was after he was bad again. Because he was good for two games. Now he’s bad again. He’s the old new Timmy, not the new old Timmy or the new new Timmy.

God, I feel like I’m talking about Ryan Vogelsong. Because man, Lincecum had one of the best terrible performances I’ve ever seen. He struck three  in the first, aside from a Chase Headley home run and a HBP to Carlos Quentin, fanned two in the second, one in the third and, yep, BLASTOFF. Timmy grooved an 89 MPH fastball down the middle to Jesus “Giant-Killer” Guzman, and he did what he was supposed to do: launch it into the seats. Per Andrew “Buzz-In” Baggarly:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/CSNBaggs/status/228234681865355264″]

Let’s look again at that at-bat with Guzman.  Continue reading →