Tim Lincecum was bad. Then he was back. Then he was bad. Bad, bad, back, back, bad. If Tim Lincecum’s season was a roller coaster ride, it would probably be Big Thunder Mountain. Not a lot of severe ups and downs, but you’re gonna get jerked around a lot. Unpopular opinion: I hate Disneyland.
Lincecum in his last 4 outings:
26.2 IP, 8 ER, 32 K, 7 BB Continue reading
Last night I wrote about the redeeming qualities of last night’s loss; today, there were none. Barry Zito looked bad, the bullpen looked bad, the hitters looked bad. Today was a game that we will deny happened in two weeks. Continue reading
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.