Hello Old Friends
Last night, Tim Lincecum struggled, I mean really struggled. He was walking Dodgers left and right handed. He issued 7 walks in all, tying his career high. Just guessing, but that other 7 walk game must have happened during the horridness of his last season. Timmy found redemption in the end, in the bullpen. Redemption happens for lots of players on Championship teams.
But this year Lincecum finds himself pitching for a contract, and after one night, those 2012 problems remain. It must be easier to get a haircut than it is to fix control issues.
Well Tim made it through 5 innings Wednesday night and he got the “W”. He was more than a little lucky on a few atom balls with runners in scoring position, but dagnamit, maybe he deserves some luck. His final line Wednesday? 5IP, 3H, 2R, 0ER, 7BB, 4K - not bad when you squint and somehow miss that biggest number. So Tim Winswillcome is 1 and 0 with a 0.00 ERA. Not too shabby!
In fact, Perfect Cain, Madness, and the Freak are a combined 2-0 to start the season, with 19 IP and 0 Earned Runs. In fact the Giants went into the stadium of the Yankees West (more like Red Sox West, but whatever) and won the series. There will be more than a few more of these things, but for 2013, it’s Giants 1 and Dodgers None.
Now isn’t that a nice way to kick off the Giants’ second Title Defence in 3 years? After winning the World Series a couple of times, it can be hard to find a way to get excited for April Baseball. So you know what? Thank the Dodgers for outspending the Pinstripes. Thank them for employing that Beast named Kershaw and thank them for wearing Puke Blue.
You know it’s nice to have a rival.
Friends, Baseball is back and so is this blog. The Giants have their home opener tomorrow and will get their rings. After the jump press Play and Read On.
*Really wanted to show you the Music Video of the first song above via Youtube, but “WMV” won’t let me do it on Tumblr. It’s Fleetwood Mac with the USC Trojans Marching Band, shot in Chavez Ravine.
Baseball is, uniquely among the sports, tied to the seasons. It first appears, like green shoots, with the first notes of the warmth of Spring. The games reach a fullness of maturity in the heat of Summer before departing during the first cold winds of the fall, leaves descending all around. It is this seasonal affiliation that allows for places like Scottsdale and St. Petersburg to maintain their Winter magic - vacation dreams of the bundled in snowy climes.
Baseball moves in harmony with life, not to mention the Summer Breaks of kids across the Nation. Even with the clear dominance of Football, it is not for nothing that Baseball still claims the lofty title of Pastime.
So the last time we saw the Giants, they were Champions, riding down Market Street, triumphant, under Orange and White and Black confetti falling like so many November leaves. Confetti that I grabbed and pocketed for memory, for the future. Our team didn’t change much from then until now. Basically, gone are Brian Wilson and Mike Theriot, returned is Andres Torres (he’ll save every one of us!), and added is Chad (Frenchie Trois) Gaudin. Even that last one isn’t really new, we knew him in Green and Gold, twice.
The Giants really do boast a remarkable rosterbational continuity in relation to other teams. Take for instance the Dodgers and their big spending, more on that below. This is not necessarily a good thing. When the Giants re-signed Aubrey Huff in 2011, it turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. But no worries, World Series.
The 2013 Giants have re-signed Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro. Will either of those contracts become a Huffian disaster? Scutaro’s, maybe. I’m relatively confident that Blockbuster will be a worthy Starter for at least this year. The rest of his 3 year contract? I’m not so sure, maybe it’ll be time to Panik (more on that below). As for Pagan, I’m happy the Giants will have him for four more years. Maybe it was his World Baseball Classic performance that did it for me, I don’t know.
So this year’s lineup is an Andres Torres platoon away from being completely identical to the lineup that the Giants took into the playoffs last year. You know these guys. The questions, as I see them, are:
- Is Scutaro going to be good enough? No one expects him to replicate the few months he had with the team last year (.362 BA, .859 OPS), but can he be a league average Second Baseman?
- Is Hunter Pence going to be good enough? He hit .219 for the Giants last year, but through three games this year he seems to normalizing back to his career averages.
- Is Brandon Belt going to break out? I’m a major Belt apologist, but I’ll concede he’s average at best if he doesn’t prove otherwise this year. Is that fair? I don’t know. He mashed in Scottsdale (led all of Baseball in HRs and RBI) but has been sick for 2/3 of the games so far.
- Finally, can they all stay mostly healthy? Particularly the reigning MVP and Pablo Sandoval. The Panda has great ability, but injuries and maybe his rotundness have prevented him from becoming all that he can be. His elbow was hurting a few days ago.
As you can see I’m not much worried about the Giants’ Pitching. Cain and Bumgarner will be great, Vogelsong looked in Spring like his late-career awakening will continue, Lincecum pretty much has to be better in a contract year than his 5 ERA last year, and Zito will likely be his 4-something ERA self.
Oh wait, I do have one question about the the Pitching staff: Will the Giants allow Barry Zito to pitch 200 innings this year? If he does, the Giants must pay him $18 Million next year. If he doesn’t, he’s a free agent after 7 mostly disappointing and costly years. He’s never cracked 200 IP with the Giants, but he’s been really close in some surprising years.
There’s also this:
@timkawakami Which is going to make it difficult for Bochy to keep Zito on innings limit to avoid 200 IP–that triggers Zito’s option.
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As for prospects, The Giants have two pitchers in Fresno this year who may warrant a mid season call-up because of injury or sucktitude - Chris Heston and Michael Kickham. Heston is a control righty and Kickham is a strikeout lefty. Neither of those guys, however, carry the shine of Clayton Blackburn or Kyle Crick (they’re considered top of the rotation possibilities) who will both pitch in High A San Jose this year. Heath Hembree will repeat this year as Fresno’s Closer. He seems likely to be called up, barring injury or sucktitude - last year was disappointing.
Joe Panik and Gary Brown are two recent #1 draftees who had somewhat disappointing seasons last year. Brown will start in CF for the AAA Grizzlies while Panik (newly converted full-time to 2B) will begin the season in AA. Panik is thought to be directly behind Marco Scutaro at 2B on the organizational depth chart.
Cole Gillespie or Francisco Peguero will both play in AAA and either could find themselves as Gregor Blanco platoon partner if Andres Torres struggles. If Blanco is the one who struggles, AAA lefty OF Roger Kieschnick could make his Major League debut.
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I said before it’s good to have a rival. It really is. A good rivalry helps to motivate both participants. For the team in the dumps, they always have a chance at a silver lining. For a team like the Giants (winners of 2 WS in 2 Buster Posey years) the Dodgers provide a playoff-lite atmosphere all season long.
Well you may not have heard, but the Defending Champions are expected by many to finish behind the Dodgers in the NL West. The Dodgers added Zach Greinke during the offseason and now have the largest salary in Baseball. I’m not as impressed with their lineup as some are (a lot of that money is tied up in players whose best years are behind them), but their Pitching staff should carry them to 90ish wins at least.
So that’s why it was so nice to kick off the Title Defence with a series victory in Los Angeles. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in the National League, and he proved it on Opening Day, but Madison Bumgarner went 8 Shutout Innings and gave up only 2 Hits in the second game on Tuesday. In the rubber match, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence homered, Tim Lincecum held on long enough to leave the game with a lead after 5IP, and Gaudin, George Kontos and Sergio Romo finished the Dodgers lineup off.
The Dodgers’ best chance on Wednesday was when Matt Kemp came up with the bases loaded and nobody was out. But George the Greek induced Kemp into a Double Play. Kemp was 0-fer in the series and is now has a 25 at bat hitless streak against the Giants. He has a career .797 OPS against the Giants, over 388 ABs.
These two teams will play 18 games against each other this season. They’re rivalry probably has more at stake this year than it has in decades. They’ll likely finish 1-2 in the NL West this year, and so far? The Giants are leading the season series 2 games to 1.
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Tomorrow is the Home Opener against the St. Louis Cardinals and the Giants will receive their rings in a pregame ceremony exactly like they did in 2011, against those same Birds. The difference this time is that the Giants beat the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS in glorious fashion.
Hope the Giants have the fortitude and luck to win, I can’t imagine the Cardinals being any more motivated to win than they will be in this series starting tomorrow.
One last question: who will raise the Flag?
2 Notes/ Hide
- davidandthegiants posted this