After last night, in which Tim Lincecum threw 8 shutout innings against the best offense in the league, leading the Giants to a taut, 2-0 win; the time has come to talk Cy.
The 2009 National League Cy Young race is looking like a two horse race between Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain, who are thisclose in a heated battle of can you top this. Both are tied for the league lead with twelve wins, both are in the top three in ERA. Lincecum is leading the league in innings pitched (158), Cain ranks 9th, (140). Lincecum is leading all of baseball in strikeouts, with 191, (33 more than the number two man in the NL, Javier Vazquez) Cain is way back with only 112. Lincecum leads the league in complete games (4) and shutouts (2), and he really could have at least two more. Lincecum has allowed only 6 home runs in 156 innings(!), Cain has allowed 12. Only Dan Haren can match Lincecum’s stinginess regards opponents batting, and his 10-6 record is not really going to catch the eye of the voters.
On ESPN’s Cy Young Prediction machine, Lincecum leads Cain by 5 points. Also putting up Cy Young type seasons are Dan Haren and Jonathan Broxton, but in my humble opinion, the award will be won or lost by one of the two young San Francisco stars. Broxton’s numbers are startling, but with two starters on the same team throwing up such powerhouse numbers, the only way reliever wins this ward is if Cain and Lincecum pull votes away from each other.
My money is on Lincecum. As the reigning Cy Young Award winner, he has followed up last year by having the best season of any pitcher in baseball, and his strikeout numbers make a compelling case to overrule all of the other similarities with Cain, Haren or, for instance, Chris Carpenter.
Matt Cain’s only chance would seem to be by compiling at least two or three more wins. Barring that, the Freak’s dominance will land him his second coveted piece of hardware.
UPDATE: WIth this afternoon’s 7-3 win, the Giants take three of four from the NL East leaders, finish a 6-1 homestand, and hold on to a tie for the Wild Card lead with the Rockies, who beat the Reds 6-4.
AB AVG OBP SLG OPS K BB XBH
April 49 .224 .264 .286 .550 15 2 2
May 58 .293 .397 .379 .776 18 8 3
June 44 .250 .283 .591 .874 11 2 7
July 70 .300 .329 .414 .743 17 3 3
Aug 8 .250 .250 .250 .500 5 0 0
Just don’t understand the fascination with Ish.
Terrible start, solid 2 months, and then his July and the team in the mix forced a move.
Great glove, zero pitch recognition and seldom drives the ball.
He might be improving, but it seems pretty minimal.
EL,
Ish’s upside is too great to abandon. When you only get 4 ab’s a week off the bench…you’ll go downhill. I wanted to see what he could’ve accomplished with a full July and half of August…and see if the improvement continued. We continue to run guys like Molina, Winn, Renteria, and Rowand on a daily basis…because of their contracts…not performance…who are the major drags on the line-up. Check Molina’s avg. wisp…or Renteria and Winn’s July…horrible. Ish is not the major issue on this team…Renteria also stinks up the joint in the field…just the palys he never gets to.
When you use the word minimal…you’re describing Renteria…1 rbi in the last month…poor glove..zero recognition…and never drives the ball. Do the math…and tell me where the efforts on improvement should be spent. If you want to pick on something…pay attention to the real problems on the Gigantes.
Watching Renteria waddle around 3b before getting gunned down by the length of a football field, in last night’s simulated baseball game between The Alice Ferguson Giant Petticoats and the Mike Hampton All Stars, reminded me of something I read just before Christmas in 2008.
Normally I don’t read Scott Ostler because his sophomoric attempts at satire and irony make him read more like a little sarcastic bitch than a clever pundit. Oh well, some people fart in church to draw attention to themselves. Whatever. I guess thats why I remembered this little piece of poignancy he wrote. He was actually conveying something of interest
And then there was this from Rich Lederer at the Baseball Analysts in August of 2008:
What was Sabean’s take and that of his dutiful puppet Bruce Bochy?
In case you didn’t know: Renteria’s line:
.256 Batting Average
.311 On Base Percentage
.321 Slugging Percentage
.632 OPS.
But at least Renteria was a 5 time allstar.
Texas Rangers, backup shortstop Omar “LMAO at the Giants” Vizquel
.279 Batting Average
.336 On Base Percentage
.346 Slugging Percentage
.682 OPS
Being paid what the THE IDIOT is paying Aurilia; $1million.
+mia,
Let’s forget about the mil Aurilia is making…since money is irrevelant in any Sabean deal…it’s the roster spot that’s worth much more. He needs to DFA’d when Shierholz is ready to come off the DL….any other move is ridiculous. Renteria has to be older than 33….he looks and plays much older. I still like your original name for him at the beginning of the season “human sundial”…and that is most fitting. Uribe needs to play short for the stretch run…period. Molina better be dropped to 6th-7th immediatey…or we have no chance. He had only 3 rbi’s the month of July….and continues to stink up the joint. Bochy has to be taking instructions from Sabean on this. I cannot go on about Molina…he’s been a drag on the team for months…and somehow cruises under the radar….and escapes the rath.
Basically, the Gigantes are far more competitive when Renteria and Molina are on the bench….and it’s noticable to more than just the avg. fan.
We had the best hitter in baseball for over ten years…and couldn’t bring one home…and now have the best 1-2 since Maddox/Glavine…and we damn well better get it done…before their time is gone. I watch this team only one game a week to keep my cool…and when I do…it’s glaring and obvious what needs to be done. With this pitching…it will be criminal not to have at least one championship.
I realize why you go off on rants…if I watched daily…my house would be destroyed.
Heh. I used to burn down neighbors houses. Now I just burn out their cars.
A greater source of frustration, than individual player non-performance, is that the things that Giants Management and Ownership do, do not take place in a vacuum. They have consequences and have a direct result on how teams and individual players fare during the season.
The dismissal of Bonds, the castigation of Baker, the demonization of Kent and most recently the trivialization of the MLB edition of “Extreme Makeover” Kevin Frandsen, and now even the diminishment of a completely innocent and harmless kid, Tim Alderson for gawds are not random events. This is all carefully orchestrated media manipulation, propaganda and horseshit from the offices of Commish Wannabe Larry Baer, the Sultan of Spin.
Its not that these machinations are unusual in business and politics. It is quite common in sports and entertainment business where image is everything if in fact not the only thing.
What is bothersome is that most of mainstream media and the blogosphere are all caught up in the daily process and grind of a 7-month season, and refuse to hold ownership and management responsible unless absolutely put up against the wall by public pressure.
Their audience consists largely of phans who are primarily interested in the players/performers, and how those player performances affect their own lives. The average phan does not see how the actions and words of ownership and management have a direct bearing on any given play, game or series of games.
If somebody in the Giants front office is having a bad week, nobody knows or cares. Aaron Rowand has three bad days in a row, and it is all over TV, the internet, and sports pages.
Most followers are consumed with the results and not the causes of failure and success. It is failure to perform on the field that fans see. And it is the individual players whom they hold accountable for the overall success of failure of a season and not ownership or management by and large. Therefore, if an individual performer can be publicly faulted, even though operating at 100 percent efficiency, those responsible for the cause (management) poor selection of performers, escape scrutiny.
If you do not believe that, just ask yourself who is withstanding the worst of all the fallout from peds.
Owners and Managers make it a practiced art to speak only in clichés and carefully constructed non-sequiturs. As a result, fans do not care at all as to who the ownership group is or what they do.
The bottom line to Ownership groups like the Giants, is attendance, popularity ratings and bottom line profits. In that regard they have been stellar performers. But if your baseline measurement is the pursuit of championships, the Giants are a half-century long failure with no real track record of success to think this will change. Edgar Renteria, Bengie Molina, Aaron Rowand, Barry Zito, Randy Winn, Randy Johnson, Rich Aurilia. All testaments to the false promises of management and ownership.
Without Lincecum, and Cain, pitching out of their ass in a tribute to Koufax/Drysdale, this pathetic collection of garbage would be scrapping it out with the Nationals, Padres and Pirates for the worst record in the National League.
+mia,
I’ve met Larry Baer….and you’re spot on. It amazes me I’m still a fan after what they did to Bonds. I was on a 2 year boycott until this year. I think it was my wild idea(last year) to have Bonds brought back as player/coach this year. The Bay Area fan has been dumbed down so much over the years that they actually believe what they read/told. But then again…this is the land of Pelosi. I am fortunate to travel to many cities and get a well rounded education of how other sports franchises operate.
What the Fuck…I’m going to watch tonight.
Jonathan…Jonathan.
Sanchez caught an ump with a good strike zone. The Giants hitters caught a guy named Paulino with no command.
For Sanchez it was nice for him to have had good stuff with a good zone to pitch to. And he pitched to the zone very well.
As for the Giants hitters, guys like Renteria, Molina, Rowand, and Winn padded their stats against poor slobs like Paulino and Wesley Wright with ERAs on the far north side of 6.00 in a walk-in closet like Enron Lemonade.
The Giants really need to do something about Rowand, Winn, Molina and Renteria.
Renteria can barely reach 1b from medium short stop. He has no chance on anything in the hole. And thats when he can get to something in the whole. The guy just doesn’t react anymore, and his arm is shot. The Giants are playing with fire with him there.
The 4 most expensive hitters in this lineup need to be benched on a regular basis. Gawd they are tired looking at the plate and in the field. Somebody needs to remind them a baseball field is no country for old men.
Rowand had his two hot streaks for the year, and I’ve seen better tosses into home from peanut vendors. Yet another Sabean effort to devalue the dollar against the peso.
Sun Bonds can hit left handed pitching better than Winn who is OPSing at .401 and with an OBP of .186. To contrast, the left handed hitting Shierholtz is hitting the following slash lines against left handed hitting:
467 .469 .767 1.235 (granted its only 30abs, but still way better than the anemic Winn who must be swinging a rake handle against lefties.
So much for Bochy’s obsessive adherence to left-right matchups. Nate Shierholtz needs to come off the DL fucking fast and Winn needs to join his wine tasting partners Dave Roberts and Rich Aurilia in retirement or on the DL. He can’t event throw out the trash. Bench player only.
Garko won the Best Catcher in the country award. I would rather have him back there than Molina who is slower than a constipated three-toed sloth, and Ishikawa at 1b. Garko is a mess at 1b….he’s about a junior college player defensively there. He was really a good defensive catcher in college. Catchers don’t always make good 1b or outfielders. The Giants don’t have a Victor Martinez and and Kelly Shopach blocking him. Get him the fuck off of 1b before he hurts somebody. For a catcher his offensive numbers would be acceptable. For a 1b, he’s typical Giants post Will Clark, anemic. He’s not as good as Ishikawa
Ishikawa is hitting over .300 against lefties himself and is GETTING BETTER, NOT WORSE as the season progresses. Dog Days and gut check games are when you need defense. Especially on the road where these guys don’t score. Garko is not worth the risk from what I’ve seen of him so far. More and more I think Shea Hillenbrand only a bigger asshole-buddy of Jime Rome’s.
That puts those 4 old useless bastards back on the bench where they belong, Garko behind the dish and keeps Ichikawa, Shierholz, Velez, Lewis, whatever on the field. Then they’re only stuck with Uribe at ss.
I would rather those old farts stay on the bench anyway to come off in leverage situations where their “experience and gamerness” could be put to good use after they nap for the 1st 6 innings in the dugout instead of on the field like they usually do, and stay fresh.
+mia,
I agree completely with your analysis. The Gigantes have some Kids…who need to play regularly…before we once again fuck up the scene. Velez is a true lead-off…and I cannot remember when the last time we had one. He will learn to read pitchers and steal. I see him as our CF for years to come. Shierholz must play right…and in your own words ..”was born to do so”. Give Ish more ab’s against lefties…his glove is just too good at 1b. I like your idea about moving Garko to cather…makes sense. What our line-up would be w/o Molina clogging the bases. Unless Molina hits a 2b or hr….it’s station to station.
Everyone on this site agrees with you on Renteria. His biggest flaw is fielding…and the pitchers definitely want Uribe in there. Not to mention the lack of balls he never gets to. I played ss in my days…and Renteria would not start for most college teams with his arm and lack of range. Either he has rotator cuff issues…or something else. His arm is flat out dead. Like I keep saying…Uribe needs to play short…and he does have a cannon…but you’ll have to live with the occasional boot on regular plays.
I might have to eat crow on Garko…I’m a big Ish fan and do not like Garko at 1b…but, the ball does jump off his bat…he needs to be in there…just not a 1b.
Nice bomb from Whiteside…it might have landed by now.
It’s still ours to lose.
i wanted the giants to keep omar
he was willing to take a huge paycut, work p/t and work with the kids
even at his age, his range kills both renteria and richie….and he has tons to teach
0but no…sabean wanted a bat….so he got renteria…total joke
Unc Joe,
Cannot fathom that one. A p/t Omar with Uribe would’ve made sense.
Obviously…”The Idiot” is not spending his own money.
makes sense…yes
but sabean has little in the way of sense
remember, he paid 8 mil to the unit…and everyone knew there was no way the unit was going to pitch a full season
omar couldve retired as a giant….that in itself would pay for his salary, as a result of the added revenue from tickets to people who would want to see omar that final time
it could also have given the giants an inside line on getting omar as a coach for the future
the guy is a maven of every facet of the game
btw, while freddy appears to be playing out of his head…its painful to watch him run the bases and play the field
he aint gonna make it through sept
sabean better get him locked up in a longterm to make this trade pay off
They’re pretty damn close. Much too close to make any reasonable distinction between the two. I lean towards Cain simply because he seems to have been a little more effective on the road, though not by much. The Giants are 6-5 in Lincecum starts on the road, and 7-3 when Cain takes the bump. He pulled off 2 of the 3 wins on the recent butt-ugly road trip, which seriously threatened to be 1-9 with horrible plate appearances by all concerned. He won the only game in Seattle on that disastrous May road trip of 1-5 preventing a 6 game losing streak like the one suffered in April.
I guess most importantly in my mind’s eye, the Giants have played 5 road games in Colorado and lost 3. Cain has won the other 2, pitched 13 innings of dominant baseball, and has held the Rockies to 1 earned run in those two games. It also seems like he has been the one to minimize potential losing streaks.
Those kinds of things you can’t break down statistically. They’re still so close. Obviously Lincecum is the strikeout king, but Cain as of late is pitching to contact, and as a position player, especially going into the last hot-ass 60 days of the season, the faster you can get back into the dugout and keep the other guys out there, the better your chances to outlast your opponents in later innings.
As an aside, I was looking at the Giants home and away splits.
These are the slash lines that jump out at you
Sandoval Home .382 .426 .656 1.082
Sandoval Away .266 .317 .441 .759
Ishikawa Home .358 .394 .545 .939
Ishikawa Away .175 .248 .252 .500
Uribe Home .330 .355 .470 .825
Uribe Away .242 .265 .394 .659
Rowand Home .276 .348 .472 .820
Rowand Away .284 .332 .432 .763
Lewis Home .292 .375 .425 .800
Lewis Away .225 .306 .357 .662
Molina Home .287 .293 .461 .754
Molina Away .231 .247 .368 .616
Winn Home 225 .289 .315 .603
Winn Away 304 .345 .430 .775
Rentia Home .247 .317 .294 .612
Rentia Away .259 .299 .340 .639
And for the team as a whole
Giants Home .274 .329 .413 .742
Giants Away .244 .287 .351 .638
I’m not sure what to make of this. Lewis, Uribe,and Ishikawa are completely different players at Pac Bell and Sandoval is a freeking monster
Maybe its shades of 1951 and they’re stealing signs. Oh well. Off to Houston and back
+mia,
Interesting splits. No way to explain the total dominance and complete character change at Home.
Does anyone out there except me cringe when Garko is at First. I’ve watched enough of the Tribe this year to tell you all he is a major liability…and his bat no where near compensates. The Tribe mgmt came to the conclusion they could no longer afford to play him in the field..He is not even a college level 1b. He needs to be a platoon DH in the AL. There are many plays he fails to make…and he has failed to learn how to dig at 1b…which pretty much makes him useless at the big league level. You’ll all be wishing for Ish’s glove in there soon. There was no need for the Garko deal…the Gigantes cannot afford to give outs away…and that’s just what Garko does.
Need 2 of 3 in Houston.
Stay hot Velez.
I have to admit I was completely wrong about Ishikawa. He is becoming a better player and seems to still be improving, and playing with more confidence.
Garko is Mr. Clank at 1b. In his defense, he won the highly respected and prestigious Johnny Bench award given to catcher of the year his senior year. The Indians moved him permanently to 1b after he came to the Indians, so he just doesnt have that much experience there. He really strikes me as a platoon player. So far he has done nothing other than remind of Shea “sinking ship” Hindenburg.
Sanchez clutch double overshadowed his lack of range and muffed throw that allowed the Phils to score a 2 run lead in the 4th inning. If that play happens on the road, the Giants lose that game. He’s still plenty ouchy, but damn, that double in the gap was sooooo damn nice to see.
+mia,
I’ve been saying for over two years that 2b is our biggest problem….so getting Sanchez(if he is healthy) is not so bad…just gave way too much to get him…when the Buc’s were in a dumping mood, and would’ve taken less. Same old Sabean…excuse me “The Idiot”.
Getting Sanchez is also smart if one of the reasons is to move Uribe back to short(natural position)…and move Renteria to the bench(his rightful place). I realize this is dreaming…but, it would be the right move.
I like the Gigantes with Velez in the lead-off…now all we need to do is get Molina back to 6-7th…and Renteria to the bench. I have a good feeling this team is getting at least the Wild Card…and no one wants us in the Play-offs. I know I’m getting ahead of the cart…but, you know I’ve been saying all along that the Wild Card is ours to lose.
I’m actually going to watch tonight.
Stay hot Velez.
sanchez is not going to make it to season’s end on those knees…so it remains a bad trade
sure, he may end up being healthy next season…but knee injuries are rather tricky
Watching Sanchez run the bases is like watching O.J. Simpson hippity-hop down the field during his last season. Amos McCoy and Matt Dillon’s sidekick, Chester, walk with less gimpiness. Nobody in their right mind signs a guy like that as his top choice if you’re seriously all-in.
Ridiculous.
Unc Joe,
Agree that it’s bad because of giving up Alderson, and you may be right that he fails to finish the season. I’m NEVER going to try to justify a Sabean deal…but, continuing to put Molina @ clean-up is killing us. I have no idea what they’re going to do with Velez when Shierholz comes back.
I watched last night for the first time in a while….and Winn should not play against left handed pitching. He is completely lost from the right…and might want to think about giving up swith hitting. Just do not get why he continues to start batting .160…espically on the road where his defense in right is not as important as Pac Bell.
Cannot afford to lose against pitchers like Hampton.
you gotta keep velez…and you offer winn on a waiver trade
or just dfa winn and suck up the loss of an extra draft choice
giving up prospects in trades doesnt show balls for a gm who thinks development should be done by other orgs
dfa’ing a midlevel talent like winn would show tremendous balls
DFA Aurillia before anyone else on the roster. DFA’ng Winn would be a bit foolish considering his high average with runners in scoring position. He’s not the best player on the team by any means but he does come up big in crucial situations, something that becomes extremely important in those playoff games we all want to make
I am hoping that “The Idiot” was thinking to the future in signing Garko, as in to have him return to catching next year and play him instead of Bengie possibly with Buster as a backup. Winning the Johnny Bench award shows he clearly has talent behind the plate and I am assuming the Indians moved him to 1b due to V-Mart being their catcher at the time. Garko’s value increases somewhat if he plays as a good defensive catcher versus poor 1b.
Agreed.
Well, I know that’s what smart guys are thinking. But you have to ask yourself if Sabean has demonstrated any ability whatsoever to think more than a half-a move ahead in checkers, when he is competing against guys who are playing tournament chess.
I know that players (after park-adjusting their numbers) perform better at home than on the road, but those splits are just ridiculous. I’m just chalking it up to small sample size right now, but hopefully the team starts picking it up on the road.
Well this is the part I find puzzling.
Giants at Home
Home .274 .329 .413 .742
Opp .230 .290 .346 .636
Giants on the Road
Away .244 .287 .351 .638
Opp .246 .336 .398 .735
They are plus 67 runs in 53 games at home
They are minus 33 runs on the road in 52 games
Lets look at the top teams competing for a playoff spot
—————————————————————–
Dodgers 65-40
Home .272 .341 .410 .752 plus 59 runs
Opp .233 .306 .348 .654
Away .282 .363 .417 .780 plus 49 runs
Opp .233 .325 .376 .702
——————————————————————–
Phillies 59-44
Home 263 .348 .458 .806 plus 24 runs
Opp .271 .339 .456 .796
Away .256 .331 .432 .763 plus 48 runs
Opp .259 .328 .425 .752
——————————————————————-
Rockies 58-47
Home .277 .360 .471 .831 plus 26 runs
Opp. .281 .339 .432 .771
Away 242 .324 .410 .735 plus 30 runs
Opp. 246 .313 .378 .691
————————————————————————-
Cardinals 58-50
Home .253 .327 .404 .730 Plus 12 runs
Opp .248 .311 .361 .671
Away 259 .325 .421 .746 Plus 23 runs
Opp .270 .332 .421 .752
———————————————————————–
Cubs 55-48
Home 266 .346 .443 .788 Plus 47 runs
Opp .245 .322 .395 .716
Away .239 .311 .386 .697 Minus 12 runs
Opp .244 .333 .399 .733
———————————————————————–
Marlins 55-50
Home .264 .337 .417 .754 Minus 28 runs
Opp .260 .336 .403 .740
Away .251 .320 .387 .707 Plus 20 runs
Opp .251 .323 .399 .722
———————————————————————-
Only the Dodgers come close to the home field advantage that the Giants are exhibiting. But they have the best record in baseball after 100+ games. But they are almost as good, though not quite on the road.
Maybe the Giants hitters are picking up the signs from the home theater screens in the Giants dugout?
Geoffrey
valentine???? no way, no how
the future manager of the giants is guiding the forever losing team in ct to a playoff spot
the defenders now lead their division by 10 games
decker is able to motivate and work with kids
this is the second time that he has taken a team that wasnt expeted to do anything and turned them into superstars….as he did the same for salk
so if this org is smart…they fire bochy and hire decker
I lost track of Decker since his playing days. All I’ve heard of him is similar to what you say. I remember distinctly how much respect he had for the game, his fellow players, and was particularly grateful for even the short time he had in the show.
He should be ready anytime soon. From what you say, Joe, this seems to be the future. Hell the D-backs went with Pretty Boy Hinch, simply because he oversaw much of the minor league system, in spite of an absence of any coaching or managerial experience at any level.
The big thing with a manager, is if he can get the players to buy into his program, that’s the biggest part of the job. Without that belief (see Alou, F.) in the boss, the ship is fairly rudderless and will founder when the storm hits. To win and excel at A and AA what with the constant roster turnover on ancy consistent basis and to have his charges do as well as they have at the big league level speaks pretty highly of Decker. I don’t believe he is one of Sabean’s cronies but is a holdover from Bob Quinn, Roger Craig, Dusty Baker.
I kind of like catcher’s as managers, because they tend to understand pitching and pitchers better than most. And if one looks at the recent pitching additions from the Giants Farm System, some of the credit has to go to Steve Decker.
dont forget…bochy was a catcher
so not all catchers are created equal
but decker is the real deal…its not just winning, its player development
his players play damn hard for him too
dont know if eme will ever make it to the show, but under decker, this is the first season he has stayed injury free and shown why he was drafted in the first place
i was very suprised when they didnt send posey to ct…thought they would want him to benefit with working under decker…and i still think the org is making a mistake…guess we will see come sept
From what you are saying Decker sounds like a very good in-house option for manager if the Giants actually get rid of Bochy.
I have a terrible feeling that if we make the playoffs then Bochy probably gets seriously mentioned as a Manager of the Year candidate, which could help him get an extension (which would be a terrible mistake)
heh. I didn’t say ALL CATCHERS make good managers. But Bochy’s lineups seem to be made up by Sabean and Scott Boras and friends, not somebody who has been in the show for as long as he has.
Contracts talk, bullshit walks, and that’s why Giants followers are intellectually abused by the relative uselessness of Aurilia’s continued roster presence, Zito’s preferential rotation slotting, Renteria’s non-benching, Molina’s mummy on display in the clean-up spot and so on.
Bochy’s primary job is to pamper the old phartz and keep the young players from going Kevin “Cliff Claven “Frandsen in the clubhouse. His other job is to look at Rags dumbfoundedly whenever Howry gets blasted.
+mai,
Amen.
+mia,
Sorry dude…typo. But total agreement. I doubt it is Bochy’s decision to continue to bat Molina 4th. I like Geof’s idea of putting Garko at catcher.
I’m sorr Matt but you are going to have to play Drysadle to Timmy’s Koufax. As much as I would love to see Matt win it, the award belongs to Timmy as he has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball (he has a run of 10 games with at least 8K’s). Hopefully Matt will repeat this years success in the future and earn himself a CY.
On a somewhat different note just wondered what people think with regards to the idea of hiring Bobby Valentine as manager? This thought has been playing around in the back of my head ever since I heard him linked to the Nats job. I think he could be a good fit in SF as he seems to manage younger playres well and would be tuned in to the small ball tactics that we need to play having managed in Japan for so long.
Great series against the Phils. Got to see all the games on TV, not something I’m normally able to do out here on the east coast. Lincecum is straight up filthy, one of my coworkers said he hopes to never see Lincecum pitch against the Phillies again. He was impressed to say the least. Solid start from Zito, even if he looked ready to cry after some of the poor defense behind him. As much as the offense pains me, the pitching we run out there is fun to watch.
Lincecum is the better pitcher of the two, and the stats out there that try to isolate pitching from defense unanimously favor Lincecum by a deecent amount compared to Cain. That said, the end results for the two have been equal, and the sentimental side of me would love to see Cain win the Cy – he deserves it for all he’s put up with so far in his career.
its great to have two of the best pitchers in the game on this team………
see more
strikeouts are not democratic…so my cy young nod goes to cain
ahhhh….who cares…as long as they go 1-2 in the voting
dang…its great to have two of the best pitchers in the game on this team
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back …. Young at heart…
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back …. Young at heart…