Optimism Fanpost

by oldjacket on Apr 20, 2008 8:49 AM PDT

Hey, I just want to remind everybody how awesome Lincecum's punchout of Pujols after falling behind 3-0 was.

To be 3-0 with this offense, and leading the league in K/9 . . . The Kid's been everything we could ask for.

To fill up the required word count, I give you these sentences:

colorless green ideas sleep furiously

0 recs | Comment 30 comments

Read Related

Story-email Email | Print |

Comments

Glad to see him go 7

It’s frustrating to watch him pitch so brilliantly and end up coming out in the 5th or 6th for pitch count; almost thought he might go 8 yesterday. Not that I want him to all the time, but especially after Cain got bombed it was nice to see him take some of the load up.

by natteringnabob on Apr 20, 2008 8:55 AM PDT 0 recs

The Enchanter

Everything this kid throws moves. I recall someone saying his fastball was flat coming out of UW, and I haven’t seen it.
I also seem to recall Kruk saying he added a two seam last year or at least decided to rely on it more, so that may be the progression of his fastball movement.
Something that has not been mentioned is the fact that he struckout Pujols with the Curve which is a pitch he barely threw in his last outing against them. This seems to imply that not only is he able to adjust, but he has a deep repetoire of pitches which he can rotate to keep teams off balance.
What a stud this kid is.

Someone get Damon Minor's agent on the phone stat!

by fanofvanlandingham on Apr 20, 2008 9:58 AM PDT 0 recs

Every fastball he throws is a 2-seamer.

Adoptive papa to Omar...so basically I'm screwed.

by PacBellBoozer on Apr 20, 2008 10:02 AM PDT up 0 recs

Right

I remember hearing Kruk say that Lincecm doesn’t throw a 4-seamer.

You deserve to be struck out, when your first name's a verb.

by Cookyman on Apr 20, 2008 10:17 AM PDT up 0 recs

k/9

Does Sanchez not have enough innings to qualify for the k/9 lead? According to MLB.com, he has 21 K’s in 15 innings, while Timmy has 27 in 23 innings.

Less arm, more talk. Raisingcain is a GAMER.
Adopted Giant: Henry Sosa

by raisingcain on Apr 20, 2008 11:20 AM PDT 0 recs

I believe that after today’s start, Sanchez qualifies. Smoltz and Billingsley have pretty high K/9 but don’t qualify either.

you can't block the Bocock

by oldjacket on Apr 20, 2008 4:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

Sanchez now qualifies, and he has a higher k/9 than any other starter in the game. Lincecum is second.

And Merkin Valdez has the highest k/9 in baseball.

by Evan on Apr 21, 2008 8:24 AM PDT up 0 recs

And Merkin Valdez has the highest k/9 in baseball.

Am I missing a joke here? Valdez has 7 K’s in 8.1 Innings…

You deserve to be struck out, when your first name's a verb.

by Cookyman on Apr 21, 2008 9:20 AM PDT up 0 recs

Doh! I knew that felt wrong, but I didn’t bother to look it up. I got it from the Fangraphs leaderboard, which seems to be acting all funky at the moment—Merkin’s no longer at the top of the heap, but a lot of other things look off.

by Evan on Apr 21, 2008 9:29 AM PDT up 0 recs

Lincecum is third in FIP BTW.

You deserve to be struck out, when your first name's a verb.

by Cookyman on Apr 21, 2008 9:45 AM PDT up 0 recs

He’s the only thing – the only thing worth watching about this team and I love him. And don’t take my word from it – here’s yesterdays BP chat with somebody who knows more about baseball than I, Nate Silver:

JP (Manchester, CT): On a scale of awesomeness between 1 and 10, how awesome is Lincecum? Probably an 11. Best pitcher in the NL within 5 years? I think so, don’t you?

Nate Silver: Maybe within the next 5 months. Well, except that Johan Santana is in his league now. Even so, Lincecum is good enough to begin with that if he takes one more step forward, he’s in “best pitcher in his league” territory.

He also said something about small sample sizes, but I had my fingers in my ears and I was humming so I missed it. 1.57 full season ERA, baby!

Barry Zito: Mike Hampton with a guitar

by JakeS on Apr 20, 2008 12:37 PM PDT 0 recs

The “only” thing worth watching?? I’m with you on Lincecum, of course, who I think will make the all star team this year, but I like watching alot of guys on this team. Freddie Lewis, Eugenio Velez, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Kevin Correia, Brian Wilson, John Bowker, and even a couple of veterans like Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina. I also like Brian Bocock when he’s in the field, and I even like Jose Castillo because he’s not Pedro Feliz. I’m actually kinda having fun this year!! We’re not good, but we’re not the trainwreck that everyone said we would be.

Brian Sabean's new dad: Firm believer in corporal punishment

by rxmeister on Apr 20, 2008 3:39 PM PDT up 0 recs

. . .yet.

Proud adoptive parent of Tim Alderson.

by Anticon23 on Apr 20, 2008 3:51 PM PDT up 0 recs

Optimism!

"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.

by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 20, 2008 8:08 PM PDT up 0 recs

I like to watch FLew and Bowker alot. I’m sure Cain will cut down on the walks and return to form. Velez and Sanchez are exciting, in that I’m still not sure whether they’re worth a damn and my expectations of them change with each pitch.

The one guy on that list that I can’t really say I like watching is Castillo. Yeah, he’s not Feliz. More importantly we’re not paying him a multimillion dollar contract. Still, the qualitative experiance of his at bats are just as brutal as Peter Happy’s. The pitcher knows he’s going to swing at the low slider, I know he’s going to swing at the low slider, and Lou Seal knows he’s going to swing at the low slider. I wonder if Castillo himself knows he’s going to swing at the low slider. It’s frustrating.

you can't block the Bocock

by oldjacket on Apr 20, 2008 4:04 PM PDT up 0 recs

You Must Remember This

Pedro’s hack was a big miss
His miss was by a mile….
(The fundamental things apply,
Jose’s my guy…)

by Moggeee on Apr 20, 2008 10:58 PM PDT up 0 recs

Nice.

"I been waitin' a long time for this! I been waitin' since the f**kin' amateurs!" --WILL "THE THRILL" CLARK

by Josh from Hollywood on Apr 21, 2008 1:51 AM PDT up 0 recs

By the end of the season

By the end of the season we will likely be agreeing that while there were one or two nice surprises, by FAR the best thing about the 2008 season was the emergence of Tim Lincecum.

And we may well agree that the development of players in Class A was more important than the development of players in the majors (aside from Tim, who was already great but hadn’t completely shown it).

by sharksrog on Apr 21, 2008 2:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

I’m guessing that the best thing about the 2008 season is going to be the emergence of Jonathan Sanchez. Honestly, I think there’s a decent chance that he ends the season as one of the best pitchers in baseball.

The emergence of Lincecum makes me giddy too, but didn’t we all expect that already?

by Evan on Apr 21, 2008 2:52 PM PDT up 0 recs

From your typing fingers to God’s ears

by wilriv21 on Apr 21, 2008 3:07 PM PDT up 0 recs

Wow…the only thing worth watching, huh? Thumbs down. Go root for the Yankees

Billy Ripken is not a fuck face

by Karlifornia on Apr 21, 2008 9:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

Your point is a good one

As a long-time Giants fan, I really like to watch Eugenio Velez and Perkin’ Merkin Valdez. And I actually think Merkin will turn out OK. But as fun as it is to watch these young Giants, with the exception of Lincecum, Cain and perhaps Wilson and Sanchez (with a nod to the older but steady Kevin Correia), there really isn’t all that much talent to watch.

It has been a BLAST watching “Babe” Bowker hammer the ball. But we probably shouldn’t forget that he was only 5-for-27 (all singles) when he was called up from Fresno. He’s not a 5-for-27 hitter—nor is he a home run every 6.3 at bats guy.

After a slow and injured start, Nate Schierholtz is hitting nicely at Fresno. Sergio Romo is doing nothing to hurt his reputation as a sleeper at Connecticut. Tim Alderson has more innings pitched than base runners at San Jose, and Pablo Sandoval has an OPS of 1.476 the last time I looked. Nick Noonan has hit well at Augusta, and Angel Villalona has held his own despite being underaged.

It’s not all bad. It’s mostly just at the Class A level right now.

by sharksrog on Apr 21, 2008 2:38 PM PDT up 0 recs

Where is the AA loving?

Do not forget Pichardo or Matos. EME is trying to hack his way back into our hearts. And at the AAA level there is some good relief pitching to lift your spirits in Hinshaw and Sadler.

by wilriv21 on Apr 21, 2008 2:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

So you haven’t enjoyed watching Lewis?

2008 Giants: A steaming pile of scrap!

by Goofus on Apr 21, 2008 3:27 PM PDT up 0 recs

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

Steven Pinker? Pinker quoting Chomsky? I know I’ve read this somewhere before, and I think it was in the context of linguistics/psych.

DFA all Giants over 34 years old.

by Mayor of 311 on Apr 21, 2008 9:59 AM PDT 0 recs

Chomsky

and oft quoted by Pinker.

But I can’t think of a good reason to read Chomsky over Pinker’s summaries of Chomsky.

you can't block the Bocock

by oldjacket on Apr 21, 2008 11:28 AM PDT up 0 recs

damn; the intended reply is posted below. humble apologies.

DFA all Giants over 34 years old.

by Mayor of 311 on Apr 21, 2008 4:00 PM PDT up 0 recs

That’s because there is no reason to read Chomsky rather than Pinker’s paraphrases. Well, except for the Chomsky areas that Pinker doesn’t really cover, like the political stuff. The notion of ‘manufacturing consent’ is an important one, but again, one probably needn’t actually read Chomsky to get it.

DFA all Giants over 34 years old.

by Mayor of 311 on Apr 21, 2008 3:59 PM PDT 0 recs