I don’t think its that obvious that he’s a better pitcher. They’re about the same to me. Both throw hard, both have great stuff, both are young, both have nasty off-speed stuff.

Its like trying to argue who was the better Giant between Mays and Bonds, what’s the point? We should feel blessed to get to watch both.

I was simply answering a question that had been asked here a couple off weeks ago, back when I couldn’t find the information to answer it.

You make a good—and ironic point.

I actually nearly completed the post with an opening paragraph that essentially apologized for my not being able to adequately answer the question of comparative swing-throughs when the question first came up. Then while searching for data to complete my last paragraph, I inadvertently erased the whole thing, mistakenly exiting out of The McCovey Chronicles.

I was very upset to have wasted so much time, but I felt at least it did give me a shot at writing a better “lead.” In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t screwed up the original post for TWO reasons now.

Don’t forget now, Matt gets more swing-throughs with his fastball than Tim does. And not by a little. And don’t forget that since April 18th, Matt has pitched well. Nor that I predict he will have a good second half.

Who IS that Tim Lincecum guy? :)

I think it is possible our expectations might be a little off.

When I first heard the Giants had drafted Matt, I went to gomemphis.com to see if there was any local news that would show how likely it was that Matt would sign. His potential college coach at the University of Memphis was quoted as saying Matt couldn’t turn down that first-round money. I immediately stopped worrying about whether Matt would sign.

I followed Matt but not closely until he made his major league debut in August of 2005. My comment after watching his first start against the Rockies was that he might not induce enough swing-throughs to be a true #1 starter and might be “only” a #2. Needless to say, that wasn’t a popular comment at that time, although many more would agree with it now.

Likewise I scarcely knew of Tim before the Giants drafted him. But since he was the highest draft choice they had had in years, I thought I should find out a little about him. And the more I learned, the more I liked!

As far as I know, I had the pleasure of seeing in person more of Tim’s minor league career than anyone aside from Tim himself. All it took was a little driving. Well, a LOT of driving, actually, particularly when I made the three-hour drive to Fresno once only to find out the game had been rained out 45 minutes earlier.

The difference between the two isn’t as much as this makes it seem, but one might better compare proper expectations for the two by realizing that Tims’ ERA in five starts for Fresno (0.29) was more than FOUR runs lower than Matt’s ERA there (4.39). Matt was about two and a half years younger than Tim when he pitched for Fresno, so as I mentioned, the difference isn’t nearly THAT much.

But I think those who are disappointed in Matt may have set their expectations too high. I expect Matt to improve from here, but as good as I think he will become, I think Tim will continue to be even better more often than not.