Last August, I was worried. Beyond worried. I was waiting for the eventual tweet or newsflash: Lincecum to have MRI. Lincecum to visit with Dr. Yocum. Lincecum to seek second opinion from Dr. Andrews. Elbow ligament files restraining order against Lincecum. Report: small pitchers are delicate flowers.
And don’t forget the speculative panic from the bowels of the internet: Timmy misses Bengie. Timmy is out of shape. Timmy isn’t taking advice from his father. Timmy doesn’t long toss anymore. Timmy has a bastard baby on the way. Timmy is on heroin. And, yes, those last two are actually things I read somewhere in the Mos Eisley part of the internet.
Things got better.
In this past month, Lincecum was struggling again. Wasn’t worried this time. He was having hiccups with his command, nothing more. His stuff wasn’t exactly crisp, but he was still throwing hard. Not worried. He’d be Tim Lincecum again, and soon.
To reassure myself before today’s game, I compared the five-game stretches of yuckiness:
2010 2011 IP: 25.1 28.1 ER: 22 21 BB: 13 12 K: 27 26 HR: 5 3 BABIP: .373 .370 % of strikes 64% 59% % of swinging strikes 10% 9% % of looking strikes 14% 16% Line-drive % 20% 21%
For some reason, this didn’t make me feel better. What I should have thought is: well, if the pattern holds, he figures it out before the sixth start. What I actually thought is: ohnotimmyisbrokenlikelastyearwhydidn’tiseethisbefore? Tim Lincecum is prone to a five-game stretch in which he suffers from wonky mechanics. Take note, and file that away for next year.
Last year, it took a struggling Rockies team in San Francisco to snap Lincecum out of it. The Rockies usually hit like the Giants in San Francisco. The Twins are a pretty good substitute for the Rockies on the road. I look at players like Danny Valencia, Luke Hughes, and Matt Tolbert, and I think "How are you not Giants? What nurse switched the babies in the delivery room? Doesn’t destiny mean a damn thing to you?"
Tim Lincecum was amazing. So much fun to watch. The Twins looked like they were hitting off a Kirk Rueter scouting report, surprised that the pitches weren’t coming from the left side at 85-mph.
- Last night, I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed that Nate Schierholtz’s BA/OBP/SLG was just as wretched as those of Aaron Rowand. Snapped me right out of my fog. Love the defense, but now I’m all Team Burrell. Today convinced me further.
- Brian Wilson needs to find the command he’s lost if I’m to keep my beautiful blonde locks.
- Pablo Sandoval needs to stop diving at runners heading back to second.
- I’d pay $50 on pay-per-view to watch Javier Lopez pitch to Joe Mauer and Joey Votto, with the first person to hit the ball out of the infield winning a percentage of the revenue for charity. GET ON IT, SELIG.
The Twins are like staring into a Lincecum-less mirror. I’m glad they’re gone -- they made me uncomfortable.