4.14.2008
Franchise
In the last recap I made a few references to the Giants' potential this year for remarkable, history book-rewriting badness. I may have taken things a step too far -- they do have some pitching talent with the capability to keep games close -- but not by much.
This game, played on the sort of sparkling Sunday afternoon that almost crossed the line from "balmy" to "kinda damn hot," was an example of how they can win those close games. A number of factors converged to make it possible:
1) The bloopers fall in. Of the twelve hits recorded, at least half were either pop flies with eyes or ground balls with legs. Some days are just like that no matter who you are.
2) Random dude has the day of his life. John Bowker, who had homered in his ML debut the day before, kept his Bo Hart impression going with another dinger and four RBI. His minor league track record suggests no meaningful potential (as can be said for any Giants prospect), but there may something to be said for the strategy of "when all else fails, go through as many different minor leaguers as you can and someone's bound to stick." A full season's and roster's worth of this tactic grows pretty old though.
3) The opposing team runs out the Sunday starters. Troy Glaus and Albert Pujols sat this one out in favor of Rico Washington and Skip Schumaker. Joel Pineiro took the ball for his injury-delayed first appearance this year and showed very little, striking out no one and allowing the Giants to bat around in the fourth. (I still would have taken the Cards, however, over the SF lineup which was sans Winn, Roberts and Rowand.)
4) Franchise is pitching. This was the third time I'd seen Lincecum pitch in person, and I'm still not sure how he does it. He snaps every bit of energy out of his 5' 10", 170 body to get his fastball into the high 90s, but that and his curveball are enough to make a lot of professional hitters look sillier than they're used to. Nine of his eleven Ks were swinging, almost all of them out on the front foot. I know people probably said this about Oswalt and Wagner too, but it doesn't seem like a kid this tiny could possibly last long. The Giants had better hope he does.
This game, played on the sort of sparkling Sunday afternoon that almost crossed the line from "balmy" to "kinda damn hot," was an example of how they can win those close games. A number of factors converged to make it possible:
1) The bloopers fall in. Of the twelve hits recorded, at least half were either pop flies with eyes or ground balls with legs. Some days are just like that no matter who you are.
2) Random dude has the day of his life. John Bowker, who had homered in his ML debut the day before, kept his Bo Hart impression going with another dinger and four RBI. His minor league track record suggests no meaningful potential (as can be said for any Giants prospect), but there may something to be said for the strategy of "when all else fails, go through as many different minor leaguers as you can and someone's bound to stick." A full season's and roster's worth of this tactic grows pretty old though.
3) The opposing team runs out the Sunday starters. Troy Glaus and Albert Pujols sat this one out in favor of Rico Washington and Skip Schumaker. Joel Pineiro took the ball for his injury-delayed first appearance this year and showed very little, striking out no one and allowing the Giants to bat around in the fourth. (I still would have taken the Cards, however, over the SF lineup which was sans Winn, Roberts and Rowand.)
4) Franchise is pitching. This was the third time I'd seen Lincecum pitch in person, and I'm still not sure how he does it. He snaps every bit of energy out of his 5' 10", 170 body to get his fastball into the high 90s, but that and his curveball are enough to make a lot of professional hitters look sillier than they're used to. Nine of his eleven Ks were swinging, almost all of them out on the front foot. I know people probably said this about Oswalt and Wagner too, but it doesn't seem like a kid this tiny could possibly last long. The Giants had better hope he does.
Birds of the Midwest
Big Men of the Far West
Labels: game reports, san francisco giants, st. louis cardinals
