As a loyal Giants fan since 1986, it pains me to see how feeble our offense is right now--especially when it comes in support of arguably the best pitching in MLB. Don't laugh. The Giants have always been pitching-poor as far back as I can remember, but this year their staff has more shutouts than any other team and the best ERA in the bigs. Crazy stuff. My point is, the current incarnation of my favorite baseball team features not one, but two pitching prodigies (Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain) who despite being dominant nearly every time out, don't have nearly the stats they should because of lack of run support AND DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. Last year, this didn't really hurt Tim Lincecum in his bid for the Cy Young because the voters took a closer look at his win total and accounted for how many times the Giants bullpen had blown leads he'd taken into the 7th and 8th inning. In baseball, where there's a stat for everything, the numbers were on his side.
Anyway, today it happened again. The Giants won 4-2 in a game that Lincecum started. His line? 8-2/3 innings, 4 Hits, 2 ER, 7K and 1 BB. Oh, and a No-Decision for the game because the Giants waited until the 10th to score their 3rd and 4th runs. But that's not even the worst example. Cain had a 9-inning shutout the other day and got a ND because no one scored for either team until the 10th. Incidentally, Cain is the active leader for least amount of run support in all of baseball. In true poetic fashion, one of Cain's earlier wins was an 8 inning masterpiece in which he drove in half the Giants' runs (they won 2-0).
For the record, here are the stats for these unfortunate souls:
Lincecum: 12-3, 2.19 ERA, 205K (league leader) w/24 starts How many more wins would he have on a team in the top half of run production?
Cain: 12-4, 2.44 ERA, w/23 starts How about wins for him?
I know, I know. Small market. Nobody really wants to see the Giants play. But with all that's wrong with baseball right now, shouldn't the sports world try a little harder to embrace these two?
And don't forget the Kung Fu Panda. He's ambidextrous and hitting .329 (good for 2nd in the NL.) We aren't Bonds and Co. anymore. War ESPN doubling our coverage next year (2 whole games!)
Panda took Johan deep today after an attempt at retaliation was not landed. Once Panda learns how to be a bit more selective - not too much, the kid hits everything hard - he will truly emerge as a beautiful hybrid of Vlad and Tony Gwyn.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget about the Giants bullpen - also the best in baseball - anchored by Mr. Wilson, who is Robb Nen only crazier. Jeremy Affelt, Sergio Romo, Justin Miller, Brandon Medders, Bob Howry, even Merkin Valdez - all these guys can flat out pitch.
I even have hope for Zito.
One more thing, the Giants have 3 can't miss prospects who will be contributing to their future dominance: SS Brandon Crawford, LHP Madison Bumgarner (both being coached by Steve Decker), and C Buster Posey. Soon we will be mentioning the likes of Sandoval, Schierholtz, Posey, Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, Crawford, Bumgarner, and both Sanchez's in the same breath as Thompson, Clark, Williams, Bonds, Kent, Santiago, Snow, Nen, Reuter, and Schmidt.