Monday's Matchup

Dirty:
I’m still not worried about Lincecum. I think the fan base, as a whole, is probably approaching 4 alarm fire, DEFCON 5 status. I am not. I even heard that Lincecum was getting booed at the park yesterday. To me that is pretty much inexcusable.
Here’s why I think he’s fine. His woes come down to one thing: fastball command. That’s it. If he fixes that, he’s back. It’s not like he’s getting roped all over the park. He simply cannot locate his fastball. No pitcher can succeed if they are constantly behind the hitters. When he’s behind, he’s not able to use his changeup and slider and even his curve as often. Players are pretty much eliminating those pitches because they know he’s not locating anything. Once he establishes fastball command, he’s going to start attacking and dominating hitters again. It’s that simple.

Also, everyone was extremely excited about the game yesterday and the matchup, and they should have. That being said, Lincecum getting “outdueled” wasn’t a big deal. Lincecum is majorly scuffling and Ubaldo is having the best two months of his LIFE. He had a 17 inning scoreless streak coming in, and on top of that, his team has a superior offense. Lincecum had walked 5 hitters in each of the previous 3 games. What was the likely outcome? Duh.

Giants fans (myself included) have kneejerk reactions all the time. I heard on the radio today that the Mets have a similar problem. I have to believe it must be the sign of a tortured, mismanaged franchise. When your team hasn’t EVER one it’s current city, hasn’t won in 56 seasons, fans are bound to get a bit jumpy.
As long as Panda truly is getting back to from, Torres continues to do what he can do at the top of the lineup, Sanchez continues to be a solid contributor (on both sides of the ball) and Posey stays in the lineup; the Giants may just have a shot at this division.

Bob:
Booing Tim is appalling. It's frustrating to watch him struggle because you want him to live up to his greatness on every pitch, but at the same every human has to go through slumps sometimes. Although the Giants offensively have had a tendency to make a number of pitchers out to be Cy Young candidates this year, I think what Ubaldo has done so far is amazing. If Tim was completely on his A+ game, that would still have been a tough start to win.

Dirty:
100% agreement. No pitcher in baseball history has had an ERA of .78 through 11 starts. Also, I may have been wrong. I heard they were booing someone and I assumed it was Lincecum. My mistake. I believe they were booing Rowand, which, I’m pretty much fine with.


Rockfish:
I had this exact conversation with a buddy at work today. He said "the league finally figured Tim out". That is pure craziness. You can't walk 5 guys per game and expect to win. Bottom line, he has lost command. I just hope its only mechanical and not some mental issue cerca Ankiel. Obviously he isn't throwing balls over the backstop, but as talented, and as much success he has had, I'm sure frustration has set in. I couldn't help watch Ubaldo's velocity and late movement without fondly remembering Lincecum when he first came up. That guy is on fire right now. I'm surprised he hasn't thrown a no no during this insane run.
PS I agree with booing Rowand. Did you see him triple hop a throw to 2nd tonight from shallow left center? With a guerilla shape like his, you would think he'd have an arm. The dude is not a centerfielder.

Dirty:
Ubaldo DOES have a no hitter during this run. He threw one against Atlanta about 4 weeks ago, maybe a little further back. Heard this on Murph and Mac this morning: Pablo Sandoval, with his 0-5 with two double plays last night, made 7 outs in just 12 pitches.