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Slow Start? What Slow Start?
OK, time to stop the MLB nonsense about whether the Indians are for real.
They’re as real as Justin Masterson’s sinker, Shin-Soo Choo’s right arm, Carlos Santana’s batting eye, Orlando Cabrera’s experience and Asdrubal Cabrera’s talent.
Try this for real: The Indians own a majors-best 66 run differential and an MLB best 18-4 home record. They’ve scored the second-most runs in the A.L. and have the fourth-best ERA. They’re 7-2 against the A.L. East with the revived Red Sox returning to Cleveland looking for revenge after that three-game sweep they absorbed in the season’s first week.
Ron Washington knows they’re for real. Asked if he knew the Indians would be in first place when in spring training he asked Manny Acta to be an MLB All-Star coach, the Rangers managed replied, “I knew the Indians would be tough. They have some talent.”
Washington might have been one of the few to believe that two months ago. But he’s no longer alone. The Indians sit atop the MLB Power Poll for the fourth consecutive week. The Poll is convinced.
1. Indians (1). You can ask the Reds if the Tribe is for real. The Indians’ weekend sweep was first over Reds since 2004.
2. Cardinals (14). When talking about N.L. MVP candidates, Matt Holliday would be the place to start. Unless you started with Lance Berkman.
3. Red Sox (13). About that 2-10 start, perhaps the Red Sox just wanted to play fair and give the rest of the league a head start.
Adrian Gonzalez has provided the offensive punch the Red Sox were hoping for when they traded for him this offseason. (AP Photo)
4. Giants (6). Latest wrist injury to Mark DeRosa could be the end, making his the saddest in a season that has seen more than its share of injuries.
5. Phillies (4). Chase Utley is back in time for rematch of last year’s divisional series against the Reds. Time for the rest of the Phillies’ offense to return, too.
6. Yankees (15). What a debut: Right-hander Hector Noesi gives Yankees four scoreless innings to win 15-inning marathon in Baltimore, providing the difference between a so-so and a good week for the club.
The Great “Equalizer”
Around the MLB, pitchers, pitching coaches and hitters all have the same phrase to describe what is one of the game’s most underrated weapons: the changeup.
They call it The Equalizer.
The changeup is a pitch that has come to be the difference-maker for so many pitchers in an era when the strike zone is often too tight for breaking balls and the hitters often too quick for fastballs.
“It’s the mighty equalizer,” said Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux. “Today’s hitting, the way it’s going, everybody is really trying to stay off everything but the fastball. More and more guys are aren’t going to get off the fastball in an at-bat. The changeup is the one pitch we have that spins like a fastball and looks like a fastball.”
Rays first baseman Carlos Peña simply shakes his head when he thinks about some of the nasty changeups he sees these days: “The changeup really is the equalizer. You don’t want to be late on the high speed and you don’t want to look bad on the changeup. Look at that split-minded focus. … What a pitch. It’s really a weapon.”
The trendy pitch of the 21st century may be the cut fastball, but the changeup is like the old friend still waiting to get his due. There is nothing sexy or eye-popping about it. Kids certainly don’t grow up throwing changeups at the wall in the backyard.
Frankly, at most levels of baseball, a good changeup isn’t necessary. In the majors, though, it is vital.
“If you line up six A-ball players, they all have good arms and good breaking balls,” Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey said. “But when it comes time to throw an offspeed pitch for a strike, the breaking ball is almost impossible to throw for a strike. … The strike zone is so physically small that if you get into a 2-0 or 3-1 count and you are a fastball-curveball guy and you don’t trust your changeup, you are dead.”
A National League scout said: “I’ve always thought the changeup is an undervalued pitch. A lot of young pitchers don’t recognize its value.”
The changeup is the pitch that turned Tim Lincecum from a promising prospect with a good fastball and a big breaking ball into a two-time Cy Young winner.
It is the pitch that helped Mark Buehrle and Dallas Braden, a couple of late-round draft picks without overpowering fastballs, to history-making perfection in the big leagues.
It is the pitch that has allowed Jamie Moyer to spend a quarter-century in the majors, even though he seemed to be washed up when the first George Bush was president.
It is the pitch that is going to deliver Tom Glavine and Johan Santana into the Hall of Fame.
“If you look here in the last generation of pitchers that succeeded, the one thing they really have in common is they have a changeup,” said Maddux, whose brother Greg featured a nasty change to go with all his other weapons.
The changeup isn’t new. It is any pitch thrown with the same rotation and wrist angle as a fastball, but without the velocity. Movement is a bonus. Good location is nice, but even that’s not always necessary. The deception is what makes it a good weapon. As long as the hitter sees fastball until the ball is on its way, he’ll have trouble making good contact.
Simple theory. The execution is a bit more complex.
The San Francisco Giants Moniker
To call them castoffs or misfits seems almost condescending now. It makes the Giants sound as if they’ve been scraped from the bottom of a bin at the local Dollar Tree. But Bruce Bochy likes the cute nickname he hung on his team — his eyes certainly shine whenever he says the words — so even if the players have outgrown the moniker, they’re stuck with it, from now until China Basin runs dry.
“Fair enough. But there’s still not a single guy in here who’s a stud,” Brian Wilson, the Giants closer who had nothing to do Thursday night but join in the wild revelry, was saying in the home clubhouse once the chaos cooled. “We’re just a bunch of average guys doing some pretty remarkable things.”
That explains as well as anything the spasmodic events that have converged at just the right time, for just the right team. Pardon the hyperbole, but if what took place for the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in Game 2 of the World Series wasn’t remarkable, the word to describe it hasn’t been invented yet. Read More >>
Giants Pitcher Brian Wilson Entertains
Maybe we don’t have the sexiest World Series matchup this year, with the Yankees and Phillies both rolling over to the Rangers and Giants, respectively. But from a baseball perspective you can’t deny the many storylines. You have the premier pitching matchup between Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee, the great Josh Hamilton “comeback” story, young talent like Buster Posey and Elvis Andrus, an unlikely hero in Cody Ross, and Bengie Molina being guaranteed a World Series ring regardless of the outcome.
Quite possibly the coolest story, however, is the emergence of Giants closer Brian Wilson as a mainstream cult figure. Giants fans know all too well just what a great personality Wilson possesses. He may be the most entertaining player in baseball. And with the Giants taking their game to the main stage, Wilson is starting to become popular among even the most casual of baseball fans.
Wilson remains as one of the top trending World Series topics on Google as we head into Game 1 on Wednesday night. It’s not because fans want to know more about a closer who led the majors with 48 saves this season. People want to know more about the beard, the ninja lifestyle, and, of course, “The Machine.”
The Strength of the Giants Bullpen Starts With Tim Lincecum
Cliff Lee may seem unstoppable, but that’s what everyone thought about Roy Halladay after his no-hitter and that didn’t stop the Giants from rolling right into Citizens Bank Park and stopping Doc and his Phils, setting a tone that would change the course of the NLCS.
The reason they could do that? Tim Lincecum. The two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner turned in a start against Atlanta that was arguably every bit as impressive as Halladay’s no hitter (a 14-strikeout, one-hit shutout), then went toe-to-toe with Halladay and the much more imposing Phillies lineup twice. Lee has never lost a playoff start, but he’s never pitched against Lincecum in the postseason either.
As good as the Rangers’ supporting staff is around Lee, it can’t match Jonathan Sanchez, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and the excellent Giants’ bullpen. Cain and Sanchez have both turned in great playoff starts, and Bumgarner has been much better than Tommy Hunter, the Rangers’ fourth starter. Read More >>
Relying on Tim Lincecum
So the San Francisco Giants need the greatness of Tim Lincecum’s arm on Thursday night at AT&T Park to reach the World Series before the morning fog rolls across McCovey Cove. Oh, and the Philadelphia Phillies need the greatness of Roy Halladay’s arm to give them the chance to add two or three more games to their season that is hanging by one of the hairs on the Phillie Phanatic.
It’s always about pitching in October, particularly when one game — like this game — can decide so much.
We’re taking about Lincecum with two Cy Young Awards in his recent past matched against Halladay, the owner of a perfect game during the regular season and a no-hitter in the MLB playoffs.
Let that sink in. Read More >>
Giants Flag Flies High
The highlight of a cold, foggy night at AT&T Park came after the game, and not even on the field. Beyond the right-field wall, next to the Cable Car, stands a flag pole that has banners for the five teams in the National League West, arranged in order of the standings. It is rather inconspicuous, and many fans may not have even noticed it was there.
Until Thursday night.
The video board showed a ballpark employee lower the flags and rearrange them, putting the black-and-orange “Giants” at the top, then wheeling it back up as the crowd roared.
The margin may be only a half-game, and there may still be 17 days left in the season — and isn’t it funny how 17 days seems like a long time when you’re ahead, but a short time when you’re behind? — but it was nonetheless a milestone achievement for the Giants.
Their 10-2 victory over the Dodgers, combined with the Padres’ 4-0 loss in St. Louis, lifted the Giants past the Padres in the standings. The San Francisco Giants are alone in first for the first time since May 6. That’s so long ago that the Dodgers — you know, that dead-looking team that scored two earned runs in the series in San Francisco — have been in first place more recently. Read More >>
Giants Keep Their Ace
Now that football season and the Winter Olympics are officially over, sports fans across the country are revving up for the MLB season. Admittedly, there is a marked lack of parity in professional baseball, and even the casual fan can fairly accurately handicap the various division champions. When spring rolls around, however, baseball will inevitably be at the fore of sporting news.
During the offseason, there have been the typical free agent signings and trades that occur every year, but none were bigger than the Giants retention of Tim Lincecum. The 25-year-old two-time Cy Young award winner signed a $23 million deal that will keep him in San Francisco for two years and successfully avoided arbitration. This may sound like an exorbitant amount of money, but SF will more than likely recoup the costs through increased sales of Giants jerseys, tickets and other merchandise.
San Francisco Giants Sue Burns Dies
Sue Burns passing came quickly for the San Francisco Giants organization and will undoubtedly affect the Giants ownership structure but it is too early to know just how.
“All of baseball mourns the passing of Sue Burns,” commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. “She and her late husband, Harmon, along with Peter Magowan and the other Giants’ investors, saved baseball in San Francisco in 1992.”
Bringing the much needed motherly touch to the game of baseball she died at the age of 58 shortly after being diagnosed with cancer. The club’s largest shareholder but oh so much more to many whom gravitated towards her in her MLB career.
“Sue was such a beautiful lady who gave us her unwavering support all the time,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters before the Giants’ game in Pittsburgh. “These (players) were her kids.”
She will be sorely missed by both the Giants organization and everyone whos life she touched including home run king Barry Bonds.
The Big Unit Breaks through 300
Thursday evening, June, 4th 2009, marked a celebration that most likely will not come again for some time, with just the 24th pitcher in MLB history to win 300 games. Not since 1986 when the Angels’ Don Sutton, had a pitcher surpassed 300 wins but the Big Unit, Randy Johnson humbly overcame this milestone in his elustrius career ending with the San Fransisco Giants.
“To me, wins have always outweighed strikeouts because strikeouts are something that just kind of happen,”
Randy Johnson’s 300th win, postponed by rain, was carried into the 5th inning a no-hitter. His part in the win against the Washington Nationals ended after 78 pitches and 50 strikes.
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