Kuzul

The San Francisco Giants are moving up Tim Lincecum‘s next start to tonight while pushing Madison Bumgarner to tomorrow’s series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

With Monday’s day off, Lincecum is pitching on his “normal” rest, and there should be no sign of fatigue with the change in the two-time Cy Young award winner.

Bumgarner, in his rookie season, is getting a welcome extra day off.  As a rookie, Bumgarner has thrown more innings this year than he ever has in his life.  To give the rookie an extra day of rest going into his last start of the season will only make him stronger.

The move doesn’t give the Giants a strategic advantage in terms of matchups or anything in the games themselves, it is, however, a move that gives the Giants an advantage looking forward.

That advantage is by moving Tim Lincecum’s start up to tonight, now Lincecum will have extra rest to pitch either a tie breaker game to get into the playoffs (if necessary) or will have the extra rest to start Game 1 of the Divisional Series.

Either way, this minor move is the perfect adjustment to set the Giants up for November baseball. 

Bruce Bochy is putting both of his young starters in the best possible positions to succeed, based on their respective roles within the organization.

Looking forward to end the regular season, the Giants have Lincecum and Bumgarner against the Diamondbacks for two games and then Zito, Cain (win day), and Sanchez (time to back up all that talking) in that order in a series against the Padres that will determine the outcome of the entire regular season.

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Open your eyes Timm~ay!  Why are they all squinty like that?  Why are they all bloodshot?  😉

A month or two ago on the road in Houston everyone watching the broadcast who was at one time a stoner could see it plain as day. Tim Lincecum on a day off was in the dugout as high as a kite.  

The familiar slack jawed laughter. The happy stare into nothingness. It was obvious.

Bruce Bochy the Giants’ Manager must have done what everyone else has been doing which is turning a blind eye. 

This must has been going on for a couple years now and anyone who has been a total pot head in life for a period of time understands how it affects you. 

Your mind is less sharp especially when you are not smoking/coming down. Nothing matters too much. It’s hard to finish things, like the second inning of Timm~ay’s last start.

After a bases loaded 3-2-3 double play kept the Padres to just two runs with two outs in the second, Timm~ay throws a first pitch fastball to Miguel Tejada of all people right down the middle. The two run single made it 4-0.

To be a pitcher you have to be a warrior set for battle. Every pitch in a tough situation is key; once you get a break like that double play, the pressure only intensifies and so must your focus.

Focus and weed do not go hand in hand.

Let’s not suggest that Lincecum is pitching high, but maybe he should be.

You know how in college they tell you not to study drunk or else you’ll have to be drunk for the test in order to be in the same mental mindset to remember what you studied?  Well same goes for major league pitchers who are so agitated from not being high that he doesn’t even want to take warm up pitches.

Mike Krukow the Giants’ announcer claimed he’s never seen this before as he pointed out Lincecum was calling off warm ups between the second and third inning. Lincecum was so anxious he didn’t even take his warm up pitches. The question is what did he do with that time?

As someone who works in the media, let this blogger assure you that the cable network that brought you this game is not cutting their commercial time short between innings nor is a corporate MLB umpire going to start the game until TV is ready… and rightfully so. There are contracts at play from advertising to Lincecum himself.  

So what does a pitcher do in that situation if he’s not warming up and yet the game is not starting? Just stand there staring at the sky?  Not even the infielders got to warm up as Timm-ay called it off for everyone to stand there and do what? What he would be doing instead of warming is beyond expectation.  

That same inning the game pretty much ended when Sandoval overthrew first on a tailor made 5-3 double play. 

Baseball is a game of ritual. 

That’s why every out in the infield or every strikeout without runners on leads to throwing the ball around the infield. It keeps the arms fresh and accurate and wakes everyone up again between batters. Sandoval’s errant throw in this case was a direct result of Timm~ay’s poor judgment in breaking the ritual.

Did I mention judgment and pot don’t go hand in hand either?

This blogger grants that the evidence used in this article is hardly enough to prove the claims made herein. The truth is the truth however and right now the San Francisco Giants need Lincecum to shut the door on every other start for the rest of the season until the end of the playoffs.

So what is the solution? Let’s be honest weed is fun. We’re all allowed our escapes in life and the pressures of being a Major League Baseball are gut wrenching. Still, there is a responsibility here to a community that when the weed starts affecting performance that the problem has to be confronted head on with a solution.

Weed and responsibility do not go hand in hand. Although, to use stoner talk, one can gauge their spiritual evolution in life by the amount of responsibility they are able to take on in life.

Tim, everyone understands that this is just a phase for you that you will grow out of.  The problem is that the fans want to make the playoffs and you’re not helping.

The solution Tim is for you to stop smoking weed for one month. 21 days is enough to break a habit actually. Let’s go for one month though.

Stop smoking weed for one month, and after that month, you can decide if you want to start again. 

San Francisco is a good place for you because the fans understand what you are going through. They understand this is just a phase in life for every San Francisco kid and San Francisco will love you all the same no matter what your decision Timm~ay.

At the same time San Francisco wants to see you succeed. San Francisco wants to see you rise to the levels you are capable of in this playoff run. 

A month without weed is all that’s necessary and surely there are plenty of fans in San Francisco who will join you in giving something up for a month so we’re all in this together.

This blogger will give up video games for a month. That’s this blogger’s escape which leads to a cycle of depression and fogginess. For one month from now, no video games on the phone in the home, at the friends, even the free arcade games on the floor at work. That’s a vow.

San Francisco will be in this with you. So comment below on what you will give up for thirty days in support of Timm~ay leading the Giants to the playoffs.

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Brian Sabean has done some good things and he’s done some bad things, but one thing is for sure: He’s always done controversial things.

Come on, the guy’s first move was to ship off legendary Matt Williams in a trade that (luckily) brought in Jeff Kent!

Recently, he shipped off Fred Lewis (who is now tearing up the American League) and received nothing in return.

In Andrew Benning’s recent article in defense of Sabean, he points out beautifully that Lewis is a better fit for Toronto than San Francisco.  Nonetheless, you would think that all the numbers the article referenced would have some value to the Blue Jays and that a better GM would not have given away said value for nothing in return.

You can argue that Aaron Rowand getting hit in the face at the plate against the Dodgers the day after the Lewis trade was just an unfortunate coincidence, or that the losing streak which soon followed wasn’t due in part to a lack of outfield depth: a lack that was caused by the trade a day earlier.  The truth, though,  is that people get hurt in baseball and it’s the general manager’s responsibility to plan for that occurrence.  Surely, trading away that depth means trading away value which means you can fetch something more substantial than “Future Considerations.”

This recent move involving Lewis is a microcosm of previous blunders Sabean has made with position players (he does well with pitchers for the most part) since day one.

Sure, Sabean didn’t have a crystal ball and, by now, we know what we are getting with him.  Just as he overpaid for Freddy Sanchez last year, he under-valued Lewis’s contribution to the team and, consequently, gave him away to the Blue Jays for nothing in return.

Players are like assets for a GM and we all know by now that Sabean doesn’t manage these assets well.

Without Barry Bonds, Sabean would have been gone years ago. 

Remember, when Sabean traded Matt Williams, the key piece in return was a run-of-the-mill reliever named Julien Tavares.  Getting Jeff Kent was a fluke and, if Sabean was smart enough to only target Kent, the Giants would have gotten Kent for a lot less than Matt Williams.  Williams: who would have solidified the hot corner as opposed to overpaying the rotisserie of losers we have had there until Pablo Sandoval.

We know what we get with Sabean and we know what we don’t get.  We don’t get a World Series.  Sabean’s time has passed.  If you can’t win the World Series with the most dominant player of this generation (Barry Bonds) on your team, then you can’t win a World Series.

Brian Sabean can’t win a World Series.  So the choice is simple.  If you are happy with mediocrity and always looking for the last few pieces of the puzzle, then Sabean is your choice .  If, however, you want to win a World Series, then you choose someone else.

There’s a guy across the Bay with the initials BB who could bring the Giants a World Series with the Giants budget.  I say ownership should offer Billy Beane a generous chunk of ownership in the Giants (as he currently is now a minority owner in the A’s) and hire the best GM in the game.

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