Tag Archives: AT&T Park

World Series Updates: Madison Bumgarner is Game 7 Superman, carries San Francisco Giants to 3rd World Series championship in 5 years; Pre-game 7: Who wants to win this odd “Bi-Polar” World Series? UPDATE: Game 6 washout just a prelude to Game 7, as Royals humiliate SF Giants; UPDATE-World Series Game 5: Giants win, 5-0 as Royals are “Bumgarnered” again; quick someone name a candy bar or something after him; Pre-World Series Game 5: Remember just 10 days ago? Madison Bumgarner today on all the rest he needs; 10/25/14: World Series Game 4 comeback–SF out small balls Kansas City Royals.

UPDATE/GAME 7  8:23pm  10/29/14

Blanco made it tight on the 9th inning error, but Madison Bumgarner is World Series super. On the 68th pitch, he made history. Madison Bumgarner is the most Giant Giant.

That Gordon single/triple was worrisome, especially with the dangerous Perez up to bat. But the Royals couldn’t solve Bumgarner and kept chasing the high pitches until that final foul pop to Panda ended the game.

Fitting that the last out be fielded by Panda, as it may be Sandoval’s last game as a Giant.

What are we going to do with all the Panda hats?

But we’ll save that answer for the front office. This was a real special team. It looked lost in June. They came back to just squeak into the post-season. They had to get by several key injuries. But the core they needed to win was there.

Once again,  they are the best team in baseball.

Except for that last hit by Gordon that  Lorenzo Cain might have turned into an inside the park homer, the defense was impeccable. (The Panik glove toss  4-6-3 double play in the third was amazing).

And the offense was the made-to-order variety. They did it in the second, when Sandoval led off hit by a pitch. Pence  and Belt both singled to load the bases with one out. Morse’s sac fly drove in Sandoval.  And Crawford’s fly got home Pence.  Two outs produced two runs.  Why not? Who needs home runs?

Kansas City tied it up in their half of the second in almost an identical way.

But the Giants came back in the fourth inning. Panda led off with a single of Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie. Then Pence singled to center, followed by a Belt sacrifice fly to advance the runners. That chased Guthrie out of the game and in came Kelvin Herrera in relief. But Morse greeted the fresh Herrera with an RBI single for the third, and ultimately, the winning run.

Jeremy Affeldt, who came in relief after Giants starter Tim Hudson left after two, managed the 3rd and 4th innings. And after that it was all Bumgarner.  I had just seen him on Sunday pitch 117 pitches in a complete game shutout. I thought he might go a few innings. Maybe the 5th and 6th, and then leave it to the bullpen. But after the 6th, he was in for the 7th, the 8th, and what the heck, why not the 9th.

In all, he pitched 5 innings, gave up 2 hits, no runs, struck out 4, walked none.in a virtuoso 68 pitch performance.

And that’s how you win a third championship in five years, with a special and historic game 7.

 

UPDATE/ GAME 7, 10/29/14  9am

As the Giants try to be the “every other” year team, they are frustrating everyone  by being great “every other” day. Champs in Games 1, 4, 5.  Chumps in Games 2,3, 6.

The converse is true for the Royals. So really what we have here is one odd “Bi-Polar” World Series of Baseball, where the only thing that Bruce Bochy says that makes sense is “they’re human.”

Yes, and not machines. Not bots. Not baseball apps that perform on demand. Take your stats and shove it. You can’t press go and get a champion 3 hours later.

That’s why God gave us the 7th game. Even he was done in 7.

And this will be too.

I still think the Giants have a slight edge. Just because they’ve done elimination games and consistently responded. But the crowd is definitely a factor, and tens of thousands of blue-clad fans starved for a victory can motivate or crush you, depending on whether you wear blue.

Pshaw, you say. All that momentum stuff is bull. So let’s hope the Giants got a good night sleep. And that Tim Hudson has a good 4-5  innings in him. And then MadBum enters in the 4th.

And that the Giants stick to plan and manufacture runs. Lead off man on, move him into scoring position. Then bunt, sacrifice, get that runner home.

Rinse, repeat. Do it once for the first 5 innings.

5-0 in the 4th or 5th. Bring on Bumgarner. Let him close it. Bring on Casilla.

Leave Strickland. Let Timmy warm-up to make fans go crazy back home.

That’s your recipe. Parade on Halloween where everything’s orange.

I dreamt it. After a 10-0 loss, anything is  possible.

Maybe we’ll see the oldest man ever to start a series win it all for the road team.

huddy

 

 

 

 

UPDATE/ WORLD SERIES GAME 6, 10/28/14  9pm

They cried “MVP” after Bumgarner’s masterpiece on Sunday in San Francisco.

But MVP actually described the Giants demise in Kansas City on Tuesday.

Miscues. Ventura. Peavy, or just pitching, in general.

Miscues hurt in the field. Ventura quieted the Giants’  hitting. And the Giants’ pitching just wasn’t very effective.

This game was all, and I mean ALL KC,  10-0.

SF starter Jake Peavy was battling from the first inning. Not a good sign. With two outs,  he gave up a walk to Lorenzo Cain, and then Hosmer singled to left. Travis Ishikawa showed his inexperience in the outfield by slipping as he fielded the ball, then threw to the wrong base. Fortunately, the Royals didn’t score that time, as Peavy got Butler to ground out to short.

But it was just a hint of what was to come.

In the Royals’ 2nd,  Peavy faced six batters. Gordon singled to left. Perez then singled to right. Mike Moustakas followed with a double to score Gordon to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

Peavy stuck out Omar Infante swinging, to build some confidence.

But here’s where the miscues came in. Once again, it was a softly hit ball in the infield by the Royals’ Alcides Escobar. First baseman Brandon Belt fielded it, but appeared to listen to Peavy who seemed to yell to throw home.

Belt did what he was supposed to do, check the runner at third. But Peavy’s communication delayed Belt’s next move, which should have been to flip the ball to Joe Panik covering 1st. But the batter Escobar was too fast. Belt tried to beat him to the bag. But by then everyone was safe, leaving the bases loaded with just 1 out.

Peavy had to get the next Royal batter, Nori Aoki. Peavy got two strikes on Aoki, but then gave up a single to left, driving in another Royal run.

Not that bad. But had Escobar and Aoki made outs, the Giants would have been out of the inning down just 2-0.

It was that miscue by Belt and Peavy.

“I thought that changed that inning,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy after the game. “(Peavy) gets an out  there, he has a better chance of getting out of the inning.”

Instead, Bochy brought Yusmeiro Petit in to do what he does. Shutdown the other team.

But it didn’t happen tonight.  Lorenzo Cain, on yet another soft hit by a Royal, singled to center. That scored two runs, and made it 4-0.

Petit was not sharp on this night and threw a WP, moving Cain to second. Eric Hosmer then  hit a grounder that hit off the hard dirt in front of the plate, it was like a “Kansas City Chop.” The ball bounced over shortstop Brandon Crawford’s head and found some shallow ground in left. It was a fluky kind of “nothing is going right, we should have stayed in bed” kind of play. Good for a double, and scored  Aoki and Cain.

Six? Yes, that made it six.

Petit never got settled and gave up another double to Butler (this one on a fly to center) scoring Hosmer.

That made it 7.  And the game really was done.

The Giants seemed to feign a comeback in the third.  The Royals’ Yordano Ventura was on his game, throwing in the high 90s the first two innings. But he was a bit wild after the big inning, walking three straight Giants. But with Posey up and one out, the hopes of a rally died with a 6-3 double play.

The Giants let Machi, Strickland, and Vogelsong eat up the innings, saving the bullpen for the big day on Wednesday.

So there will be a Game 7. And this is what they mean when they talk about Game 6 being a do or die game for the team with a 3-2 lead.

You lose on the road and rarely do you get a chance to  rebound in Game 7.

The Giants know that feeling from the World Series with the Angels in 2002.

Maybe it’s different this time.

Game six would’ve been were it not for miscues, Ventura, and Peavy.

 

UPDATE/WORLD SERIES GAME 5  10/27/14 9AM

If you ever played youth baseball, then you know the phenomenon. There’s always one kid, much bigger, better and badder than all of us. For me in San Francisco’s Dolores Park, it was when we played Jackson Playground’s team and faced a pitcher whose last name was Dickson. He threw sidearm and fast and scared the hell out of all us 12 year-olds.  He pitched. He batted. He was a man among boys. He was flat out great.

Right now, Madison Bumgarner is that kid.

He’s from another baseball world, playing with the rec league.

He’s bumgarnered the Royals but good.

 

madbumgm5ws1ing

 

From where I sat, his confidence never wavered from first pitch to last.

And there’s no league higher than Major League Baseball. On  it’s largest stage he is showing  there is no post-season pitcher who comes close to his domination. A micro-era in World Series play. Better than Babe Ruth. Remember him? They named a candy bar after him.

Someone better name something after Bumgarner

Because after Game Five of the 2014 World Series, everyone wants one.

I knew this game would be different during that 2nd inning.

Look, this is a pop-less World Series. No one hits home runs.  Both teams play in parks where offense has to be manufactured on demand.

Lead off man gets on. You move him along. One or two productive outs later, you get a dinky hit. Touchdown!  (Oops, wrong Sunday game).

You get the idea. No one goes for the fences. You hit on the ground, you bunt.

You go for the blades of grass.

So in the 2nd when Pence singled, and Belt BUNTED. I didn’t miss the signal.

beltfirstbuntever

It was a BUNT event. That’s what all that World Series bunting is for.

The Giants were going to play inning by inning. Scratch out runs. And let MadBum do the rest.

Belt’s bunt, followed by a sac fly by Ishikawa sac fly, moved two runners into scoring postion.

And then Crawford came up with a groundball out for an RBI.

This is the Giants blue print. Get your three runs on demand with OUTS.

Let your pitching and defense be flawless Let your outs win for you.

It is the pop-less offense. Giants-style.

LIFE AND DEATH

The Giants dealt with it in the beginning when the kids of Robin Williams were part of the ceremonial first pitch. Zak, threw the ball, while Williams’ half-Filipino kids, Zelda and Cody, watched.

zackthrowsgcodywatch

It was followed with previous clips of Williams on the scoreboard, when he led the stadium in cheers.

Later in the game, the fresh news of Oscar Taveras’  death was a definite reality check for everyone.

Some of the Cardinal rookie’s best days were against the Giants. His major league debut, a home run in his second at bat vs. the Giants in St. Louis.  Taveras hit another home run just recently vs. the Giants in game 2 of the NLCS.

 

UPDATE/ 10/26/14

OK, who remembers ten days ago?

There he was the human spittoon and snot dispenser, with that strange left handed delivery that has stymied batters all post-season.

In another Game 5, the NLCS, he  was mowing down Cardinals (8 IP, 5h, 3R, 5K).

But he needed a little help from Travis Ishikawa who provide the walk off.

Here’s Madbum dealing on that day.

 

madbumNLCS2014g5

 

It’s another Game 5. It’s the World Series. It’s tied at two games. It’s also the final game in 2014 at AT&T.  Will he have the stuff it takes to win today?

With a rejuvenated Giants’ offense, more Madbum Magic today, that would make quite a sendoff for the road warriors who can win it all in the heartland.

UPDATES TO COME…see the twitter feed on the right sidebar.

 

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10/25/14  9pm pdt

If Kansas City was feeling prematurely Royal, the Giants dispelled all that with a convincing 11-4 pounding to even up the World Series at two games a piece.

The Giants, who had looked anemic and craved offense, finally woke up and pounded out 16 hits. Not in a month, but the same game. The hits weren’t big blasts, just timely blows that helped them scratch and claw early and often.

This was a game about small ball dominance.

The Giants scored in the first on an infield hit from Hunter Pence, that drove in Gregor Blanco.

Ryan Vogelsong, who thank goodness was not Madison Bumgarner on short rest, was unlikely to hold that slim lead against the Royals.

And in fact, he didn’t.

In the third, KC showed their own small ball chops, sent 10 men to the plate and scored four runs after two were out.

It was the middle of the order of Gordon, Cain and Hosmer who chipped away to tie on an infield chip. But it set the table for more,, as Infante delivered a two-run single, and Sal Perez added another RBI single to make it 4-1.

Jean Machi came in to relieve Vogelsong. But the Royals were having fun now. They even smiled for the cameras when pitcher Jason Vargas forgot the count on his 3-2 at bat and headed toward first.

It was a human mistake. Forgetting the count. But while the Royals chuckled, it was somewhat embarrassing for the Giants.

Vargas returned to the plate. Machi gained his composure. And struck him out.

That may have been the beginning of the spark the Giants needed.

Matt Duffy, pinch hitting for Machi, led off the bottom of the third with a single, and scored when Buster Posey singled. Pence singled as well. But with two runners on Pablo Sandoval struck out, and the Giants were still down 4-2.

Yusmeiro Petit, who was the night’s winning pitcher, came out and retired the tough part of the Royals in the 4th and 5th, allowing one hit and striking out two.

Petit’s middle inning stoppage seemed to rally the Giants, who themselves sent seven batters in the bottom of the fifth. Panik led off with a double and scored on a Pence single off KC pitcher Jason Frasor, who had replaced Vargas.

But then Ned Yost went with lefty Danny Duffy in order to exploit Sandoval’s right-handed batting weakness.

Sandoval promptly singled to left. Belt followed with a walk. And the bases were loaded for Juan Perez who tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Pence.

4-4. New game.

And we weren’t even to the all important 6th inning.

Petit stayed in and retired the Royals in the top half of the frame with the help of a 3-6-3 double play.

And then the Giants in their half of the inning began to tee off against young Brandon Finnegan.

The lefty was like a Royals gift. The Giants scored three times in the 6th. And again the “Pablo can’t hit lefties” theory was tested, and this time Sandoval really delivered with a two run single giving the Giants a 7-4 lead.

And it wasn’t over. In the 7th, the Giants came back with a lead off infield hit from Crawford, a walk to Morse and then the Royals finally figured they should lift Finnegan.

In came lefty Tim Collins, who gave up a single to Blanco and then on came Joe Panik with a double to the gap in left center scoring Blanco and Morse.

Pence added another double and Panik scored.

Offense. It’s infectious.

The four runs seemed to be enough of a pad to bring out Hunter Strickland for a little encouragement and redemption in the 9th. He struck out Escobar, gave up a single to Gordon. But Pence made a good catch on a Cain fly, and a Hosmer groundout to Strickland ended Game 4.

What do you know. A small ball laugher.

The Giants now start Madison Bumgarner in the last game of the season at AT&T Park for Sunday’s Game 5.

It’s not an automatic win, but Madbum’s been dominant and is in KC’s head. If the Giants do win, all they need is a split on the return to KC.

That could be tough in the Royals home park with championship starved fans egging them on.

But the Giants have shown what they can do once when their backs are to the wall.

On this night they bounced back from a 4-1 deficit to not just win the game but to once again establish dominance and steal the momentum.

That’s a big boost going into another small ball chess match with the Royals.

Linceblog: If you were the fan who threw that banana at Orioles’ Adam Jones, you are a jerk; incident adds racial ugliness to SF Giants loss; UPDATE: SF Giants issue apology; UPDATE: Fan comes forward says not a racial incident

It was a good day for Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones in San Francisco in all ways except one.
The banana part.
First the good. In the top of the 8th, Jones gave his team some insurance with an RBI double that padded the O’s lead over the Giants to 5-2.
Just for good measure, in the top of the 9th, Jones hit a a three-run homer to pad the score even more, 10-2.
In the last inning, some frustrated  fan apparently got Jones’ attention.   And Jones tweeted the incident.

 

 

The Giants are reviewing the surveillance shots to see what exactly happened. If it’s true,  and there’s no reason to doubt Jones, then it’s a sad fact of fan hooliganism. When the game is uninteresting, fans can be unruly. Giants fans, generally are better than that.  But fans are fans and the lack of civility in our culture only encourages behavior like a banana throwing incident.

What’s worse is that a banana thrown at a black athlete like Jones, is a racial thing. Hadn’t heard of that, though I have  heard bananas used in context of Asians and Asian Americans. Specifically,  Filipinos were often referred to by racists as “monkey.”

This I know because my father told me stories of being called that regularly in San Francisco—in the 1920s, where “monkey” was a racial epithet.

So a thrown banana isn’t so innocent when the target is a  person of color.

San Francisco of the ’20s is a much different  city from the tolerant, multi-cultural San Francisco of today. Or at least, we’d like to think so.

If Jones was a victim of a stupid and ignorant act, the Giants, their fans and the city, owe Jones and the Orioles, an immediate and unequivocal apology.

Let’s hope one comes quickly, and because Jones is an avowed “foodie,” maybe  the Giants can toss in some Dungeness crabs. Jones probably has enough of those Blue Crabs from the Chesapeake.

Sports is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. But that shouldn’t mean we’ve lost our values and sense of  sportsmanship.

 

UPDATE FROM SF CHRONICLE’S JOHN SHEA, regarding apology from the San Francisco Giants:

Statement from the San Francisco Giants Regarding Incident at AT&T Park Yesterday

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — We were extremely disappointed to learn about the incident involving Adam Jones at AT&T Park yesterday. The Giants have a zero tolerance policy against this type of behavior, which results in immediate ejection from the ballpark. While we have been investigating the matter since we learned of the situation, unfortunately we have been unable to identify the person responsible. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Adam and the entire Orioles organization for this unfortunate incident. The inappropriate actions of this individual in no way reflect the values of our organization and our fans.

UPDATE : 8/14/13  2013

New report yesterday identified  a fan coming forward saying banana throwing wasn’t a racial incident. He threw the banana out of frustration. It was just a coincidence it went Jones’ way.

Jones still concerned about safety. We should be too. Not sure about fan’s credibility. According to the report I saw on (KOVR-TV),  fan grabbed a banana from a cart and hurled it on the field. Of course, just like that lost verse from  the ballpark anthem,  “Take me out to the ball game,” the part that goes,”Buy me some peanuts and bananas, I don’t care if I never get back….”

Doesn’t rhyme.

Maybe the fan should throw crackerjack next time. Won’t be seen as a slur, though it is caramel in color.

Certainly won’t do any physical harm. Or how about not throwing anything, period. It’s baseball, not soccer!

More concerned about surveillance cams. I suppose at a ball park you are in a de facto TV studio. And you do give up your rights. If fans thought of that, maybe they’d behave better. Though we see how well they behave on Kiss-Cam, Fist-Cam, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linceblog: SF Giants home opener, Zito’s Cy Young Anonymous, and the drama of pre-game ceremonies

When you’re a fallen, award-winning pitcher, a tad off from greatness, it’s not like you can work things out by going to a Cy Young  Anonymous.

So it’s a good thing Tim Lincecum can savor teammate Barry Zito’s miraculous comeback from the massive albatross known as the $126 million contract.

Zito was a master of craft and timing in leading the Giants to a 1-0 victory in the AT&T 2013 home opener.

 

He  kept  the Cardinal hitters off-balance  in such a way that just when you thought the Cardinals were getting to him, they weren’t — as in Yadier Molina’s towering drive to left that was just west of the foul pole in the fourth inning.  Zito would simply make Molina put the ball in play, and then timely defense saved the day,  in this case, an inning ending 5-4-3 double play courtesy of the reigning heavyweight third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

Once again, it’s the way modern Giants victories are made.

Good pitching, with timely good defense, and timely good bases-on-balls.

That was the Giants’ offense. The team walked all over the Cardinals.

The Giants’ fourth inning was like a Little League special. A Blanco walk, a single from Crawford, a bunt by Zito to load the bases, and then an RBI walk from Pagan.

But Zito, with bullpen help from Affeldt and Romo made it stand.

When it was over, I realized Giants fans have seen Zito do this time and again over the last year, and not just in the post-season when he faced the Cards and shut them down.

Perhaps it was the perception after the big contract, but Zito was considered a pariah for the longest time as he searched for a way to be great again.

But then, in a slow, almost uneventful way, he has built a new resume that is more spectacular than it may have appeared.

Going into the home opener, the Giants have won all of Zito’s last 14 starts, where the lefty went 9-0 with a 3.46 ERA. Make that 15 starts, 10-0. Who knew?  And it all adds up.

It may not have looked like much while it was all happening. But the Cardinals know.

They were Zitoed. Again.

Soon to be 35, Zito is still a young guy compared to Jamie Moyer, who in 2012 was the oldest at age 50 to win an MLB game. Zito has said he’s modeled himself after Moyer, and so maybe Zito is just coming into his real prime.

With baseball, it’s always helpful to go back to kid terms, when the game was really fun. Zito is six years older than Lincecum. That’s  like a junior high kid watching the high-school varsity senior. It’s hard not to imagine Lincecum taking notes as he watches the evolution of Zito.

Like I said,  it’s not like you can get support from a Cy Young Anonymous.

 

Lincecum back in the dugout as Opening Day game begins

 

That was the home opener, but the circumstances of the game were preceded by massive pomp, too.

In this case, the Giants were bringing home the World Series trophy, and raising a championship flag again.

 

Bochy and team blessed by gleam of the World Series trophy

 

 

Sabre me with all the stats and numbers and make it a science all you want, but the game is really about heart and corn.

So while it’s become somewhat fashionable to pooh-pooh a game day celebration (they can’t all have the drama of a Lou Gehrig farewell), I say the Giants do corn as well as anyone.

With the stadium filled with the kind of orchestral music used to spur emotion in bad films, the ceremony began. (Later, Bochy would say the pre-game indeed elicited a few “tears” among  some players).

When the flag came into McCovey Cove on fire boat, I wondered who would raise the flag? Captain Hook? (Or Captain Morgan? Thankfully, no one thought of product placement).

Some  pre-game rumor had it that maybe the flag raiser would be a past player, perhaps a Bonds return?

But the flag raiser(s) would be six veteran members of the team, Lincecum among them.

Lincecum seemed to beam with genuine pride as he jogged to and from centerfield to raise the flag.

That’s why it’s hard to imagine him not being a Giant forever.

 

Giant forever?

 

 

Oddly, two players who were not in the group of flag-raisers were the battery of the day. Zito looked like he was meditating or something on the bull-pen mound as coach Dave Righetti stood by.

 

Celebration? “I’m Barry Z. , and I am a Cy Young winner.”

 

And there was the new face of the team, Buster Posey, putting on the so-called “tools of ignorance” watching but focused on the opener.

 

Posey in pre-game warm up watches the flag-raisers

 

 

Posey gets his due with the MVP ceremony in game two of the series.

See my tweets @emilamok

 

The dominance of Lincecum, the roar of the crowd, the power of baseball

As a young boy, my earliest and lasting memories as a SF Giants fan were the resounding cheers for the heroes of ’62:  Cepada, McCovey, and Mays—but especially Mays.  

He didn’t have to do anything but come to the plate and have his name announced and Candlestick Park would quake.  

I’ve never really experienced anything live at any baseball game that could ever come close to the roar Mays could inspire.

Maybe I just haven’t been to the right games in person.

 But yesterday I was. Game 1 NLDS, Braves and Giants, Tim Lincecum’s first post-season start.

That’s when I heard it again: AT&T Park reached and surpassed the mythic roar of my Candlestick.

Electric crowd?  It was practically nuclear.  When the focus is all on Lincecum, the wunderkind pitcher, it’s not just a sporadic burst of cheers every nine batters for a star like Mays.  It’s pitch by pitch throughout the entire game.  And just as in the days of old, before the baseball gods created the closer, Lincecum pitched the entire game (119 pitches).

Lincecum’s dominance really was quite deceptive. In retrospect, there’s no question that to the Braves, Lincecum was untouchable. But when you’re at the game, the electricity is like an unbroken circuit. You’re living and dying with every pitch, and totally in the moment. Dominance isn’t a reality until the last out is recorded.  And then you look back and realize the Freak has 14 strikeouts, and by golly, the Giants one run has held up.  

The 14 K’s were the most in franchise history since the ’62 Giants, when it was ace Jack Sanford who rung up 10 Yankees.

I was happy to hear the stat, mostly because it brought up the name of an oft forgotten Giant.

Sanford who passed away in 2000 at age 70, was another favorite of mine.  He won 16 consecutive games in 1962 to propel the Giants to the pennant that year.  Normally, Juan Marichal’s name comes up when people remember the arms of ’62.  But to me Sanford was the guy that year, his only really stellar year.

As the Giants surged to win the NL West on the last day of the season, there was lots of talk about 62. But few, if any, ever mentioned Sanford, until Lincecum took the mound tonight.

This was just  Lincecum’s first outing, a harbinger of more greatness to come, as if two Cy Young awards in his first two full years didn’t already indicate that.   Lincecum had a rough August, but his return to form in September continues into  October.

He’s got his Filipino side in him working again.

Next for the Giants comes Matt Cain, then Jonathan Sanchez. And Madison Bumgarner.   And Lincecum again.  And when they tire, Brian Wilson and the bearded and unbearded pen lay in waiting.

With those arms maybe all you do  need is a couple of hits, a walk, and a run scored on a double play.  (The Giants have 159 or so of those this year).

I’m almost as old as the number on Timmy’s back. But I haven’t felt this way about baseball since I was a kid.  

On Thursday, I saw it, and heard it. I’m going back for more.