When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

05.23.2007
Post-Game 5/22/07: Adjustments

Just back from the yard, where the Astros still didn’t look comfortable against Tim Lincecum, but it was obvious they made adjustments. “Put the ball in play” seemed to be the marching orders.

Lincecum only struck out four but induced a lot of weak swings for grounders, 15 in all. Houston scored twice without hitting the ball particularly hard: a seeing-eye opposite-field grounder from Lamb for a double, a slicing opposite-field line drive that Lewis sort of  * misplayed for a triple, and a ground-ball RBI single past Durham — again, opposite field — from Carlos Lee. Nice hitting: just take the ball the other way. The Giants did roughly the same thing, except for Ryan Klesko, who stung the ball three times for hits to right. He also made a run-saving play, diving for a Berkman grounder in the 4th.

Seeing Lincecum live, it was clear that his fastball, which ranged into the high 90s, is special because he hides the ball so well. He had fewer strikeouts tonight because his curve wasn’t fall-off-the-table spectacular. I wonder if the mound at Mays Field isn’t quite to his liking.

PLODAG: Lincecum. Runner-up: Klesko.

P.S.: The ball Carlos Lee hit off Benitez in the ninth would have been a game-tying home run in almost all other major league parks. Sometimes the breaks go your way.

* After watching the video, I think Lewis easily could have been charged with an error, if not for dropping the ball then for pausing a few seconds at the rail while the ball rolled to the fence. Rookie mistake.
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[May 23, 2007 3:37 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Josh from Hollywood said

Yeah, you gotta love the irony/coincidence/justice that Benitez can give up a 400 foot bomb with a man on and NOT blow the save after Pence's 310 foot, off-the-end-of-the-bat special bit him in Houston. But that's the difference between a bandbox and a pitcher's park. And with all the promising young arms the Giants have, I'm glad they play in the latter.

[May 23, 2007 1:29 PM]  |  link  |  reply
someguynamedg said

I must say that it did get frustrating for a while there when the Astros started their "just put it in play" approach. I like seeing teams being forced to make adjustments like that. It seemed like they started putting weak swings on early in the count too. Damn I like that kid.

[May 23, 2007 2:28 PM]  |  link  |  reply
sfgfan said

I overhead someone saying something last night about Lincecum's windup irking umpires. I don't know if this was in regard to last night's game or before, but I'm curious if there's any truth to this (and what it is, if so).

[May 23, 2007 2:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Luke said

Nice to see the breaks go the Giants' way after years of getting the brunt end of luck.

I'm half worried that once Bengie stops hitting .500+ with RISP where we'll be, but I'm also half hopeful that they are over .500 with Bonds hitting so lousy lately.

[May 23, 2007 3:03 PM]  |  link  |  reply
pantalones said

If that's what teams look like after they adjust to Lincecum, I'm pretty excited. He got some called third strikes in Houston on curveballs that definitely caught them off guard, so it's not surprising that the strikeout totals went down. Still, they had a better idea of what was coming and didn't do too much with it. Good stuff.

Lewis' play is one of the reasons I would be an awful manager. I would have ran out there and pulled him from the game. Literally. By his ears. Out of curiosity, could he have possibly received an error for moping in foul territory while Loretta ran around the bases? The guy behind me immediately said "double and an error" but I don't know if I've ever seen laziness or mental lapses show up as an E in the boxscore.

[May 23, 2007 3:28 PM]  |  link  |  reply
sfgfan said

>Out of curiosity, could he have possibly received an error for moping in foul territory while Loretta ran around the bases?

I don't know if mental lapses get scored as an E. I thought that ball was foul (from my vantage point at the yard), and I'm thinking Lewis probably thought it was as well.

It doesn't excuse him from giving up on the play. If it's close, you stick with the play until the umpire tells you otherwise, and I know that. Hopefully he's learned that now too.

[May 23, 2007 5:33 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Will C said

As I understand it, you can't be charged with an error for a mental lapse - in fact you have to touch the ball. I think I'm right on this. Pinches of salt at the ready, people :s

It's one of the reason E's are a dodgy statistic - athletic fielders with good range might get a bit of leather on a ball they have no right really to field, but be charged with an error, where a truly inferior defender wouldn't get an error because he'd just watch as the ball dropped in front of him for a base hit.

[May 23, 2007 5:33 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Will C said

As I understand it, you can't be charged with an error for a mental lapse - in fact you have to touch the ball. I think I'm right on this. Pinches of salt at the ready, people :s

It's one of the reason E's are a dodgy statistic - athletic fielders with good range might get a bit of leather on a ball they have no right really to field, but be charged with an error, where a truly inferior defender wouldn't get an error because he'd just watch as the ball dropped in front of him for a base hit.

[May 23, 2007 5:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Will C said

Hmmm between posting it twice and the horrible spelling errors that wasn't my finest hour...