Timmah is the National League starting pitcher. That helps make up for the loss of Matt Cain, though it being Cain’s first ASG, he might not have gotten into the game, anyway.
PM UPDATE: A few other thoughts and notes.
* With his stunning catch Friday night to save the no-hitter, Aaron Rowand guaranteed himself fan love for the rest of his contract, barring a brutal prolonged slump, much like he did in Philly by trying to open the centerfield bullpen gate with his nose.
* Juan Uribe might be known forever for costing Jonathan Sanchez a perfect game, but I prefer to think of him as the best utility infielder the Giants have had in years. His low OBP aside, I love what he brings to the team. Is it unfair he’s stealing starts at 2B from Kevin Frandsen? Yeah, I guess, but would you take his bat (.301 /.328 /.464) and his glove (35 UZR/150 in 119 innings) out of the lineup right now? If his innings in the field qualified, he would be well ahead of other MLB second basemen. Of course, over a longer period he couldn’t sustain that level of defense, but it’s enough to tell us that he’s giving the Giants plenty of D right now. Sorry, Frandsen.
* In case you run into a Dan Haren supporter who bitches about his man not starting the ASG, here are some Lincecum v. Haren facts (as of Friday afternoon), courtesy of ESPN’s Jayson Stark:
Their ERAs (2.16 for Haren, 2.33 for Lincecum) are almost identical. Haren leads in WHIP and VORP. Lincecum has a big lead in strikeouts (149-119). And we're not even considering wins, since Haren's run support (5 Criminally Unsupported Starts) is a farce. So how did we separate these two? By comparing their respective number of "dominating" starts. Lincecum has had seven starts with a game score of 75 or higher, to Haren's five. Lincecum has had five starts of seven or more innings, no runs allowed, to Haren's one. Lincecum has had 11 starts with more strikeouts than innings, to Haren's six. We don't know whether that's a fair standard, but it seemed reasonably sane to us.
* Measured by ESPN’s game score stat, Sanchez’s no-no was the best pitched game since Erik Bedard’s two-hitter in 2007. Both scored a 98. The only game to grade better since 2002: Randy Johnson’s 2004 perfect game.
