It was Tim Lincecum's 4th straight Opening Day start for the S.F. Giants and he was very, well, "Lincecum opening day " like. There are headlines galore saying Lincecum had a "horrible outing" and "diminished velocity" which actually makes me a little more comfortable considering; THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE CLAIMS EVERY YEAR AFTER TIMMY'S FIRST START.
He only pitched 5 1/3 innings, gave up 5 runs, and 2 first inning HR's. Not very good right?
Timmy also struck out 7, never threw his slider (because he's saving it, not because he can't), and struck out the side in the bottom of the 4th. Yeah, his career is obviously over.
ESPN, as always was to trust with their assesment;
Lincecum didn't throw a single slider in Friday's loss to the Diamondbacks, CSN Bay Area reports.
Lincecum's velocity decline has already been chronicled, but it's worthwhile to note that despite the lesser velocity and the diminished repertoire, the Diamondbacks that faced Lincecum on Friday still raved about his stuff. The results speak otherwise, though. It's still early, so the velocity still could kick upward and Lincecum could unveil the slider again, but his margin for error is a lot smaller if he has fewer tools to get opposing hitters out.
Look, if you're a Giants fan, A Tim Lincecum fan, or even a Dodgers fan for that matter, do not buy into the hype. If Lincecum is still giving up 5 runs through less than 6 innings in a month then we'll revisit but for now this is pretty much par the coarse for Timmy.
We'll see...
No comments:
Post a Comment