Tag: tim lincecum

Don’t bother Mr Zito, Tim

Last week, it seems like Barry Zito’s entourage (ie a restaurant manager at an upscale place in San Francisco) was a little hasty when shooing away a scruffy supposed autograph hound…

According to the SF Chronicle:

a long-haired kid dressed in skater garb walked into the formal restaurant and brazenly strolled up to him. Well, almost. A restaurant manager immediately cut off the intruder, saying something along the lines of, "Please don’t bother Mr. Zito. No autographs tonight."

It turned out the “kid” was Tim Lincecum. 

2009 MLB Cy Young Award Winners: Zack Greinke & Tim Lincecum

greinkeZack Greinke was named the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner.  Greinke was dominant with a 2.16 ERA and a 16-8 record for the lowly Kansas City Royals.  Zack started impressively, winning his first six games, with an ERA of 0.40, only Walter Johnson & Fernando Valenzuela had done that with lower ERAs.  In back to back starts he struckout 15 batters in one contest and then allowed only one hit in his next start.  He was 6-1 with a 1.75 ERA in his last 11 starts.  Imagine how many wins Greinke would have amassed had he been pitching for the explosive New York Yankees.  The Royals only scored 15 runs in Zack’s eight losses, 1.9 per game.  Zack Greinke only allowed 195 hits in 229′ innings, striking out 242, while walking only 51.

MLB announced Tim Lincecum as the winner of the 2009 NL Cy Young Award.  It was the 2nd straight year The Freak had won the award.  Lincecum was the NL strikeout leader two years running, last time a Giant did that was Christy Mathewson in 1907-08.  It was a very tight Cy Young vote, only 6 points separating 1st & 2nd, with a couple of Cardinals starters finishing in 2nd & 3rd.  Interestingly Adam Wainwright was the leader in wins with 19 & 12 first place votes, but finished 3rd, teammate Chris Carpenter was the ERA leader at 2.24 with a 17-4 record, finished 2nd, and Tim was the strikeout leader with 261 Ks, a 2.48 ERA, and a 15-7 record, was the award winner, 15 wins was the lowest win total for an award winner.

Cops catch Lincecum with pot

Tim Lincecum’s timing was bit off last week. 

Last Friday, the former Cy Young award winner was caught with pot when he was stopped after driving 74 mph in a 60 mph zone.  Police found a pipe and 3.3 grams of marijuana. 

Lincecum was “cited and released” and will receive a fine for the misdemeanor. 

Rumor has it that the Giants won’t be taking action against him.  But secretly, they’re probably taking some satisfaction that Lincecum’s arbitration hearing will be coming up soon.  No doubt, this will come up during the hearings and perhaps have a little impact. 

Lay off the doobie, Tim.  It’ll cost you.

Where Have All the Nicknames Gone?

mudcat grantRecently Hideki Matsui, known as Godzilla in Japan, appeared on the cover of a national magazine with the caption, Shemp, along with a picture of his counterpart from The Three Stooges.  The funny thing is that his manager DonS in the Illowa APBA League has been calling him that for years.  It got me thinking about nicknames and I found myself  wondering, where have all the nicknames gone?

Of course a few players today are known by their nicknames, like ARod & JRoll, but those are more abbreviations than true nicknames.  Then there’s B.J. Upton, an abbreviation again, but this time it’s for Bossman Junior, his dad was known as Bossman, that’s a little better, but still not quite there.

Back in the day, players were known as Ernie “The Schnoz” Lombardi and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson for the size of their beaks.  Then there were players with nicknames Jim “Mudcat” Grant, John “Blue Moon” Odom, and Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd.  One of the best nicknames was Jim “Catfish” Hunter, made up by the colorful Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley.  Hawk Harrelson dubbed Frank “The Big Hurt” Thomas and Carlos Lee as El Caballo.  Dennis Martinez was a Nicaraguan, known as El Presidente.  Of course Roger Clemens was often times referred to as The Rocket.  The Freak seems to have stuck with NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.

But it seems today, for the most part, good nicknames are a thing of the past.  I’d like to hear from you, with your favorite nicknames of yesterday and today, and maybe even some nicknames for current players that might be appropriate.

2009 National League All Stars

mark-reynoldsThe Sporting News announced its National League All Stars as determined by 31 major league general managers and assistant GMs.  St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols (also named Player of the Year), Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun were on the ballots of all 14 NL team executives who voted.

C Yadier Molina has shown that catching is much more than just offensive numbers, he is regarded as the best defensive catcher in the game.  Besides his work behind the plate, Yadier seems to have found his stroke, batting .293 for the Redbirds.

1B Albert Pujols is simply the best, as reaffirmed by him being named Player of the Year.  This year, once again, he posted Albert Pujols type numbers, leading the league with 47 homers & 122 runs, while batting .327 with a .443 OBP (best), while hitting 45 doubles, and driving in 135, leading St. Louis into the postseason.

2B Chase Utley is the quiet Phillie who just goes about his job in the field & at the plate.  Chase hit 31 home runs, and was seven (93) RBIs shy of driving in at least 100 runs for the 5th straight season, he scored 112 times (over 100 four straight campaigns), and stole 23 bases without getting caught, while batting .282.

3B Mark Reynolds is synonymous with strikeouts, but there’s alot more to his game than just whiffs.  Sure Mark broke his strikeout record he set last year (204) with this year’s mark of 223, but he also hit 44 homers, drove in 102, while stealing 24 bases for Arizona.

SS Hanley Ramirez had the highest batting average in the league, hitting .342, with 24 longballs, to go along with 42 doubles, driving in 106, 101 runs scored, and stealing 27 bases for the Fish.

OF Ryan Braun surprisingly this slugger had more hits than anybody in the NL, with 203, he also had 114 RBIs & 113 runs scored, amassing 32 homers, 39 doubles, & 6 triples, he also stole 20 bags.

OF Matt Kemp is a pure athlete and a true five tool player.  The Dodgers centerfielder batted .297 with 34 steals, 26 home runs, knocking in 101.

OF Jayson Werth This gentle giant seems to have found a home in RF for Philadelphia, and he certainly can turn a baseball & a ballgame around in a hurry.  36 longballs, 99 RBIs, & 98 runs scored, all while playing excellent defense in the field.

SP Tim Lincecum The Freak was it at again, repeating as NL Pitcher of the Year, where does that little guy get all that power?  He was 15-7 with an ERA of just 2.48, striking out a league best 261 batters in 225′ innings, allowing only 168 hits.

RP Ryan Franklin The 36 year old journeyman relief pitcher came out of nowhere to takeover as the closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, saving 38 games, with a 1.92 ERA.  His 17 saves the year before was his career high.

2009 Pitchers of the Year: Zack Greinke & Tim Lincecum

greinke_fThe Sporting News has named their 2009 Pitcher of the Year award winners, as selected by a panel of 31 major league general managers and assistant GMs.  This years winners are Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum.

Greinke was the AL ERA leader with a sparkling 2.16 ERA, a 16-8 record, he struckout 242 & walked only 51 batters (nearly 200 more strikeouts than bases on balls), surrendering only 11 longballs, on just 195 hits in 229′ innings.  In this era of the relief pitcher, Zack completed six of his 33 starts, including three shutouts.  He joins Bret Saberhagen as the only other Royals hurler to win the award, Bret won it in 1985 & 1989.

Tim Lincecum won the Pitcher of the Year award for the 2nd straight year, finishing with a 15-7 record, 261 strikeouts, only 68 walks (again, nearly 200 more strikeouts than bases on balls).  Tim only allowed 168 hits, including only 10 longballs, in 225′ innings.  Lincecum posted 2 shutouts, completing four of 32 starts.  The Freak joins these other Giants who have won the award, 1944 Bill Voiselle, 1959 Sam Jones, 1967 Mike McCormick, 1973 Ron Bryant, 1978 Vida Blue, and 2004 Jason Schmidt.

Cy Young Tim

SF pitcher Tim Lincecum won this year’s NL Cy Young award handily over Brandon Webb.  He got 23 of 32 first place votes and outscored Webb 137 to 73 in total points. 

His GM put it succinctly:

“In Obama-like fashion, it wasn’t close,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean said.

Lincecum became the 12th pitcher to win the award with a sub-.500 team.  As a Cub fan, I didn’t have to look up 1979 Bruce Sutter, I knew he was on the list.  This year’s second place Brandon Webb was also there.  He won in 2006 with the 76-86 Dbacks. 

The media’s sub-headline was that Lincecum won the second Cy Young for Giants.  Without looking it up, I of course expected the other to be Juan Marichal.  It wasn’t.  Mike McCormick took it in 1967.  Not only that, Marichal didn’t get a first place vote during his reign. 

Cy Young Awards with clickable links to voting (via Baseball Reference)

Occupational hazard of playing at the same time of Koufax, Gibson, et.al.

On a personal note, let it be known that I got Lincecum for two measly bucks in the fantasy auction I was in this spring. 

Did I get my money’s worth?  I think so.

Update: 

2k9lincecum

It was also announced that Lincecum had the honor of being on the cover of the Major League Baseball 2K9 video game. 

A good day all around for Tim.