Two time Cy Young Award winner (2008, 2009) Tim Lincecum of the SF Giants faced a seemingly bulletproof and invisible Cliff Lee of the Texas Rangers tonight in another Game 1 billed as a ‘pitcher’s duel.’ In Game 1 of the NLCS, Lincecum faced Roy Halladay of the Phillies and came out on top, leading the Giants to their 1st World Series appearance since 2002, when they lost to the LA Angels. Halladay had tossed a perfect game earlier this season, and tossed a no-hitter in the 1st post-season game he ever pitched.
Lincecum got off to a slow start, falling into a 2-0 hole by the end of the 2nd inning. He buckled down and retired 13 of 15 batters he faced. He faltered in the 6th inning, but left with an 8-4 lead.
Wait a minute! Eight San Francisco runs? Against Cliff Lee? That’s right, Lee was due for an off game and the Giants took advantage of it. Freddy Sanchez (who was in the Red Sox system for a short while, and also won a batting title while he was with the Pirates) led the attack going 4/5, 3 of those hits were doubles, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Of the Giants 14 hits against Lee and the Rangers, 6 were doubles, and 1 was a 3 run homer by Juan Uribe. O’Day came into the game in relief of Lee. I was hoping for the Giants’ PA system to blare the “Dayo” from the Harry Belafonte ‘Banana Boat Song’, but did not hear it.
It was a sloppy game at times, the Giants committed 2 errors, while the Rangers committed 4 errors, 2 of them by Vladimir Guerror, who was doing his absolute best Manny Ramirez fielding impersonation. Vlad looked absolutely lost in space in right field tonight. Juan Uribe and Edgar Rentaria both had some great fielding plays in the game. Ian Kinsler gets the ‘dumb ass award’ for turning towards 2nd base on an infield hit which 1st baseman Aubrey Huff bobbled. Huff got up and tagged Kinsler out, who was looking like a deer caught in the headlights.Random Thoughts
The Giants have been playing a LOT of 1 run games, with ‘torture’ being the buzz word of their season. They ran up leads of 8-2 and 11-4, but gave up 3 runs in the top of the 9th. Torture, indeed. Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo are sporting some serious roughage on their faces, and have been joined by pitchers Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez, but theirs are not so prominent. Giants’ fans in the house were sporting a lot of beards, with ‘Fear the Beard’ being the motto of Bruce Bochy’s ‘misfits’, as he likes to call them. This does remind me of the shaggy Red Sox ‘idiots’ of the 2004 season. I’m seeing a lot of players with one arm long sleeve shirts under their uniforms a la Jacoby Ellsbury. The Giants scored 19 runs in the NLCS and 11 runs in just 1 game of this World Series so far. Buster Posey, catcher for the Giants, is likely to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. He went to the same university as J.D. Drew and myself- Florida State University. Bengie Molina, catcher for the Rangers, will get a World Series ring if the Rangers win or lose this Series, as he was traded from the Giants to the Rangers earlier this year. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was working the pre and post game shows and had his usual motor mouth running with some good zingers, too many for me to remember. NLCS MVP Cody Ross hammered 2 home runs off of Roy ‘Doc’ Halladay. Cody Ross spelled backwards- ‘Ssory Doc’, (Sorry, Doc.) Tim Lincecum has beaten 2 of Major League Baseball’s finest pitchers in this years post-season play- Halladay and Lee. Pablo Sandoval hit .330 last year for the Giants, but fell to .268 this year, losing his starting 3B position to Juan Uribe. With Uribe playing a solid 3B, (SS and 2B, too), I am wondering if he is on Theo’s radar to replace Adrian Beltre. Maybe a change of scenery for Pablo will pump his BA back up? McCovey Cove behind AT&T Park’s right field was packed with boats. I’m thinking of renting a boat and having 1 of my bands play out there. Let’s make that ‘dreaming’, not ‘thinking.’ Fear the Beards
Cliff Lee to the Yankees?
I think not. The Yankee’s will be pulling up with wheelbarrows full of cash on his doorstep, but Lee’s wife was not too keen on Yankee fan’s behavior for starters. Their home in Arkansas is only a 40 minute flight to the Ranger’s ball park. I say he stays with the Rangers.
Giants 11 Rangers 7 BOX SCORE
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