By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
The nickname is more than an indication, it is a verification. The King of Clay is what they call Rafael Nadal, and we must walk gently.
The King. So few are bestowed with the label. Elvis, of course. Richard Petty. Arnold Palmer and the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Hugh McElhenny.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO — A no-hitter? So? If there is an unwritten rule about yanking a pitcher who hasn’t allowed a hit sometime from mid-game on, well, it hasn’t been stated or tweeted to Bruce Bochy.
He manages not by tradition but by perception.
Sure, the boys (and girls) in the press box at AT&T Park on Wednesday afternoon had their questions, as undoubtedly did many in the sellout crowd of 41,186.
What the heck, little Timmy might not have been at his best, but through five he hadn’t permitted a hit by the Chicago Cubs. Shouldn’t Lincecum at least have had the chance to continue?
The answer, if not directly, was no. So Lincecum, who had the comfort of knowing there was a no-hitter from 2013 on his resume, and also on a day that ended with a 5-0 San Francisco Giants victory, had thrown 96 pitches in those five innings — and had developed a small blister — was content to leave.
Unlike current Giants broadcaster and former pitcher Mike Krukow, who in 1983 departed the mound under similar circumstances against the Cincinnati Reds.
Although Kruk had not allowed a hit through six — he had given up an unearned run on four walks — he was visited by then-Giants manager Frank Robinson, a rather demanding sort.
“You’re done,” Robinson told Krukow.
“But, but,” stammered Krukow.
“You’re done,” repeated Robinson.
Bochy was considerably more tactful and Lincecum more accepting.
“There was no chance he was going to finish,” said Bochy of Lincecum. Not when Tim had thrown nearly 100 pitches — 30 in the oh-what-might-have-happened first inning — and the game still had at least four innings to play.
“He worked so hard. It was time.”
Lincecum shrugged his consent.
“I think it’s easy,” said Lincecum of being relieved, “because I know what our bullpen is capable of.”
That would be to continue the shutout, if not the no-hitter, which was broken up with one out in the seventh by Cubs catcher John Baker, a local kid who graduated from De La Salle High in Concord and played ball at Cal.
George Kontos got the victory, because he was pitching for the Giants when they finally scored a couple of runs off Chicago’s Edwin Jackson in the sixth.
The Giants took two out of three from the Cubs, winning Tuesday and Wednesday on shutouts and extending a string of scoreless innings, by San Francisco and against Chicago, to 20.
One is reminded about the comment by the late football coach John McKay who, while at USC, told a young journalist, “Defense wins, because if the other team doesn’t score it’s impossible to lose.”
Over the last two days by the Bay, the Cubs didn’t score.
They came close. A smash down by the line by Starlin Castro with two on was grabbed by third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who threw out Castro, and then immediately after that a line drive to right by Nate Schierholtz went just foul.
“Pablo kept everything where he it had to be,” said Lincecum. “Zero runs.”
Sandoval, who was hitting something like .161 not too long ago, had two singles Wednesday and raised his average to .246. Not All-Star stuff yet, but no longer embarrassing.
When he brought home Angel Pagan in the sixth, Sandoval had recorded an RBI for the eighth straight game, six of which were Giants victories.
“He’s in such a good zone right now,” Bochy said of Sandoval.
The Giants were 3-0 against the Twins at AT&T, then 2-1 against the Cubs. “This win made for a real nice home stand,” said a very satisfied Bochy.
San Francisco, on the road starting Thursday night at St. Louis, has the best record in baseball. At the moment. The status is fluid. Only a week ago it was the team across the Bay, the Oakland A’s, who had the best mark. Then they lost five in a row.
What could happen to the Giants out there in Middle America is unknown, but they do have a team earned run average of 3.03, second in the National League to the Atlanta Braves.
And they also have the reassurance of knowing that the motorized scooter stolen from outfielder Hunter Pence has been returned.
“We,” quipped Bochy, “can all sleep tonight.”
Zzz, zzz, zzz.
Giants, Pablo Sandoval, Tim Lincecum Email Article By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO — The day began with news of the scooter caper, a bad omen indeed. The motorized scooter on which Giants outfielder Hunter Pence travels about the immediate vicinity was taken from outside a restaurant Sunday night.
Pinched, as the British say. Stolen. John Grisham stuff. Stephen King stuff. Well, in light of the circumstances, baseball writers’ stuff. No scooter for Hunter — “kind of an extension of me,” he said — and no victory Monday afternoon for the Giants.
You think they aren’t connected? Well, why did the Giants on a Memorial Day at AT&T Park, beautiful in all regards other than the result, allow more runs in one game than they had the previous five games? Why did they mishandle the baseball like a group of 7-year-olds? Why did they get pounded — yes, pounded — by the Chicago Cubs, 8-4?
Pence had a backup scooter, which got him to the ballpark, but it was only satisfactory, not satisfying. Hunter went 0-for-4 against Jeff Samardzija.
The Giants, who had their five-game winless streak (four victories and a rain-suspended tie) stopped, are successful — when they’re successful — because of pitching. On Monday the pitching, starter Yusmeiro Petit — like Pence’s transportation, backup — and reliever David Huff didn’t quite have it.
Samardzija definitely did. The man led the majors with a 1.46 earned run average, but was stuck with a 0-4 record. He’s now 1-4, and the Giants, although still with the best record in baseball, for what that’s worth at the end of May, have a one-game losing streak.
This was Matt Cain’s day to start for San Francisco. But that hamstring injury he incurred Wednesday has not healed fully. The Giants say they are fortunate to have a pitcher such as Petit in reserve.
Yusmeiro did well enough through four innings. Then he didn’t do well at all. His replacement, Huff, did even worse. That is baseball, even for the top teams.
“I’m not sure if the pitches caught up with him,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said about Petit losing his touch, or more specifically losing his ability to retire the Cub batters.
Everything happened so suddenly in the top of the fifth, singles, a double — by Samardzija — a triple. A 3-1 Giants lead became, like that, a 4-3 Cubs lead.
“I was hoping we could hold them down,” said Bochy. “We knew with (Samardzija) it was going to be a close game. He has great stuff. It was an off day for us.”
A day that the usual sellout crowd (272 in a row if you’re interested) of more than 42,000 found hard to believe. The Giants were in front early and, hey, let’s get it over and go to dinner. Tuesday would be back to work, so time to eat, drink and celebrate.
Ah, but there before our eyes, the Cubs started smacking around Petit. “I threw the same way as in the first innings,” he said, “but I missed on two pitches.”
That would be the one Samardzija, the former Notre Dame football star, lined to right for the double and the one the next batter, leadoff man Emilio Bonifacio lined to right for a triple.
Huff wasn’t much in the sixth or seventh, and in the seventh the Giants made either two or three errors — one a wild throw by Huff on an attempted pickoff. The uncertainty arises because first they were charged with three, but after a while one of those was changed to a hit. Incidental, in a way, because the guy reached base no matter how it’s ruled.
“The defensive play goes hand in hand with the pitching,” said Bochy, a kind method of saying, “You’re right, everything was awful, but let’s not go into details.”
He did, when questioned, go into Buster Posey’s struggles at the plate. Buster struck out in the first inning, leaving him with a paltry two hits in 25 at bats. Yikes! He did single to center in the fourth (eventually scoring on Pablo Sandoval’s seventh homer of the year), and Bochy was gratified.
Hitting coach Hensley Meulens has adjusted Posey’s stance, so Buster is standing more upright. “He looked good,” said Bochy of Posey, “a lot freer, a lot more comfortable. He’s coming along.”
Buster hitting again would be a plus. So would Cain pitching again. So would the return of Hunter Pence’s motorized scooter. We wait impatiently.
Cubs, Giants, Pablo Sandoval, Yusmeiro Petit Email Article By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO — One word, cobbled together, pasted on the locker behind his head. “Momen-TIM.” That’s what the Giants had, Tim Lincecum waking up echoes and the home crowd reminding us of the way it used to be and perhaps still is.
Lincecum hadn’t had a start like this since last season. In his previous game, five days earlier, Lincecum made it only four innings against the Pirates, allowed eight hits, struck out only four.
There were questions, legitimate ones.
But on Monday night, with the weather gloriously warm, Tim Lincecum gave the answers. And the usual sellout crowd at AT&T Park, as Lincecum left for a reliever in the eighth, gave Tim an ovation that shook the stadium and shook Tim to his shoes.
“It was special in this park,” he said of the cheering. So was his performance, 7 2/3 innings, two hits, 11 strikeouts, which helped the Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-2.
In 2013 Lincecum did pitch a no-hitter, but he had a 10-14 record with a 4.37 earned run average. What he didn’t have, said the experts, was the fastball, which once enabled him to win two National League Cy Young Awards. Nor by the end of September as a free agent did he have a contract.
Lincecum had lost something on his pitches but not anything from his popularity, as was proven again Monday night by the crowd response. So the Giants re-signed him, for big money, for major league money, $35 million for two years.
Nerve-wracking. Damned if they didn’t. Tim in a Mariners uniform? Horrors. Whacked if they did. Those first seven starts this season of 2014, Lincecum never made it out of the sixth inning and had an ERA of 5.55.
Then came Monday night. Then came the rhythm. Then came the domination, Tim striking out the side in the third and sixth.
And thanks to recent call-up Tyler Colvin, who homered with nobody on in the second and tripled with two on in the seventh, the Giants got their runs.
Eight wins in the last 11 games for the first-place Giants, 11 wins in their last 18 games. They have their troubles, true. Brandon Belt, the first baseman, will undergo surgery on his broken thumb and miss six weeks. Down in Los Angeles, Yasiel Puig is smacking them into the seats at Dodger Stadium. It’s going to be a race, going to be a struggle, but if Lincecum works as efficiently as he did Monday night the Giants will be very much in that race.
“I’m happy for Tim,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “He came off a rough start successfully. It was vintage Timmy. He had his slider and his secondary pitches working, his fastball, his changeup. He had a good look about him all night.”
When you’re hot, they say, you’re hot. The Giants can do little wrong these days.
B.J. Upton, who had two of the Braves’ three hits — the third was a home run in the ninth by Freddie Freeman off Javier Lopez — doubled with one out in the seventh of a 1-1 game. Upton then apparently stole third. But Bochy asked for a TV review, and Upton was called out.
“It was that close,” said Bochy. “I had to wait. It was such a tough call.”
The call Giants management made last October was no less difficult. Do you give a man whose future is questionable a contract basically constructed upon his past? The Giants did. Lincecum was grateful. For the moment, the Giants are grateful.
“The key was to be aggressive,” said Lincecum of his game, “not go into many deep counts and don’t let the big guys hurt me.”
Lincecum threw 113 pitches, had all those strikeouts and only one big guy, Upton, hurt him, although since just a run scored the hurt was minor.
“The slider was working early,” said Lincecum. “I wanted to finish my pitches. I was driving my leg through. My game is relying on it.”
Colvin was the guy signed as a minor league free agent in February. He was brought up from Fresno on Saturday, and had a walk and an out against the Dodgers last weekend. Then, starting in left field Monday, boom, boom.
“Yes, this was the highlight of my career,” said Colvin, 28, who had been with the Rockies and Cubs. “To be part of a winning ball club and get a hit to help them to a win is a real good feeling.”
Lincecum has that feeling because he kept the Braves from getting hits. “I was able to keep my pitches down,” he said. “That really means a lot.”
It meant the Giants had what they needed, Moment-TIM.
By Art Spander
ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Raiders were wise and logical, employing their first-round pick Thursday to draft a linebacker who observers claim can do everything, much needed by a defense that could do very little.
Oh, if only the Raiders were less wise and more whimsical.
That Oakland took Khalil Mack of the University of Buffalo was both expected and well regarded.
Sporting journalists were resigned to the move while, sob, wishing instead for Johnny Manziel. It was to dream.
As the man who once ran the Raiders, the late Al Davis, told us in no uncertain terms, the idea is to “Just win, baby.”
Since the Raiders have not just won for 11 consecutive seasons, the selection of Mack — who “could have been the No. 1 overall pick,” wrote one scouting service — indicates that the organization is intent on changing both its record and its culture.
Yet think of how much fun it would have been by the Bay had Oakland chosen Manziel, the quarterback known as Johnny Football and the only guy in the draft who mattered, according to ESPN, the organization that dictates our tastes in things athletic.
Did the Raiders need to use the No. 5 pick of the first round on a QB, especially one supposedly both undersized and undisciplined? Not at all. They smartly took Mack, excellent at bringing down the passer.
Those of us with long memories recall Al Davis maybe 30 years ago, perhaps more, saying in one of those NFL Films segments, “The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard.”
That was before the NFL became a passing league.
So, all credit to Raider GM Reggie McKenzie and head coach Dennis Allen. “He understands how to rush the passer, and to rush the passer with power,” Allen said of Mack, who played at University of Buffalo.
Beautiful, but do Allen and McKenzie understand what makes a great story? We humble folk behind the microphones and laptops most certainly do.
Imagine Johnny Manziel with the Raiders, even as a backup, and Colin Kaepernick with the 49ers, who face Oakland in a league game during the fall.
Sports writers, columnists, TV reporters, radio reporters, ESPN, CNN, Fox, and even Al Jazeera would have been lined up from Santa Clara to the Golden Gate Bridge for interviews.
Sure, Kap doesn’t say very much, and Johnny Football would be a backup, but that’s beside the point. They’re famous, which is not beside the point as you note from recent sporting tales. Fame sells.
We could have tossed in Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, brought up JaMarcus Russell. Pride, poise and pronouns. How enthralling. Alas, how impossible.
Manziel looked like someone who had swallowed a whole lemon as, unable to avoid the cameras, he waited while the draft plodded along. He finally went at No. 22. Shades of Aaron Rodgers in 2005.
But the Rodgers story was primarily local. He was a Cal kid, and the Niners had the No. 1 pick in the draft. Mike Nolan decided on Smith. Rodgers, falling to 24th in the opening round, eventually went to Green Bay and subsequently to the Super Bowl, State Farm commercials and a promo ad for the new Seth Rogen movie, “Neighbors.” See how things grow?
We could have blown up this Kaepernick vs. Manziel thing to where that’s all anyone would have been talking about. No such luck. Johnny Football is stuck in Cleveland, where the probability is he won’t make anyone forget Otto Graham or even Tim Couch.
What the Raiders want to forget is the recent past, their failings on defense. You have to stop the other guys or it doesn’t matter if Joe Montana or Jim Plunkett is your quarterback.
Enter then, along with Oakland free agent signings Justin Tuck and LaMarr Woodley, Khalil Mack.
Nobody — nobody — had a discouraging thing to say about Mack. Just the opposite. “Mack may be the most complete defender in the draft,” wrote Chris Burke in a Sports Illustrated blog. “Even ahead of (Jadeveon) Clowney. Considering he is adept at rushing the passer, stuffing the run and dropping in coverage, working him into the mix should not be too difficult.”
It is waste of time to ask of a sporting organization if it likes the picks it makes in a draft. “If they didn’t like them,” John Madden often said, “they wouldn’t have made them.”
Still, McKenzie and Allen, beginning their third year with the Raiders, seemed especially joyful.
“He’s a real man,” said Allen of Mack. “He’s a football-first guy. And he’s got tremendous work ethic and he’s a team player.”
Agreed. But Johnny Manziel is a story. Sob.
Johnny Manziel, Khalil Mack, Raiders Email Article 