Giants fans have been spoiled, I guess. Tim Lincecum goes out and wins two Cy Young Awards in his first three seasons, yet many have found fault in his 11-5 record and 3.15 ERA heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Cubs.
What’s to be worried about? He’s only striking out one less batter per nine innings than he was last year and has the same walk rate as he did in his first Cy Young season.
He’s fine! Seriously, he’s fine.
We’re all fine.
Then Kosuke Fukudome hits a three-run, 416-foot blast into McCovey Cove off Lincecum in the first inning last night and you realize he’s not fine. He’s far from fine. He’s Kosuke-f’n-Fukudome-just-hit-a-towering-416-foot-home-run-off-him not fine.
There is no shortage of reasons why Lincecum is struggling right now: He’s getting behind hitters, his command comes and goes, he’s tinkering with his windup too much and his changeup often bounces two feet in front of home plate instead of finding Buster Posey’s catcher mitt.
He’s struggling. He needs a barber. He’s out of whack. He’s in a funk. Please cut that thing, Tim.
Somebody forgot to inform Brandon Phillips that if he’s going to make comments like the ones he did Monday about the Cardinals, he and his team needs to actually back them up.
Since Phillips called the Cardinals “little bitches,” St. Louis has reeled off two straight wins in Cincy and erased a two-game deficit in the NL Central. With one game remaining in the series, the Cards have seized a ton of momentum and have a chance to turn the entire season on its head.
It appears as though Phillips’ comments did nothing but wake the Cards up, as evidence of the clubs’ brawl in the bottom of the first inning during Tuesday’s game. (Check out the video below before the MLB takes it down off YouTube.)
Following the melee was a pretty good game – a game in which the Cards downed the Reds, 8-4. The defeat ensured that the Reds will lose a series for only the second time in their last 14 and they’ll try to avoid the sweep today.
I think it’s humorous that the Cincinnati broadcast team in the video above try to pin the start of the scuffle on Yaider Molina. Phillips needs to realize that he can’t say what he did and then tap Molina’s shin guards like they’re old war buddies. I don’t blame Molina for getting in Phillips’ face, although I do blame Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker for what they did following the shouting match at home plate. Before La Russa and Baker started spatting at each other, the “fight” was nothing more than a tense huddle. But instead of getting the situation under control like they should have done, La Russa and Baker couldn’t put aside their own differences and they wound up escalating the situation.
And what was Johnny Cueto thinking? I realize he was backed into a corner, but so was Chris Carpenter and he didn’t feel the need to start sissy-kicking everyone. He could have seriously hurt someone (even more than Jason LaRue having to get stitches in his face) with that crap move. I’m sure plenty of people (including maybe even teammate Brendan Ryan) want to take a few shots at the loudmouth Carpenter, but kicking someone in the back with metal spikes on is weak.
Kudos to Scott Rolen for not only trying to play peacemaker, but for landing some real shots when the brawl actually started. Dude was a beast, although too bad he alone can’t stop the Cardinals from taking back the division.
The Reds have shown their resiliency before. There have been a several times this season when fans could have said, “Yep – here’s where it all falls apart,” but the club just kept winning.
Considering Eastern Michigan won a total of zero games last year, you’d think head coach Ron English would be open-minded when it came to recruiting players.
But apparently the man has some recruiting guidelines, which include the player having been raised by a father.
From the ESPN.com:
Here is what English said July 31 when asked about his incoming recruiting class: “You know what the real focus was? We wanted to recruit football players that love football. I felt like we had a lot of guys who really didn’t love football. They maybe were playing football so that they could go to school or whatever, but not for the love of playing football.
“So when we went out, we wanted to do two things. We wanted players who love football, who have the physical ability to play football and then the other thing we wanted was guys that could be coached. We wanted guys that had a father in their background because if you don’t, the hard part is, some guy like me coming in and corrects you. So you’re working — that’s a whole another dynamic. A guy that’s raised by his mom — and please don’t take me wrong — but the reality is, you have to teach that guy how to be taught by a man. That’s part of it.”
English has since apologized for the comments, which he should have. To think that a single mother can’t teach a boy to be a man is absolutely ludicrous, especially considering that some fathers can’t even teach their boys to be a men. His comments were incredibly shortsighted and sexist as well. LeBron James was raised by a single mother and I think he turned out fine.
How a coach could purposely stay away from a talented player because he wasn’t raised by a father is asinine. It looks like the football program at Eastern Michigan is in good hands with English.
Merry training camp season, everyone. It’s been a long offseason, but football is finally gearing up again and to celebrate I’m rolling out a new series on TSR entitled “2010 NFL Question Marks,” where I discuss one or two of the biggest concerns that teams have heading into the new season. Granted, some teams have more issues than others, but I’ll primarily be focusing on the biggest problem areas. Today I’ll be discussing the 49ers and their growing concerns along the offensive line.
The NFC West has emerged as the weakest division in football. The Rams are atrocious, the Cardinals are in transition mode and nobody quite knows what to make of the new-look Seahawks.
That’s why the 49ers are so intriguing. People have fallen in love with Mike Singletary’s coaching style and are encouraged about the development of former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith. They also have a great talent at running back in Frank Gore, a suddenly decent receiving corps thanks to Michael Crabtree, a stud tight end in Vernon Davis, and a young, energetic defense that has taken on Singletary’s ferocity and swagger.
But Smith and the rest of the offense will only go as far as the offensive line takes them and as of this moment, things don’t look good for the Niners’ front five.
Singletary has already named rookies Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati the starters at right tackle and left guard, respectively. Both first-rounders certainly have the talent to succeed, but as with any young player in the NFL, Davis and Iupati will likely struggle in their first years. It’s only inevitable.
This Darrelle Revis situation has become like a bad movie that I just can’t stop talking about. I want to stop, honestly I do. But I can’t. I just can’t. I’m sick with it. So now I’m just going to give into it.
God help us.
Earlier today, head coach Rex Ryan essentially told the media that the Jets would be just fine without Revis.
“Don’t feel sorry for us,” the Jets’ coach said. “We have everything we need here on defense.”
“We have a great collection of individual talent,” Ryan said. “These guys will play great as a team. That’s what we’ll do. Obviously, Revis is a tremendous player. Ray Lewis, a tremendous player. Ed Reed, tremendous player. Kris Jenkins, too. But it’s about the unit, and we’ve been selling that from the day we walked on here.
“We can get it done,” Ryan continued. “We’re not afraid of anybody.”
Good attitude. Maybe the Jets’ front office should share in Ryan’s sediment and give Revis an ultimatum: Either accept the latest offer or sit out the entire year.
I’ve gone back and forth on this topic over the last couple of weeks, but I keep coming back to the same mindset: Revis is wrong, the Jets are right. The Jets shouldn’t have to pay for Al Davis’ mistake (and it was a mistake) with the Nnamadi Asomugha contract. Revis has every right to feel entitled to make more than Asomugha, but the Jets have every right to tell him to take what they’re offering or shove off.
