The Giants Win the Game! The Giants Win the Game!

Hey, you got to celebrate the good times, you don't know when they will come again. :^) And hey, our clean-up hitter leads the team in HR, and is now among the leaders in HR this season in the NL. Better check his syringe, er, bat!

I am posting because I heard part of the interview with Rob Neyer, of ESPN, on KNBR today. He said that as of the beginning of the season, he thought the Giants were capable of a 70-74 win season. So he doesn't understand all the talk about the Giants losing 100 games. He said even the Marlins, Nationals, and Pirates didn't lose 100 games in recent years (and he thinks the Giants have a better team). He said that is because the NL is relatively balanced, so it is pretty hard for a team, no matter how bad, to lose 100 games.

I'm Fine, How are You?

Those are good points, but in any case, I think I'm in a good position right now, a win/win/win in terms of happiness for this season. If the Giants do lose 90 to 100 games as many have forecasted, we'll get a really good draft pick in 2009, another top 5 pick, so I'm happy, that should be another good hitter to go with the guy we get in this year's draft. If we win 72 to 80 games, that's basically what I thought they were capable of, high end and low end, I'm happy, that's what I thought they would do. If they, miracle of miracles, win 81 or more games, then I'm happy because I was very wrong, they were able to do it somehow, and you know that it would involve a lot of great pitching, both starters and relievers, plus some standout hitting on the part of somebody young and developing.

I plan on enjoying myself this season, there should be a lot of good pitching to go around and I think one or two young hitters will do nice enough work that we can grin about it after the season. I will leave the moaning about the team to other, more talented moaners.

Did I Mention That the Giants Won the Game?

But Lincecum sure looked good last night, eh? Nothing wrong with his arm, that was a 4 PQS game, a dominating start. His only blemish was giving up 7 hits, but that was flukey given that he went 6 IP and struck out 7. That results in a BABIP around .400, and pitchers should be around .300 if they are regular. And we all know that Lincecum is above average so his BABIP should be lower, theoretically speaking.

Too bad Brian Wilson blew the save. But I think he'll be OK once he calms down a bit, I think the young guys are all amped because it's the start of the season, more so for Wilson because he didn't get a chance at a save until this game, an appearance until the game before. And as a I noted in a previous post, a scout was quoted in the San Jose Mercury by Andy Baggerly as saying that Wilson had one of the four great arms in the Giants system.

FYI, I guess the Giants passed on Jerome Williams. He came begging, hat in hand, after losing 30 pounds over the off-season, to drop from 260 to 230, for a job anywhere with any team. But no one bit, so he ended up signing with an independent league team in California. I'm surprised the Giants did not bite, but then again, they passed on Kurt Ainsworth and Damian Moss too (but we got Foppert and Walker back!).