My Life Passing In Front of My Eyes

Or a nice sucker punch, right up into my gut. That's some of the merriment I (and millions of Giants fans) enjoyed when they first learned of Lincecum's unfortunate appointment with a batted ball. It could have been a shattered kneecap, though when I finally saw the footage in the evening news, it was clear to me that the damage couldn't have been that bad, he was still hobbling around - I would think a shattered kneecap would just leave you on the ground sobbing.

The X-rays proved negative: he did not suffer any breakage. So he should just have one nasty bruise where the ball hit and the talk is that he would make his next start, though I would prefer that they either skip his next start, or push it back a few days to give him more rest and recovery. His agent has already said that he's OK and ready to start his next scheduled start.

Good Pitching Is Good to Have

This incident serves to remind us that he won't be with us forever and that a player's future could be taken away, just like that, on the baseball field. That's why it is good we got Bumgarner and Alderson waiting in the minors, plus Sosa as another possibility. Pitching is a good commodity to have a lot of.

Can never have too many pitchers, and that's the beauty of focusing on pitching, when another good one comes up, you can just slot him in almost anywhere, rotation, bullpen, closer (assuming he's THAT good). Unlike position players where if you end up with two of them, you often need to trade one away (like Texas with their litany of good 1B, Texiera, Hafner, Adrian Gonzalez; or the Giants and Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda). Pitchers can be easily additive to almost any staff, everyone can use another good pitcher and insert him in somewhere; hitters, not so much.

And what's up with Brad Ausmus? He's a nothing catcher offensively whose name I seem to hear every time we face the Astros, and never in a good "another DP" way. I'm sure there is a Lincecum Death Squad of Giants fans already headed for Houston to take out Ausmus when the time is right. Make it so.