Braves @ Giants - NLDS IST

[Frayed Knot]

The final series to kick off features Derek Lowe vs Tim Lincecum

Full sked:
Thur - @ SF - 9:37 PM
Fri - @ SF - 9:37 PM
Sun - @ ATL - TBA
* Mon - @ ATL - TBA
* Wed - @ SF - TBA

At least MLB had the decency to make this one the late start (though not late local time) rather than pulling a travesty of shoving the night game in October in Minnesota to an even later start than usual just to get the Skanks in prime time again.

[G-Fafif]

Tim Lincecum...he's good.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Oh, quite.

[Zvon]

So the only run so far involves a bad call by an ump?
I don't think MLB needs replay.
I think they need people who can ump.
Sheesh.

Whoever's in the booth says the ump was blocked out because of where he was standing.
Well, then why was he standing there?
Stand where you have a good chance to see all possible plays around your base.
Well, duh.....

[Frayed Knot]

So much for Lincecum 'losing it' like it started to seem two months ago.

I hadn't realized until this morning's paper that the Giants left Zito off the roster completely.
I knew they were going to take him out of the rotation for this round, but I guess when he gave wish-washy answers as to whether he would even be a help in the bullpen they erased his name completely.
If they advance and need more pitching in the later round(s) I suspect they'll put him back on but, right now, that's a lot of money sitting on the sidelines. They dropped trade deadline-acquired Jose Guillen too - although that seems to be for more of a physical problem.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Not that it changes his tax bracket, but does that change his mandated post-season share? I guess the players would vote him a full share anyhow, but...

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, that's a player thing and I can't see them cutting him out of even a fraction of whatever the Giants wind up with.

[Gwreck]

I believe post-season shares are voted on before the start of the playoffs. Remember, the second-place teams that don't get the wild card also get post-season shares.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yes, I know that. I'm wondering who is entitled to a mandatory share. I assume that Kevin Elster, as a member of the Mets post-season roster got a full mandatory World Series Share despite his scant contribuitons in the regular season. Other guys had to rely on the largess of the the 24 guys on that roster to vote them shares.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

A little historical perspective on Timmeh's Freak Show:

Lincecum had a 96 game score -- a metric created by Bill James to determine a pitcher's dominance in a particular game -- which was the fourth-highest in postseason history, the highest ever for the first game of a playoff series, and the highest ever for a Division Series game -- beating the 94 that Roy Halladay put up the day before. � Lincecum's 96 game score was the second-best best ever for a pitcher in his first postseason game, trailing only Babe Ruth's 14-inning complete game for the Red Sox in Game 2 of the 1916 World Series. � Lincecum's 96 game score is the best in Giants' postseason history. The next-closest was Christy Mathewson's 86 for the New York Giants in Game 3 of the 1905 World Series (four-hit shutout, eight strikeouts) and Jason Schmidt's 86 in Game 1 of the 2003 NLDS (three-hit shutout, five strikeouts).

[G-Fafif]

A little historical perspective on Timmeh's Freak Show: Lincecum had a 96 game score -- a metric created by Bill James to determine a pitcher's dominance in a particular game ... The next-closest was Christy Mathewson's 86 for the New York Giants in Game 3 of the 1905 World Series (four-hit shutout, eight strikeouts).

There's something about that statement that is both awe-inspiring and absurd. Christy Mathewson, three shutout victories in that very same World Series, the one New York Giant player whose name still resonates as emblematic of the city's first great professional athletic powerhouse -- still standing after everything else from that era has been long demolished or forgotten (sort of like the John T. Brush Stairway) ... 373 lifetime victories ... America's first sports hero ... the pitcher to whom Tom Seaver was compared for both talent and intelligence when came up ... the frigging Christian Gentleman ...

...and along comes this kid with the hair and the motion and the strikeouts and, by some measure, he exceeds Christy Mathewson in a Giants uniform 105 years later.

Wow.

[Fman99]

I'm sure that Lincecum celebrated by going home, putting giant headphones on and listening to Foghat's "Slow Ride" as the credits rolled.

[TransMonk]

BOC!!

[G-Fafif]

This was his one get out of jail free card?

[G-Fafif]

Pat Burrell mmmbops Hanson. 3-0 for the team dressed for Halloween.

[G-Fafif]

Bobby Cox ejected. And I thought the playoffs were supposed to be special.

[G-Fafif]

Giants dressed in bright orange, Braves look like pumpkins.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

A baseball stadium full of throbbing black and orange bodies kinda looks fuggin' awesome.

[G-Fafif]

And so close to midnight...spooky!

[Zvon]

I stuck a fork in the Braves as soon as Prado went down. Tough getting into this series.
The only reason I can say I have it on is because it's late night baseball.
Ya gotta love late night baseball.

Am I right or am I right?

[G-Fafif]

Zvon wrote: Am I right or am I right?

Given the choices, I'd have to say you're right.

[Zvon]

At least this is getting interesting.
4-4 at 12:15 am EST.
Some guy on the mound for S.F. with a very strange looking fake beard.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

That Wooly Willy-looking fella is closer Brian Wilson.

(Or, rather, "closer.")

[Zvon]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: That Wooly Willy-looking fella is closer Brian Wilson. (Or, rather, "closer.")

Is that beard supposed to match the black in the uniform?
That's wacked looking. As a batter I guess it works cause you have to imagine he's crazy.
It's freakin scary. And it's distracting.

I keep looking for the strings that's holding it on.

[Zvon]

Wagner blowing this game would suit me just fine.

[Zvon]

Ha! He's hurt. Right.
Wagner's as fake as that guys beard.

[Zvon]

Braves win.
Good game
*yawn*

[Frayed Knot]

I think the surprising thing here was that Kyle Farnsworth was actually able to close down a tight game.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

That Posey bases-loaded GIDP in the bottom of the tenth made me wistful for Metsie.

[G-Fafif]

Separated at death...of a career, that is:

Y.A. Tittle, two knees, 1964; Billy Wagner, one knee, 2010: