Giants Return To Bay Area in a Rut

The Giants tour through the AL West that started out in Seattle, then went through LA, has gotten off to a rough start. Luckily for them, although the series is in Oakland this weekend, they got a much needed return home and off-day Thursday as they try to right their ship vs. the surging Athletics.

Weaver Shuts Down SF

The A's are coming off a series themselves where they helped the Giants stay within striking distance of the first place Dodgers by sweeping them during the week. They'll be rolling into the weekend set with a full head of steam and on the heels of some pretty outstanding starting pitching. They held the potent Dodgers attack, albeit without MVP-candidate Matt Kemp, to just 2 total runs in the three game series. Unfortunately for the Giants, at the same time that was happening, they were having offensive troubles of their own in LA as they were shut out in the rubber match by Angels' ace Jered Weaver. Friday night's matchup at The Collesium should be a dandy, as Tim Lincecum will take the hill for the first time since his dad went on a tirade to Bob Nigthengale about the SF media crucifying his son in the middle of Timmy's struggles. Lincecum will go up against the A's new ace, Jarrod Parker, who, opposite of his Friday night counterpart, has been on a tear recently. The key for the Giants in this one, as will be until Lincecum gets back on the right path is to jump out to an early lead to allow Lincecum to pitch with and take away a lot of the pressure. It won't be easy either, as the Giants have notoriously struggled on that side of the water over the years.

I just wanted to touch very briefly on Chris Linceucm's interview with Nightengale, cause I don't really like talking off-field nonsense at this site. The only reason I'm doing so, is because I do understand where Chris is coming from, I written a lot of the same arguments he was making on this site, yet at the same time, he better be careful what he wishes for. He's telling the San Francisco media that they're going to "run Lincecum out of

Lincecum's Father Goes on Tirade

town" with their crucifying, but what does he think it would be like in New York, Boston, Miami, LA, Chicago or any other market with an extensive fan base and media coverage. I'll tell you one thing, if Lincecum was throwing like this for the Yankees, it wouldn't matter that he's had two Cy Youngs in the past, he'd be ridiculed because, like every other major pro sport this is a "what have you done for me lately" format. Also, if Lincecum keeps pitching like this, not that I think he will, but if he did go on to finish out this year in this rut, then start off next year in similar fashion, his "walk year", then it won't matter that he won a CY Young or has been an All-Star. Right now, the Giants are looking like the winners for Lincecum declining that 5-year/$100M deal over the winter, and it's on Lincecum to prove otherwise, not the San Francisco media base.

That's my thought on the recent Lincecum outrage, and I personally think it was uncalled for on his father's part to go off the way he did. Everybody in Northern California is pulling for Lincecum, the Giants need him, and if he thinks otherwise, I suggest he show up at Lincecum's next home start and see the love the fans pour onto him... Back to baseball! The Giants are slipping back to .500 territory and they blew a chance at closing some space between them and the Dodgers this week. Now's their chance to get back on track.