#Tim Lincecum #No Hitter - 5 Reasons Unlikely Coincidence - Tim Lincecum Fangraphs, Tim Lincecum Twitter, Tim Lincecum

CLICK HERE



 Tim Lincecum #No Hitter -   Unlikely Coincidence?  -  #Tim Lincecum Fangraphs,  Tim Lincecum, SanFranciscoGiants.com, SFGaints, No Hitter - #PEDs?



It seems like whenever the Giants are on a skid, something like this happens, eg Lincecum no-hitter, the second in two years and against the same team.  One just has to wonder at least a little bit...
The Giants had just lost 10 of 13 and two in a row to San Diego and suddenly Lincecum, now 30, blows away San Diego, this year more with   cut pitches more than the fastball. Last year he was suddenly throwing mid-90s fastballs and 140 total pitches, unheard of for most pitchers, especially the diminutive Lincecum. This year he did it with the cut stuff and seemed to do it effortlessly and as if he knew it it was coming. Tim Lincecum No Hitter , Tim Lincecum Fangraphs,  Tim Lincecum Twitter, Tim Lincecum, SanFranciscoGiants.com, SFGaints, No Hitter, #PEDs?

WHY UNLIKELY TIM LINCECUM NO HITTER?

1) First Pitcher in 100 Years to Throw Two No Hitters for San Francisco Giants
  (Christy Mathewson through the other). Even the great Juan Marichal didn't throw two.) 
   
2) First Pitcher to Throw Two No Hitters Against the Same Team

3) One of Only a Handful of Pitchers to Throw No Hitter After Age 30
     On the Downside of His Career

4) Perhaps the only Pitcher to throw Two No Hitters Despite a near 5.00 ERA

5) Threw No Hitter Almost Effortlessly, Almost Expected

Lincecum is only the second pitcher in the history of the Giants to throw two no-hitters...and he nearly threw a third last year against Chicago and he's doing it well past his prime Cy Young seasons, which makes things seem even more odd. This year he's been able to throw 93 mph on occassion but used other pitches, too. In addition, Lincecum got two base hits, more than his total for the whole year.



Again, one just has to wonder at least a bit how this could happen. We've seen Sandoval suddenly hit three homeruns against Detroit top pitching in playoffs and more homers in October than the rest of the season. We've seen other late career players like  Cody Ross, Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell suddenly ramp it up for the playoffs and World Series -in fact the entire Giants team has almost
magically 'caught fire' late in seasons with different cast of characters.  It was very unlikely and perhaps unbelievable to see the Giants, led by players like Lincecum to blow out much better teams in those 2010 and 2012 playoffs
and series.




And, again, this time, when the Giants needed a lift, almost magically, probably the Giants weakest starter(near 5,00 ERA for the season) puts up a no-hitter, something he couldn't even   during his prime - and now he's done it twice in two years at age 30.
San Diego may be the weakest hitting team in baseball but they've been hot lately, beating the Giants twice. Tim Lincecum No Hitter - Unlikely Coincidence?, Tim Lincecum Fangraphs,  Tim Lincecum Twitter, Tim Lincecum, SanfranciscoGiants.com, SFGaints





The Giants are known to look for things like this to spark not only the team but the fan base - and have long turned the other way concerning the use of Performance enhancing drugs. No , we're not saying Lincecum used them, yet there are too many coincidences here. We can't say for sure - the fastball wasn't a key factor here by which  we often use to help measure performance trends and likelihood of PED use - but  PEDs work for other pitches, too,  adding dip, curving action, etc. NOW WITH THE LATEST DESIGNER DRUGS- FOR WHICH MLB HAS STILL NOT  INSTITUTED TESTS (WHICH DO EXIST) THAT CAN DETECT THEM - PLAYERS CAN GO ON AND OFF THE DRUGS ON A WHIM AND HAVE THEM OUT OF THE SYSTEM WITHIN HOURS, eg Lincecum can take a dose before the game and have it out of his systems hours later. Why do you think players like Sandoval and others have sudden spurts of success amidst failures. 



 Furthermore, we can look at empirical data of known #PED users   such as Bartolo Colon,    comparing F/X (FANGRAPHS) (velocity) stats with those of Lincecum. We DON'T see an expeced increase in velocity, but a natural age-related decrease in velocity. For Colon, the fastball showed a drop from 92.1 to 90.9 and for Lincecum the fastball dropped  from 93.6 mph to 89.8 in a seven year period from 2007 and 2014.  No, we can't be sure Colon and LIncecum were users the entire seven year period but we can assume that Colon probably was. And, instead of an expected increase of velocity from the PEDs we actually see a drop. Likewise with Lincecum.  Then, of course, there are different types of  PEDs. Steroids such as creatine used by Mark McGwire ,   popular earlier, add  mass and bulk, thereby especially enhancing one's bat speed, ie power, while also aiding in hand-eye coordination, ie seeing and hitting the ball better. 


SO, HOW DO THE NEWER DESIGNER PEDs HELP PLAYERS? Today , the newer designer drugs like testosterone may not add the bulk but ,rather, still improve accuracy/hand-eye performance , ie  we may not see a huge rise in homeruns but we see improved batting averages and reduce strikeouts while on the PEDs. In pitching , with the newer drugs , we would see similar changes, including ball movement. Pitches  will do unusual things such as giving exaggerated movement to the pitch/ball.   Players have become smarter and have learned to 'hide' their improved performances. No longer do we see cartoon-like homerun totals but higher batting averages, take known PED user Melky Cabrera  who suddenly raised his batting average  50 points when he joined Kansas City / San Francisco before being suspended as a Giant. The above is our take / opinion on a subject that we hope we can stop writing about one of these days , but for now we feel, as 'old-school' baseball fans, needs to be brought before the public.

SEE LINCECUM FIRST NO HITTER: Unlikely 148-Pitch No Hitter, Giants Up to Old Tricks Again?

SEE MORE GIANTS

Tim Lincecum No Hitter - Unlikely Coincidence?, Tim Lincecum Fangraphs,  Tim Lincecum Twitter, Tim Lincecum, SanfranciscoGiants.com, SFGaints

NOW Javier Lopez, TIM LINCECUM and 'MORE MONEY BALL' - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS COUGH IT UP AGAIN

NOW Javier Lopez, TIM LINCECUM and  'MORE MONEY  BALL' - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS COUGH  IT UP AGAIN  


Just in - Thirty-six year old Javier Lopez signing for $13.5 million for three years. Based on his 40 innings of work last season (which translates to about 10 pitches an inning or 400) means that JAVIER IS GETTING $10,000 PER PITCH !  Yes, like most of the Giants, his numbers seem to get better-  as he gets older -hmmm! - one has to question another overpayment by the Giants. Unless he's on something , which is very possible being a Giant - one cannot expect a 36 year old pitcher to continue posting a 1.50 ERA. Unlike other pitchers who have to stay out there and field and hitters who have to field, Javier usually only has to come in for a batter or two and that's it! What a job!  Of course Javier and others return to the Giants in glowing terms because, when you pin them down, nobody offered naively higher salaries.
The Giants seem incapable of going out and getting decent, prime of career, non-using players  so they continue to hang on to their aging players until they finally - PEDs  or not - backfire on the team; think Huff,
Rowand, Tejada among others. GM Sabean, the man of the 'band-aid cures' for the team.  Sure, the Giants finally won the two World Series - as they will remind you-  but only because of  PEDs,, namely Melky Cabrera and, indirectly, Jose Guillen as previously mentioned - and a number of other 'suspicious' players we've talked about in the past... Even with the extra 'help' the Giants didn't come close this year. Now they have a couple over paid , aging pitchers in Lopez and Tim Hudson, plus , for that matter, Tim Lincecum. Why not add Vogelsong to that list, though he only got one year, amazingly.



It looks like it's all about marketing for the San Francisco Giants.  Frankly, the only thing thats going to give Tim Lincecum a semblance of the greatness he had in his early years    is if he gets 'help' from an outside source, if you know what we mean. And, that may be what GM Sabean and President Baer -long known for espousing  ' win at any cost ' - are counting on  in signing their popular , thin , right hander to a $35 million, two year contract.  Lincecum will be the second highest paid Giant, yet with one of the worst records. For the early part of the season and last year he had the worst ERA in the league among regular starters. So, he improved  the latter half of 2013 for whatever reasons. Is that still enough to throw $17 million a year at him? . We never believed he would ever have been brought back to the Giants after two years in a row  of below 4.00 ERA baseball. Remember how greatful local fans were when the Giants didn't have to pick up that 5 year 200 million contract?  Lincecum's overall performance the past two years isn't even mediocre. Except for   games,  against the weak Western division teams like Houston (now in the American League) , Lincecum  got  lit up. He gave up 44 homers this year  . Even Barry Zito had a better record than Lincecum last year - and Zito is 35 years old.



So we have this new contract after Thin Tim   comes  off his third losing season in a row with a mediocre 4.36 ERA.  Yeah, he had a no-hitter in which he threw 144 pitches -against the weakest link, Houston Astros -which is just one reason to suspect that he might be getting that needed 'help.'  He also raised his velocity back up to 91, which is also interesting, indicative that he already started getting 'help.' But  help or not, you can't expect Lincecum to do any better as he gets older than what he did this year.  You've got only so much to work with. Perhaps the Giants don't mind over-paying since they got a good deal in Lincecum's early years.




If the Giants will be happy with a third or fourth man starter losing  more games than  he wins, that's what they'll be getting in Lincecum- even with that 'help.' (You can't make a superstar out of a now average player, even with 'help.' )   Perhaps they feel Lincecum - a likable yet  flaky guy - is the 'face of the franchise ' to  whom local   fans can relate in the  most liberal city of San Francisco - the only place where  the smell of  marijuana permeates the stadium   during  World Series games. Of course, Lincecum is a known marijuana user,  himself.  And so what if it were found out he was using PEDs to bring up his velocity and game; the fans had no problem , in fact, they loved Barry Bonds for a decade - and still do, even after he admitted to using steroids and having perjured himself in court. Not to mention the band of other Gaint Taints as in Melky, Mota, Guillen and going back to Rich Aurillia, Matt Williams, Bonds - over 20 INDICTED players (Mitchell Report and recent suspensions) many of whom gave the Giants very unfair advantages in regular season and resulting in Playoffs and World Series.  Take away just two of those guys , Cabrera and Guillen, and the Giants would never even have been in the the only two World Series victories they've seen in 60 years. Only in San Francisco.



The Giants have similarly hung on to players like Pablo 'Panda' Sandoval, whom other teams would have dismissed long ago, after numerous issues (from poor performance to continually being overweight to even being involved in a sex scandal). Only in San Francisco.



One wonders, however, why the Giants ever let Brian Wilson go to the Dodgers. Wilson had 'San Francisco' written all over him, with the beard and his eccentricities. Fans  loved him. Yet when he was gone
it didn't seem to really bother the fans that much. (Wilson, at this point, would seem to have much more value to the  team than Lincecum, what with his sub 1.00 ERA this year. ) Wilson, no doubt, wasn't the 'yes man' on which the Giants depend. He didn't want to have to come back to ATT for  a public party - that would show 'how great' the Giants treated him - just to get his World Series ring.  Similarly, there are reasons that announcer Hank Greenwald, owner Bill Neucomb , trainer Stan Conte and others quietly - or not-so-quiety- walked away from the Giants.  And, if Lincecum were not re-signed,  the fans would probably quickly forget and still be back for whatever it is that Baer and Co. put in their drink that lures them to the ATT ballpark. Half price tickets?  Players with cute names like Panda and Giraffe? . Un-natural, win-at -all-costs (well, not always)   PED baseball? The Giants management are the Obamas of baseball, pulling the wool over the eyes, purportedly giving people what they want - until something happens.



 Leave it to Baer and company to do whatever it takes to win. And, if they can't win, at least they got their so-called  150+ sell outs. And lots and lots of MONEY.



TIM LINCECUM and  'MORE MONEY  BALL' - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS COUGH  IT UP AGAIN 

How Did 4.26 ERA Little Timmy Lincecum Possibly Pitch a 148 Pitch No Hitter for the Giants?

The will of the person to succeed is strong, but sometimes the body is not as strong, and a little boost is all they need to get to the top. Perhaps this is a struggling person, who is looking for some sort of big breakthrough to live out his dream and take care of his family, is he evil if he were to give in to temptation that are performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs)? - Jay Nault, from 'Train Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: The Many Effects of PEDs in Baseball, NETWORKS, Cornell University

Lincecum says he wasn't tired after 148 pitches

Sorry but something, again, doesn't smell right with the #San Francisco Giants. As in the past,after a bad streak, the #Giànts suddenly and magically get better. The team starts hitting , the pitchers pitching - and now a #no hitter from #Tim Lincecum, his first, on an astounding 148 pitches! This from a little guy who couldn't normally get past the sixth inning. When was his last complete game? And he says he wasn't even tired after this historic game, the first no hitter ever pitched in San Diego Petco Park on this July 14.

Sure you can say the Padres are a patsy and have lost 14 of 15, but these were all on the road except for the three latest with the Giànts- and San Diego had most of its injured regulars back in the lineup . And it's  middle lineup has a .300 lifetime average against Lincecum. Sure the Giànts get a lot of fans in San Diego but that's still not a home field advantage. Even Hunter Pence, cold as ice the past three weeks had five RBIs and Sandoval is suddenly hitting. No doubt Tim Lincecum, who's never been adverse to using artificial stimulants, was pissed off at their losing streak, along with his fellow Giants, as well as recently being no hit themselves, so Tim probably got in his head that  he could throw a no hitter himself, whatever it takes, even   in a season where he has a   4.26 ERA and  not even  complete game or much  more than 100 pitches pitched.


And it's very interesting that this no hitter occurred on a day then Giants latest  acquisition, Jeff  Franquer came in from - you guessed it- Kansas City. Kansas City has long been #Brian Sabean's favorite team (almost the exclusive team) with which he deals. Virtually every new player in recent years has come to the Giants by way of or thru  KC. One-fifth - 11 - of all player suspensions since 2005 are   Venezuelans (Wikipaedia)    - and these  are   players who've been having career years as soon as coming to Giànts, namely Blanco, Mijares, Machi and, especially Scutaro, who has hit well over .300 since coming to Giànts and has cut his strikeouts in half, even whole being injured. Scutaro is 37 and never hit above .299 even in his prime until meeting up with his countrymen like Cabrera , before he was suspended from the Giants. Sandoval went on an amazing streak the end of last year with seven - many massive - homers the last few weeks after Scutaro , Mijares and Blamvo and Mijares came along . Even shortstop Crawford started hitting well above his average after Scutaro joined the team and playing next to him.  Scutaro.  Sandoval, along with Pagan, Casia and others ,while maybe not ALL coming over from KC have perhaps benefited from their new friends.

Much like Bonds and friends a decade ago, and still under Sabean's watch, it all seems very incestuous . Remember  Bonds years where guys like Aurilea, Williams, Alfonzo and Santangelo, Santiago, Estrella and Bernard all benefitted - and were later indicted (not suspended)  in the Michell report- for what was their  likely association with Bonds. I even recall an interview -which most forget or never heard when it didn't mean much - with Bonds back   around 2002,  when he promised to pass on his 'secrets' of his new found success to fellow players. Wish  I could find that tape.


And now, it's almost like Francoeur brings SOMETHING to  the team - literally- and they're off and running again ala 2010 and 2012  .  Hopefully, we're wrong about this - and Francoeur isn't from Venezuela - but why would the Sabean sign a guy who hit only .208 last year and .235 the year before to the World Champion Giants unless he had some ulterior motives up his sleeve, ie  Remember the Giànts were just treading water around .500 and the Guillen came over with his 'package' and the Giànts had their best month before MLB comvinced the Giants to keep the once convicted Guillen off the playoff  team. But by now seemingly everyone was benefiting from Guillen!s likely gifts . There was Ross hitting his eight homers and guys like Uribe  and Renteria suddenly becoming world beaters.  suddenly the pitching staff got hotter. In 2012 the pattern was the same when Mijares and Scutaro came in mid season , the  latter to hit over .350 , which suddenly triggered Sandoval and the Giànts
to have their best month in September.


And now just when the  Giants are having their worst streak in years they suddenly and magically bounce back again. Whether Francoeur really had anything to do with it is questionable but by now the Giànts have become    infested  with PEDs, after a decade of deceit, just  like   #Victor  Conte  warned  us - in this permissive era where 'new ' MLB drug testing hasn't busted a single player this year after only busting two Giànts , one Athletic and one other  last year.


Then Giants won their two World Series in three years with virtually two completely different teams but lots of ex -KC / Venezuelan players and the same system of bringing in 'infected' players of questionable backgrounds, Pitcher #Chad Gaudin is just the latest such example - and besides his newsworthy 'hospital visit'  suddenly pitching way below his lifetime 4.0+ ERA.   It will be interesting to see if Sabean can dig up any more 'Gaudins' or  Scutaros  Watch your eye on Francouer and if he improves on that .225 average of the past two seasons at Kansas City. .But perhaps there's already enough ' juice' flowing in the Giants clubhouse.



Now, for the final 'Connect the dots....'  We didn't want to have to go into this, hoping things would get better and the Giants would finally clean up its PED act...but it's already been in the news yet few probably saw this just like the implicating interview with Bonds back in 2002. We report this  just to hammer home with all the evidence  of unfair play, lest people continue to pass off the Giants as  legit. Here it is:



 A now retired Giant recently interviewed by the Salt Lake  Times told how he was encouraged by a Coach in the Giànts minor league system to use PEDs to help his flagging career.  This was no doubt an isolated incident , especially after what we've seen  ane the type of players the Giànts have brought in. o have a player , albeit ex Giant , actually admit to this is very telling. What more  do we need to connect the final dots. Baseball has devolved and San Francisco is the epicenter of devolution. If you really enjoy this type of baseball its a sad day for all concerned, at least for us fans who grew up with and remember the 'Golden Era' of baseball and the Mays and McCoveys when we didn't have to try to figure out who was or who wasn't taking #PEDs. We thought there was still hope but  it doesnt look like the 'Win at all costs' Giànts are going to go anything about it. Afterall, they've been at their shenanigans for so long, and the folks in liberal San Francisco, or the MLB powers aren't doing anything about it. Certainly Larry Baer  doesn't want to break  that consecutive  sellout  streak... which might have been in jeopardy after these past few weeks . (In fact I noticed large blocks of empty seats but the Giants have continued to calling all the games 'sellouts.') It will take  a move now from above now , it would appear,, ie the commissioner, which may be a long shot. It's been over 10 years and ,yes, we believe , in our opinion #PEDs are now as rampant as ever on the Giànts.  So, stand up  local sportswriters or just keep living the lie you   know and saw manifest  itself again in Lincecums unlikely 148 pitch no hitter.*


*Last guys to pitch no hitters with lose to this many pitches blew out there arms, one being Johann Santana with 136 pitches. Perhaps the onc e fragile Lincecum is now bionic and the giants untouchable.

How Did Little Timmy Possibly Pitch a 148 Pitch No Hitter for the Giants