Friday, July 16, 2010

"The Freak" Ruins Beltran's Return...

Game 1: Giants 2 Mets 0

Tim "The Freak" Lincecum vs R.A. "The Geek" Dickey

No Jose Reyes...

It was not a merry Carlos Beltran-mas for us all...

Dickey still can't get win #7...

Boy was this one a fast game. I think it was about 2 hours and 15 minutes or so. I don't remember the last time a Mets game clocked in under 3 hours!


All Mets fans were excited for today's game. Why were we all so excited?! Duh it was time for Beltran and his HUGE knee brace to make his first start as a Metsie since 10/4/09. Personally I was sad to see Jeff Francouer out of the lineup but I knew it was for the best. Well I hoped it was. All in all Jeff's week has sucked so far. I mean his long time pal Brian McCann was the MVP of the all star game and well Frenchy lost his spot in right field. SO yeah totally not the best week ever for Jeff. But he's a team player so he's not complaining about less playing time. Speaking of less playing time, Tatis just had shoulder surgery and he will be out for the rest of the season. Forgotten Fernando he will truly be.

But back to Beltran and his huge knee brace. Seriously if what they say about the size of your knee brace is true well then yeah Carlos is, uhhh yeah you know where I'm going with this. So basically Carlos was just so so tonight. He definitely was not in sync with Bay at times in the outfield and he went 1 for 4 at the plate. But it was good to have him back! And it was nice to see Dickey pitch a great game! Unfortunately Dickey's great pitching and Carlos Beltran's return to the lineup were in no way enough to combat the Kung Fu Panda and Tim Lincecum. "The Freak" put on a freak of a performance tonight! Damn him for finally living up to that nickname against the Mets! Before this game Lincecum was 0-1 in his previous starts against the Mets. He got a no decision the last time these teams faced each other at Citi Field this past Mother's Day. Yeah that game if you remember Ollie pitched against Tim (if you can call what he did pitching, Ollie was wild as ever). It was not a fun game. This one was also not fun. Lincecum pitched his 7th career complete game (0R 6H 5K 1BB) tonight! Damn that freak!

Ok so now I'm gonna do a quick recap and then I'll get to some Keith and Gary shenanigans! Here we go!

Metsies lineup:

Pagan
Cora
Wright
Beltran
Davis
Bay
Thole
Tejada
Dickey

In the top of the 1st with 2 outs and Cora on at 1st it was time for Beltran's first at bat of the season! Alex Cora stole second and well that was great. Sadly Carlos flew out and the inning was over.

In the bottom of the 1st Beltran made his first play in the outfield! With 2 outs Huff flew out to Carlos and Dickey pitched his first 1,2,3 inning of the night!

In the bottom of the 2nd the crazy good Buster Posey (sheesh this name makes me think he is some sort of a gangster wearing a zoot suit or something like that) led off with a single. Ishikawa then grounded out but Posey advanced to 2nd. Juan Uribe was up next, Dickey threw a wild pitch and Posey moseyed along to 3rd. Uribe then grounded out to Davis. So with 2 outs and Posey still at 3rd Pablo Sandoval decided to show off. In the series these two teams played at Citi Field this past May, Kung Fu Panda was terrible. He had 1 hit in 14 at bats. But at AT&T Park he was anything but terrible. The panda man rbi doubled, Posey scored and the Giants took a 1-0 lead over the Metsies. Btw this double was off the huge fence in right. So yeah Pagan had to get used to right field oh so fast, ugh. Dickey then intentionally walked Schierholtz to face The Freak with men on 1st and 2nd and 2 outs. Thankfully Tim grounded out and the inning was over!

In the top of the 4th with 1 out Beltran got his first hit. It was just a single but I think us fans were just happy to see him get a hit! I know I was! Baby steps right!

In the top of the 6th with 2 outs Beltran grounded out.

In the bottom of the 6th after Sanchez grounded out, Dickey had retired 10 straight Giants in a row. Sadly Huff ended that streak with a 1 out infield hit. Dickey pitched 7 strong innings and he gave up only 1 run but still that was just not enough tonight! The book reading geek was no match for the flexible as hell freak!

In the bottom of the 8th Elmer Dessens was the new pitcher for the Metsies. Lincecum led this inning off with a single and yeah that was going to be trouble. Then Rowand got an infield hit. But yay Freddy Sanchez bunted terribly, and Dessens threw Tim out at 3rd! Haha freak! But there were still men on 1st and 2nd and only 1 out for Huff. Manuel brought Feliciano into the game now and on just 4 pitches Perpetual Pedro (this was his 50th appearance) walked Huff and yep immediately after that sucking Manuel said adios to Feliciano. Parnell was now asked to stop the bleeding. With the bases loaded and 1 out Bobby faced Posey. Buster grounded a ball to Ike, Davis threw home but Rowand was safe and well everyone was safe, BOO. The Giants now had a 2-0 lead over the Mets. Miraculously with the bases loaded and 1 out Ishikawa grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and this inning was over!

Lincecum then pitched the top of the 9th and yeah this was a super fast half of an inning for Tim. If the Mets were going to tie this one up they had the right men up, Wright, Beltran and Davis but all 3 could do nothing at all to give the Mets a fighting chance. Wright grounded out, then Beltran grounded out and what do you know Davis also grounded out. Sanchez made a great diving stop for that final out and The Freak, the panda and the Giants won. Boo to that!

Now let's try to laugh a little with some of the things Keith said tonight:


It pains Keith to watch the VERY flexible Tim Lincecum stretching before a game.

Hernandez gave up on flexibility a long time ago. But he told Gary his mind is still flexible!

Keith coined the word "Lincecum-esque" tonight.

He always liked the Giants uniforms and he especially loves the road ones.

Keith likes to say "I concur."

In 1965 Keith was 12 years old. That was his MVP year in little league.

At one point in the game a boy in the stands who was wearing a Jose Reyes shirt caught a foul ball. This kid was super excited at his achievement. Keith as a result remarked from the booth, "Don't hot dog it!"

Every time The Freak faced Carlos, Keith would say "Lincecum is pitching Mr. Beltran with much respect."

He believes "Corona Extra" is not good for the waistline.

Keith thinks Huff looks like he lost weight. He doesn't remember him looking that thin and in shape.

He said Bobby Parnell was throwing "cheddar" tonight.

In the 9th Keith said "Tim was jazzed up." Yeah he was. Damn that freak!

Well tomorrow is a new day. Niese is our man on the mound and hopefully we can tie this series up. We gotta believe! And yay to the return of Carlos!

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