The Kid wins, what does it all mean?

CONGRATULATIONS TIMMY LINCECUM.

So, i promised that i'd come back and write on this, so here it is.. I dont think its necessary to talk about how great of a season the Kid had, nor mention the amazing numbers he put up pitching for a team that won so few games and provided so few runs and winning about a quarter of their games. What I really want to talk about is the trend that Lincecum seems to represent, a change in the game and the mindset that goes along with it.

A few years ago, theres a very good chance that Lincecum would have lost this award to Brandon Webb who had 22 wins to Lincecum's 18. Baseball traditionalists almost always determined the value of a pitcher almost solely on their win counts. And because so many members of the media were traditionalists, the Cy Young award went to the pitcher with the most wins almost every single year. Now this isnt to say that wins arent important, they are. Wins are the most important statistic in baseball.. they represent success and count towards making the playoffs, which get you to a championship. But, there is so much more to wins than appears. Wins are a team statistic, and while a pitcher determines almost half of a game, there are so many factors beyond their control, such as run support and errors. While wins are an extremely important measure in determining the value of a pitcher, at the same time you have to take the team into account.

What is a big deal in Tim Lincecum winning the Cy Young is a trend towards a new way of baseball thought; a new approach to the game. A few years ago, a statistician named Bill James made his mark on the game and began a revolution of new thought called sabermetrics. I first read about sabermetrics in Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Basically, sabermetrics is analyzing baseball from a statistical standpoint and determines the value of players and the aspects of the game, purely using numbers. What I see in recent years is a trend of those coming into power in baseball, whether it be in the media, GMs, or the front office- you can see more and more of the effects of sabermetrics and the influence of statistical analysis on baseball.

My hope is that Lincecum's Cy Young win will serve as a stepping stone in the evolution of the game and the mindset that goes along with it. It is important that the game continues to grow and as important as baseball tradition is, it also alienates the fans at times. Ideas like sabermetrics will be instrumental in bringing fans closer to the game. Baseball seems to finally be moving in a direction of change, and i dont think that it will be such a huge change that baseball traditionalists will be offended. It should rather be looked at as the next step in the evolution of the game.

Anyway, thats my little tangent of the day. Without further ado, here is my mini celebration for the Kid winning the Cy Young..

Dissappointment

I just finished watching the Niners and Cardinals on Monday Night Football.

There isn't much to say about the game. The Niners found themselves in a very, very fortunate position to win a game that they had already allowed to slip through their hands. The Niners started off the game with an Allen Rossum kickoff return TD, Vernon Davis' first TD grab of the season, and go into the half with a 21-13 lead and all the momentum on their side. In the first half, the Niners looked great. However, in the second half, they looked lost- they allowed Kurt Warner to do what he does best; destroy secondaries. The Niners were fortunate to find themselves in a position to win the game still as they drove down the field with 4 minutes left only to have Shaun Hill throw a interception at the Arizona 18 yard line. After getting a clutch defensive stop, the Niners were lucky enough to get the ball back with 1:06 on the clock, driving all the way to the 1 yard line. At the 1, Frank Gore was unable to get into the end zone as he stumbled towards the end zone after making slight contact with a defender only to have the ball called back to the 2 yard line. Then, the Niners predictably ran the ball down the middle only to be completely stuffed, an thus losing the game.

While the game seemed competitive, it really wasn't as close as you may think. The Niners were outscored 16-3 in the second half and were fortunate to find themselves in two positions to win the game. Normally when teams are gifted with the chance to win games that they didn't deserve to, they win them. Not the Niners. Instead, the Niners spoiled their opportunities and were dealt a spirit crushing loss to a division rival. While an upset win tonight would have definitely been a huge step in the development of such a young team and a new coach, hopefully there can be some good taken away from this horrible loss. After the controversy of last weekend when Vernon Davis and Mike Singletary got into an argument, it could have easily created a horrible locker room divide and a rookie coach starting with a bad foundation with one of the players who the franchise hope will become a big part of their future. Instead, after Davis' spectacular TD grab tonight, you could see Singletary and Davis hugging and reconciling a very important relationship between a young potential building block of the franchise and his new coach. Another thing that can be taken away from the game was that despite the turmoil over the QB situation in San Francisco, it seemed to me that the team rallied around Shaun Hill, especially after a QB scramble in which his helmet was ripped off, only to have him continue to run and successfully fight for the first down. You could see everyone on the sidelines getting pumped up and rallying around their quarterback, no matter how many games he has started for the team. This young team definitely can use plays like that for all the players to see. To see that the team is above all of them and establishing a mentality based on hard work, sacrifice and the idea that if they keep fighting, the results will come.

This is actually why I think that tonight's loss was so disappointing. I can only imagine how much good would have come out of a win tonight; on the national stage, against the division leaders. Had the Niners won tonight, how could the players ignore the results of hard work? How could the players not be motivated to work hard? In a game where every single analyst sided against the Niners, and to come out on top after fighting for every inch and yard against all expectations. And while every single player on the Niners is definitely demoralized and disappointed after probably feeling like tonight was when their hard work would pay off, we can all only hope that Mike Singletary can use his passion for the game and his emotion to get through to his young team that if they continue to fight and grow that the results will come eventually.

1 Phillie Too Many

So, according to reports and what many people expected, it looks like the first player to leave the World Champion Phillies will most likely be their slugging left fielder Put Burrell. The reason that this is of any interest to me, is that its being reported that none other than the San Francisco Giants are interested in Burrell's services.

Now, admittedly Burrell is a better player than Aaron Rowand. But i really don't think that Burrell would fit well with the team. Do we need more offense? Yes. Doesn't Burrell annually put up 30 hrs, 100 rbis? Yes he does. However, if we haven't learned anything from Rowand, we should know that players moving from the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park to the offensive blackhole of China Basin take a huge hit in their offensive numbers. While I know that Burrell is a much better hitter than Rowand and his numbers wouldn't nearly dip as much, he is also a worst fielder (as bad as Rowand is already) and he strikes out alot (.250 avg and 136 k's). I really think that if the Giants signed Burrell it would be more of a step backwards than forwards because of how much Burrell will be demanding on the open market. We already overpaid for one former-Phillie, and i really hope that we don't repeat our mistake. Yes the Giants need offensive help, this is obvious; however, a power hitter like Burrell who hits for a low average and will be overpaid, is NOT the answer. Hopefully under the new ownership, the Giants will not continue to make the same mistakes of overpaying players (see: Zito and Rowand) only to see them become a financial burden to the team.

NBA Season Begins

Haven't updated in awhile, here are random things from the start of the NBA season