Tim Lincecum is the best .500 pitcher in baseball

For anyone who still uses wins and losses as the main frame of reference to judge the quality of a pitcher, may I present Tim Lincecum.

Yesterday he threw a complete game shutout where he let up 3 hits and no walks. And nobody was stunned by that performance.

He averages 7 innings a start, the league is hitting .202 against him. He has logged more than a strikeout per inning and his ERA is 2.06.

I did not throw a single new fangled stat.
Logging tons of innings. Striking out tons of batters. Keeping the opposition from getting his and giving up very few runs.

His record is 4-4.

I am sure there is someone out there who would see his record and say "Man, he's off to a mediocre start."

Good for Ron Roenicke

Good for him for getting his first win as Brewers manager.

But also good for him for not panicking nor "going by the book."

It's early in the season and everyone is soiling their pants with pitch counts. Meanwhile Yovani Gallardo chucked 8 innings of 2 hit ball in a 1-0 game. Did Roenicke go to the closer like everyone on the planet Earth is told they should do?

Nope. He let Gallardo finish it. An ace is established. Confidence is built. More wins to come.

Also good for him for employing one of the Iorg brothers.

I always confused them. Then again, I also confused the Roenickes.

Maybe that's why he hired him.

Lincecum picks up the gauntlet

My dad and I were talking about the Giants game this afternoon. My dad said "people are going to be expecting Lincecum to throw a no hitter on the heels of Halladay."

Well, he took care of THAT thought with the first batter.
I knew my dad was AT the game and when I saw he let up a lead off double, I thought "Oh man... please don't get rocked."

He didn't throw a no hitter... but DAMN he did the next best thing.
A DOMINATING complete game shut out?
2 hits, 1 walk and 14 STRIKEOUTS!!!

Now is there a baseball fan ALIVE who doesn't want to see a Lincecum/Halladay match up?

You could argue it was more impressive than Halladay's game.
You'd be wrong, but you could argue it.

Next stop for the Jamie Moyer Express... COOPERSTOWN!

I wrote a piece last March tongue firmly in cheek about Jamie Moyer possibly winning 42 more games over his career... getting to win #300... and becoming the single most unlikely Hall of Famer possibly of all time.

It was a theoretical post as Moyer was 47 years old going into this season (and has now pitched in 4 different decades) and would have to go a few years into THIS decade to pull it off.

It was just one of those Sully Baseball idle thoughts that I have 4,392 times a day.

Well in his performance last night, a 2 hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves, he sure looked like a guy who had his eyes on the prize.

Look, I don't think he is going to get to 300... but he's only 38 wins away now.

38 wins doesn't seem like that much, does it?
Especially on a team like Philadelphia.

I still don't think he will... but man am I rooting for it!

I talked earlier this week about the passing of one Phillies Ace, Robin Roberts and the dominance of the new Phillies ace, Roy Halladay.

I might be wrong about this, but I think Moyer is closer in age to Robers than Halladay!