» Lincecum

Just Play Ball

In light of a few blog posts by my co-writers over the past few dayst it got me thinking about past Cubs predictions, whether it be Carlos Zambrano predicting a Cy Young award for himself, or Ryan Dempster predicting a world series win for the Cubs, and it leads me to believe that predictions are negative, who do they help? does it not just place a target on your back? Someone says that they are going to win, is your first thought not that you want to prove them wrong, we are all competitive people, we enjoy sports for many reasons but the competitive aspect is one that i personally adore, and that’s why i love baseball. In baseball we don’t just see team v team, we see hitter v pitcher, manager v manager. Should he bring in a leftie to face the leftie? is the batter expecting a fast ball or a curveball? In a game of baseball there are many competitions in just one game.

Are any of the Cubs going to win awards this season? probably not, we have no rookies really capable of winning the ROTY award like Soto last seaso, I don’t believe that we have the best pitcher in the game capable of winning the CY young award, and i don’t believe we have the hitter to win the MVP. Does it matter? Do you think that the Phillies minded last season when Albert Pujols took home the MVP and Tim Lincecum took home the CY Young award? of course they didn’t, they took home the only award that ever mattered, the world series title. A player can be pleased with a personal achievement but as a team the only thing that matters is the World Series.

I’m happy that this year, there have been no bold predictions from Ryan Dempster or Carlos Zambrano, or any other Cubs player, because it doesn’t matter what you say, it’s all about what you do on the field, for all i know Zambrano will win the CY Young this year and Aramis Ramirez will win the MVP, but at the end of the year if we are not World Series champions will that matter? to me it wont. So why do players make predictions, Jimmy Rollins talks, so did Carlos Beltran, personally speaking there hasn’t been a gurantee that has worked since Joe Namath guranteed victory for the Jets in Superbowl three, so leave the talking to the press, and do your business on the field. I don’t want any extra pressure put on us, the media and the 101 years will do that for us.

So like Joe Garagiola would say ‘JUST PLAY BALL’

After the Los Angeles Angels signed Ervin Santana to a four year $30 million deal last Saturday, are the Giants be thinking of doing the same their own superstar, right hander Tim Lincecum?

Maybe, but not on immediate time. Club officials and Luncecum himself said last Sunday that multiplayer deal talks are not active, although everything can change with one phone call.

“Nothing’s going on right now,” Lincecum said Sunday. Generally, he added, the business side of baseball concerns him “very little. I’m just worried about the season. What I hear, I hear about from my agent [Rick Thurman] and I haven’t heard anything. I’m just playing the waiting game.”

Lincecum is the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner. Santana on the other hand, owns a 51-37 career record, an All-Star season, and finished 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA.

Lincecum is 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and has a ML high 265 strikeouts last season. During the Giant’s opening workout for their pitchers and catchers, Lincecum threw with his usual flair off the bullpen. It was his third throwing session off a mound this year, and can clearly be said that he is still on the verge of “bringing the old out of himself.”

“My dad always says, ‘Find rhythm first,’ so I tried to do that,” Lincecum said.

At one point, Lincecum played with his two-seam fast ball. Guided by Mark Gardner, Lincecum threw one that the bullpen coached liked.  “Atta boy,” catcher Eli Whiteside hollered. “I figured it out,” Lincecum called back, grinning.