It's All in the Timing

Tuesday morning we waived our two Giants’ starters, Lowry and Tomko. Apparently Felipe is reading this blog, because he immediately announced that he was moving Tomko to the bullpen, and according to the papers, God knows where else.

The two guys were absolutely killing us in June, brutal outing after brutal outing. Both Ken and Mark asked why we waited so long. The reason was that we kept seeing them pitch. They both have good stuff. In virtually every game, they would get on a roll, only to blow up somewhere along the way.

If they had been pitching for the Nationals, who are never on TV, all I would ever have seen would have been their stats in the morning paper. They would have been much easier to waive. But every time I saw Tomko rear back on a 97 mph fast ball, or see Lowry buzz through a couple of innings, I’d think, they’re coming around. And until 3 weeks ago, Tomko actually looked like the Giants’ all-star, sporting a 3.86 ERA. But man, June was just ug-u-ly.

So Thursday night Lowry threw his first decent game in a month. And then to top it off, Tomko came in to start the seventh and picked up a 3 inning save. A would be win and a save. Did we screw up? Maybe. But Carrasco got back the save for us last night. We’re a little light on starters right now, but despite an ugly outing by Suppan this week, our ERA and WHIP are pretty well protected. Hampton says he’s coming back this month, and hey, trades are still to be made. We’re not going anywhere without those pitching categories.

We got 3 saves last night – Looper, Walker and Carrasco. That’s a pretty cool stat. We suddenly jumped into 6th place in saves, only 1 behind the Busch Leaguers who only have 1 closer in Todd Jones. I’m surprised no one had already grabbed Carrasco, who is now the set up man in DC. That Nationals team is pretty good, and his numbers have been pristine. For a team trying to protect its ERA and WHIP, he was a nice addition. And, if anything happens to Cordero, he’s the closer.

What an incredible race we have going. We have 7 teams within 4.5 points. I noticed that ever since Jeff’s email on the day he was in first place announcing that once again all was right with the world, his Leaguers have inched down to be that 7th place team today. And I notice we’ve got an 8th team, the long forgotten Pounders, not all that far back at 53 points. I think that team is sort of on auto pilot, because Kevin’s auto-email indicated he was out of town. Hey, Kevin, you’re having a good week – maybe you ought to stay out of town. And don’t change your socks.

Mark thinks Ken’s Any 9 is the favorite. He’s got good points in every category and lots of tradable pitching. I think he’s right. Nobody should trade with him. And don’t trade with the Busch Leaguers either, on general principle. In fact, don’t trade with anyone but us.

So the Giants might be only 6 back on Sunday. And Bruce Jenkins thinks the Warriors are heading to the playoffs. So who is going to stand up and predict a Niner Super Bowl this year? Hope springs eternal. Meanwhile, I’d like to place a bet on the Cal Rugby Team, but that’s a tough one to find a taker for. Roll on, you Bears.

PS: We’re 6 for 16 on Saturday at 1:52 with 4 homers already. But as has been our wont, we’ve only got 6 RBI’s. That RBI category is going to be a big one in this race, mark my words.