Baseball

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Why don’t the San Francisco Giants lock up ace Tim Lincecum to a long-term contract?

Since the end of his 2008 Cy Young campaign, I have been answering the above question to more people that I can remember. 

Now, with another stellar season almost halfway done, and with Lincecum among the leaders in almost every pitching category, that question is once again finding its way into many a conversation.

For the first time since 2005, the San Francisco Giants have a chance to be in the playoff race down to the final week of the season.

Players like Pablo Sandoval, Nate Schierholtz, Sergio Romo, and Ryan Sadowski have seemingly come out of nowhere to be major contributors to the NL Wild Card leading San Francisco Giants.

Combine the surprising young studs with the savvy 1-2 punch of aces Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, the Giants have a core group that may end up taking the team to the playoffs.

Casey Stengel's Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the hated New York Giants in a holiday double header on May 31, 1934.

Giants' manager Bill Terry had helped to fan the flames during the winter in a New York Herald Tribune interview.

"Is Brooklyn Still in the League?"

"Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago will be the teams we'll have to beat," Terry said. "I don't think the Braves will do as well as they did last year."

I wonder what the opposite of a fist pump is or could it be a fist thrust downwards or possibly a fist bump? Either way, B.J. Ryan is likely doing the opposite of his trademark enthusiastic celebration after hearing he was released by the Blue Jays earlier today.

Even though Ryan is still owed $15 million dollars, the move was a smart one rather than parading him out there in the mop up role for the next season and a half. The Beej had two great seasons as the closer for the Blue Jays, with 37 saves in 2006 and 32 saves back in 2008.

It's something that no Blue Jay fan wants to envision, but with all this trade talk lately it's all I can think about. There is a possibility that Roy Halladay could be traded, and frankly it's breaking my heart.

Right now, it seems that the New York Mets don't know how to win, and that is very much true.  They have lost eight out of their last ten and show no signs of winning anytime soon.  The Mets have been shutout in back to back games for the first time since 2005.

The Mets aren't pitching, hitting or fielding.  That is their formula for losing, and it is the formula for pretty much all baseball teams that lose a game. 

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says that the Kansas City Royals "do not seem terribly inclined" to deal away Mark Teahen.

Now, I being a huge Royals fan am kind of split on this subject. I like Mark Teahen; he might be my favorite Royals player. But he's not an All-Star and most likely won't be.

Last night, before the Mets got blasted to smithereens by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 8-0 loss, Mets GM Omar Minaya addressed the media, again, about the Mets current injury status and its affect on the club for the rest of the season and beyond. 

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