San Francisco Giants Morning Commute: The “Goldschmidt” Problem

Yep, still hate him. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Goldschmidt and the Arizona Diamondbacks rocked Tim Lincecum last night in their 7-3 win over the San Francisco Giants. It was almost as if everyone in San Francisco knew it was going to happen. Prior to the game everyone, including us, had something to say about Goldschmidt’s incredible numbers against Lincecum. Sure enough, it only took Goldschmidt one at-bat to send a long ball out to the right field arcade.

Goldschmidt is a problem for Lincecum. Henry Schulman put it best last night. Lincecum has to figure out Goldschmidt.

Schulman posted an update after the game last night about the problem and about why he thinks Lincecum can solve the problem. He put it like this:

"If and when Lincecum starts making better pitches — to everybody — his “Goldschmidt problem” will take care of itself. The ball will stay in the park, or if it doesn’t, Goldschmidt will hit more solos.And anyone who says it’ll never happen just doesn’t know baseball. Adjustments can be made. Nothing has to be  forever."

The key word: IF.  But Schulman is right. It’s not time to panic. Yes, Timmy had a bad outing and there is no defending that, but let’s not bring out the pitchforks just yet. I also agreed with a few other points Schulman made.

"No, the Giants are not going to remove Lincecum from the rotation after one so-so start and one bad one. They just gave him $35 million to be a starter for two years. He’s made two of the 64 starts they’re paying for. What do kids call that today? Oh yeah. Small sample size.No, Lincecum should not have walked Goldschmidt intentionally in the first inning with runners on the corners and nobody out. Lincecum has to face this issue head-on. You don’t do that by walking a guy in the first inning of the season’s ninth game to load the bases with nobody out. Bochy wouldn’t do that to Lincecum either, essentially telling his pitcher he has no chance to retire the guy.No, the answer is not having Lincecum drill Goldschmidt. There’s no reason to hit a guy for your mistakes…."

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In news other than Goldschmidt, Gregor Blanco posted some thought on Open Day at AT&T Park on his blog this week.

"The best part of Opening Day, even more than winning, was watching the BatKid take the mound and throw out the first pitch to Matt Cain. Wow. We were all in the dugout watching this little five-year-old who’s been battling leukemia. I think he got the biggest cheer of the day, which is exactly how it should be."

Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford needed some help updating their blog this week. Who did they call on? Brandon, of course! As in, the newest Brandon to join the team, Brandon Hicks.

"I wasn’t nervous to take the field, but I was definitely excited. I just wanted to get that first ground ball to let my emotions calm down a little bit. You want to treat the game like any other game but on Opening Day at a park like this with fans like these, it’s clearly not just any other game. Yesterday was unlike anything I’ve been a part of."

Get used to it, kid. You’re in for an amazing season in San Francisco and fans already love you.

Finally, Andrew Baggarly dropped this nice stat last night in his postgame notebook.

"Angel Pagan has a hit in every game and multiple hits in seven of nine. He has as many three-hit games as one-hit games (two of each)."