Lincecum fans 15 in Giant win

Tim Lincecum fanned 15 Pirates in a 4-2 Giant win as the Pirates continue to fall into a spiral that has some similarities to the spiral circle inside the hat in the Krofft Brothers classic (?) Lidsville.
But,hey they did score two runs which is more than the final two games in Arizona provided!
The Pirates have two more games in San Francisco before finally returning home on Friday against the Nationals....

Pirate Hooks

1) If you are a pitching fan like I am and enjoy the mound aspect of the game,the San Francisco Giants are an easy team to root for.
Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are dominant starters,Jonathan Sanchez shows the ability to join them,despite being WAY overpaid, Barry Zito still is a crafty lefthander on his good days and that doesn't count the injured Randy Johnson.....

2) I tried to find somewhat of a good hook for the Pirates since Friday night,but struggling to come up with much.
Garrett Jones is still swinging the hot bat and knocked in one of the two runs against Lincecum.
Not much else.

3) Slow on the Pirate front,but things will pick up with the trading deadline on Friday and the draft deadline for signing coming up soon,we will have plenty of things to write about.

4) Looking forward to seeing Quinton Miller in the series against Hagerstown,not sure when his rotation spot is,but with luck we will see him.

5) Look for another roundtable with Wilbur Miller soon.
I ran into Wilbur in Frederick and he has agreed to return for some more thoughts on the Pirates.

6) I know most Pirate observer have their hopes on Zachary Von Rosenberg,but if I have to sign just one-I'll take Colton Cain....

Words from the wigwam

The Cleveland Indians have been adding arms to their lagging system over the last few days.
Jess Todd completes the Mark DeRosa trade with the Cardinals,Connor Graham was brought in from Colorado for Rafael Betancourt and the most intriguing arm comes from the Giants as
Scott Barnes was obtained for Ryan Garko yesterday.
Barnes is a southpaw with 12 wins and an ERA under three at High A San Jose and looks to be a underrated prospect that just got lost in the Madison Bumgartner and Tim Alderson glow.
Barnes was assigned to High A Kinston.
Graham was doing well at High A Modesto,but was promoted upon arrival with the Indians to AA Akron.
Graham has been starting,but some think he profiles best as a reliever.
Graham was very impressive in a start in Hagerstown last season as a member of the Asheville Tourists.
Todd has been a strong bullpen option since his drafting in 2007 from Arkansas and saved 24 games this season at AAA Memphis.
Todd was assigned to AAA Columbus and could see Cleveland as early as the next few weeks.

Bullpen Notes

The Browns signed top pick Alex Mack,second round selection David Veikune and 4th rounder Kaluka Maiava over the weekend to leave only the pair of second round receivers (Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi) unsigned before camp opens on Saturday.
Mack will be the starter at center,Veikune has a chance to start and Maiava should be a special teams standout at worst.
Both the Browns and the pass catchers need to get this finished before Saturday.
Why the importance?
Well,most rookie wideouts struggle and they need as much camp time as possible to speed their development along.

The more that I think about it the more that I like the drafting of Alex Mack.
Although I would have loved to have had former Buckeye James Laurinatis in Orange and Brown,Mack is the type of physical earthmover that the Browns have lacked for years.
But at the same time,I don't like what I am hearing from the coaching staff about not liking Eric Steinbach at guard.
Steinback is a hair undersized,but his production has been excellent in his Cleveland tenure.
If Mack is as good as advertised,the Mack/Steinbach/Joe Thomas side of the line ranks in the top handful in the league and when was the last time that you could say that about a Browns line???

Back later with more Pirates-Giants and maybe some more fun stuff that isn't totally sports related..

Photo Credits
Lincecum:Ben Margot-AP Photo
Barnes:Tony Farlow-MLB.com
Mack:AP Photo