Tim Lincecum finished the long road to recovery from hip surgery this past weekend in the Bay Area, but not in his familiar orange and black Giants uniform as we have all been accustomed to seeing. Rather, he was pitching in Angel Red against the A's in Oakland. The Angels signed him to an incentive-laden minor league deal a few weeks ago, and after a few starts with mixed results in AAA Salt Lake to build up arm strength, LA called up the former star to a rotation in desperate need of help. CJ Wilson is now 35 and has been on the DL all year with a shoulder injury (which means his career is probably over), Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney are both getting stem cell injections to try to avoid elbow surgery, and Jered Weaver's fastball is now being clocked with a sundial. "The Freak" showed up in a big way on Saturday, giving up only 1 run in 6 innings and striking out 2.
The Angels record aside, he really could not be walking into a better situation. It's a team with no better options that is struggling for an identity, and even though they are close in age, Jered Weaver has reinvented himself in the last few years as a soft-throwing finesse pitcher and is somebody that Timmy can really lean on to learn a lot from. Here's hoping that this is the beginning of a new chapter for Lincecum, who is still exciting to watch and easy to root for, not to mention still extremely marketable.
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 06.20:
Brewers 31-39, -17.5 (2 @ Athletics, 3 v. Nationals)
Reds 27-43, -21.5 (2 @ Rangers, 4 v. Padres)
Twins 21-48, -17.5 (3 v. Phillies, 3 @ Yankees)
2016 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 11 (+10 worked)
Peter - 17
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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