Playoffs!!!

The San Francisco Giants finally clinched a playoff berth on Sunday, beating the San Diego Padres 3-0 on the 162nd game of the season. I, along with every other Giants fan am ecstatic about being able to watch this team in the postseason. This is just a fun team to watch and they have so many likable players. Veteran 1B/OF Aubrey Huff is in the top 5 for games played without a playoff appearance. That's about to change. Then there's journeyman OF Andres Torres who's spent much of his career in the minor leagues. Brian Wilson is one of the coolest guys in baseball. What's there not to like about these guys?
The Giants are not a team you would want to face in a playoff series, especially a 5 game one. With their pitching and even their hitters (yes, I actually think the Giants have a very formidable lineup). Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have pitched like the top 1-2 threat in the MLB as of late. Jonathan Sanchez has been better than both of them in September. Madison Bumgarner has shown no nerves pitching in big games.
Meanwhile, their hitting just might save them just as much. The Giants can slug, without a doubt. Buster Posey hit 18 home runs this year and he missed 2 months of the season. Pat Burell, Jose Guillen, and Andres Torres all have the ability to hit it out at any given at-bat. Except for Freddy Sanchez and Mike Fontenot any Giants hitter can easily hit it out of the park. Even the Panda comes up with the occasional jack.
The Braves are coming to At&t park, with a very similar team to the Giants, great pitching, pretty good hitting. This is the same team that took 3 out of 4 from the giants earlier. Despite this, I think the Giants can win this series in 4 games.

What is the Matter with Tim Lincecum?

Could Lincecum's Hair be the possible problem?

This season can be classified as a down year for Giants ace Tim Lincecum. Despite his hot start to the season, he has had many struggles, but there is no obvious cause. Here are some possible causes and some solutions to get Timmy back to the way he was when he won two Cy Young Awards.

Main Cause: A Significant Drop in Fastball Velocity
Tim Lincecum's fastball velocity has dropped from 94-96 to 89-92. He is a power pitcher who used to blow people away with his fastball and then strike people out with a filthy changeup, making him virtually unhittable. Now he is not able to establish his fastball and his changeup loses its effectiveness, making him very hittable. He has a wild pitching motion and has been tinkering with it throughout the course of the season, but hasn't found the right motion. His stature and his motion initially caused many teams to pass on him in the draft.

The Fix: Call his father Chris Lincecum and make him a personal pitching coach. Lincecum's delivery was taught to him by his father. He can help pitching coach Dave Righetti find out what's wrong with Tim.

They can skip a couple of his starts, or even put him on the DL, and let him find himself and let the coaches work with him.

Other Possible Solutions:
GET A HAIRCUT. His hair could be getting in the way of his pitching or it could even be a superstitious thing, which is very common in baseball. He has not cut his hair since early in the 2008 season.

Every pitcher has these down years, Jake Peavy, Roy Halladay, and Pedro Martinez, who Lincecum is often compared to all went through this. It's okay if Lincecum doesn't pitch complete game shutouts every time out. The Giants just need him to pitch well enough to keep them in the game. Baseball is a team sport and there are 24 other guys who can win games for the Giants, and the Giants certainly do not lack in the pitching category. Every starter has a sub 4 ERA. Barry Zito and Matt Cain definitely have the "ace stuff." Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner have pitched quality starts consistently. In the end, what matters is the Giants win games and make the postseason, and they are capable of doing that with an average Tim Lincecum.