I've noticed something about Tim Lincecum

Here's a photo of Tim...

And now...

Yep, he's PeeWee Herman with long hair.

We're endorsing Tim Lincecum's weed problem

Wait... so you're telling me that this guy to the right smokes weed? Nooo! Really? I would have never guessed. All you had to say is that he came from the state of Washington and I would have been like "case closed."

Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum was pulled over and found with 3.3 grams of the happy grass. And after the story broke, all I could really think to myself was "who cares?"

I'm not trying to make it seem like drug use is fine and dandy, but I think we need to be progressive and open-minded enough to realize that if someone is found with pot, it doesn't mean they're a bad person. If you were to take a cross-section of America, you'd find that Tim Lincecum is like a lot of other 25-year-olds in this country. Everything I've heard about Tim has been good, many have said he's a remarkable person so this incident seems more amusing than anything.

The Bleacher Report has a nice take on the incident too.

Regardless of the speeding or weed involved, Lincecum has no prior history of indiscretions and no tarnish’s on his record up to this point, so can’t we just give him a break on this one.

I’m sure that Timmy will be the first to admit that this was an extremely poor decision and come on folks—he’s still a kid.

Knowing the kind of guy Tim has been over the years, I would be greatly surprised if he runs into anything remotely like this throughout the remainder of his career.

I'm sure some moralists and parents will come out and tear Lincecum a new one, and to that I say - perhaps we should follow them around for a day and see what they're doing. Might we find one of those moralists with a porn addiction or one of those parents (who care about "their kid's role models") sleeping around? You always find iffy behavior in the most unexpected places.

As for Tim, he's just a normal guy.

JustSON the Numbers: Tim Lincecum vs. Brandon Morrow

You gotta love Bill Bavasi if you are a Mariners fan. I'm going to break down the careers so far of pitchers Brandon Morrow, who the Mariners selected with the 5th overall selection in the 2006 MLB draft, and Tim Lincecum, who the San Francisco Giants took with the 10th overall pick in the same draft.

It is believed that the deciding factor on why the Mariners decided on Morrow (grew up in California and played college ball for the California Golden Bears) over Lincecum (who attended high school in Renton, Washington and played for the Washington Huskies) was because of how small Lincecum is. Morrow is the size of your average pitcher at 6'3" and about 200 pounds while Lincecum is much smaller at 5'11" and 170 pounds, so it was assumed that Lincecum was more at risk for injury.

The injury theory has so far proven to be incorrect as Lincecum has never been on the disabled list in the major leagues and Morrow missed two weeks of spring training in 2008 and was then put on the disabled list on May 2, 2009 with bicep tendinitis. Also Morrow is a Type 1 diabetic, which even he acknowledged was a factor in his decision to move out of his role as a starting pitcher and move into the bullpen because it is easier for him to balance his blood sugar.

Both pitchers made their debuts in the 2007 season and have both had success. Lincecum has amassed 28 wins with 11 losses and a career 3.17 ERA in 65 total appearances (64 of them starts). He has also struck out 473 batters in a combined 417 2/3 innings. In 2008 Lincecum was selected to the All-Star Game but was unable to participate because of flu-like symptoms. He went on to win the 2008 National League Cy Young Award. Lincecum is one of only two Giants to win a Cy Young, the other was Mike McCormick in 1967.

Brandon Morrow holds a career record of 6 wins and 10 losses with 16 saves (5 blown saves) and a 3.90 ERA. He has appeared in 114 games (5 of them were as a starter) and has 150 strikeouts over 136 innings. In Morrow's first career major league start against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 5, 2008 he pitched 7 2/3 innings of no hit baseball before eventually winning the game 3-1.

Now both pitchers are still only 24 years old so they have long careers ahead of them but from where I am sitting I would much rather have Tim Lincecum suiting up every 5th day for the Mariners. Not only because of his statistics, lack of injury history and the fact that he is a starting pitcher which at this time the Mariners are in sore need of. I'd also like to see him with Seattle because this is where he grew up and played college baseball, now what Mariner fan out there wouldn't be excited to root on a local product?

Who knows though, maybe Morrow turns into a dominant closer and goes on to many years of success for Seattle and maybe Lincecum turns into a 4th or 5th starter. Only time will tell, but so far it appears the Giants got a steal.

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.

High School Sports Feature: Liberty baseball one to watch

Today the Baseball Northwest Top Player list came out.

Click here to view the full list.

One high school really caught my eye and that is Liberty High School. Liberty, located along Renton and Issaquah, had four players named to the list. Three juniors and senior.

The juniors are:

Troy Colyer, INF --number 39 on the list to watch
Nick Hart, INF
John McCleod, LHP

The senior is of course Eric Peterson.

Name doesn't sound familiar? Well then you must not pay attention to high school sports. Don't worry, that's our job here at Just South of North. But now you will know.

Peterson is a shortstop with the Patriots of Liberty, but in December of 2008 he committed to play ball for the University of Washington next spring.

The last player to go from Liberty to the UW was Tim Lincecum. Lincecum led the Patriots to the 3A State Championship. And last season he won the National League Cy Young award with the San Francisco Giants.

As for Peterson, who started for Liberty since he was a freshman, he'll be focusing on his senior season for now. But next year he'll be playing off of Lake Washington.

So you might say that Liberty is a bit of a baseball powerhouse. I guess that in a few weeks when they take the field we'll find out how much of one.