Bruce Bochy and the Giants coaching staff had a two-hour flight back to San Francisco Sunday night to talk about the wild, wild week to come. They’ll have a full day today to watch the San Diego Padres on TV and further strategize as they align their chess pieces for the final power struggle that will decide the NL West.
Many Giants fans have strong notions about what the coaching staff should do with those pieces, namely the starting pitchers. For now, the Giants simply plan to stay on turn, and give everyone an extra day of rest after Monday’s day off.
That would mean Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum against the Arizona Diamondbacks (vs. Rodrigo Lopez, Ian Kennedy and Barry Enright).
And Barry Zito, Matt Cain and Sanchez against the Padres (vs. Clayton Richard, Tim Stauffer and Mat Latos).
That doesn’t sit well with folks who’d rather see Lincecum, their ace, face the Padres – especially over Zito, whom they don’t trust in a big game.
There is a simple fix to that. Move up Zito to take Lincecum’s start Thursday against Arizona. Zito would be on regular rest, so no problem there. And you’d simply flip-flop him with Lincecum, allowing the Padres to get a whole lot of Timmy in the series opener Friday.
But there are disadvantages to that scenario, too. First of all, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to pitch Lincecum on Friday with two extra days of rest. Sometimes pitchers can be too strong, and that’s especially risky when he’ll be geeked up for his biggest game as a Giant.
Secondly, Zito has an 8-something ERA against Arizona in two starts, and every game remaining is important. The matchup might actually be better against the Padres.
Thirdly, if Lincecum pitches Friday, he wouldn’t be available in the event the Giants must play a one-game playoff on Monday. (The Giants might be forced to play a 163rd game if they lose the division and tie the Atlanta Braves for the wild card, or all three teams finish with identical records and then the Giants would have to win two tiebreakers to get in.)
In the event of a sudden-death tiebreaker game, the Giants would have Madison Bumgarner as their only rested starter, and as well as he’s pitched, I don’t think that’s the ideal situation for the club. (Zito would be the alternative on three days of rest.)
The same potential one-game playoff disadvantage exists if the Giants hold to their current plan to stay on turn. (Except Lincecum, not Zito, would be the short-rest alternative to Bumgarner.)
There is a third scenario, though, that I think makes sense: Don’t move Lincecum back a day. Move him up a day.
Let him pitch Wednesday against Arizona on regular rest. That shouldn’t be a problem, given his low pitch counts over the past several weeks. You’d slide Bumgarner back in on Thursday.
You’d still have Zito, Cain and Sanchez for that final series against the Padres. Except in this case, you could afford to wait until the last possible moment to see where the races stand.
And if the Sunday season finale with the Padres becomes a winner-takes-all game, you could have the option to bring back Lincecum on three days of rest. Or, if you’d rather stay with Sanchez and trust his history against the Pads, at least you’d have a fully rested Lincecum available if that one-game playoff becomes necessary.
I know, I know. My third scenario still has Zito facing the Padres and Lincecum not being fully rested to make a start in that series. But I think it better aligns the rotation in case the Giants have to play a 163rd game, and it provides the most rest for Bumgarner – the starter who probably needs it the most.
Here’s what I believe Bochy and the staff is thinking, though: The Giants have held opponents to three runs or fewer in 19 of the last 20 games. This ain’t a boat you want to go a’rockin’.
Even Zito’s last outing against the Rockies wasn’t as bad as the numbers indicated, especially if you take away Melvin Mora’s two-run blooper that took Jose Guillen a lifetime to track down in right field. (Zito mentioned today that he had great stuff and would only take back one pitch, and Bochy said pretty much the same thing.)
So if I had to guess, I’d say that Bochy and his staff probably won’t do any shuffling. They’ll give the starters the extra day and keep them on turn, just as they have all season. And they’ll let the chips – or chess pieces – fall where they may.
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Has Lincecum ever thrown on three days of rest? Would he have any reservations about doing it?
The answers: No and no.
Lincecum actually thought he pitched on short rest in the final game of the 2008 season, after the Dodgers already clinched the division. It was more or less a showcase start to try to get an 18th victory to boost his Cy Young chances, and he overwhelmed the Dodgers to do just that.
But he started on regular rest in that game. Still, he said, “I don’t see why not” when asked about going on short rest next week, or beyond.
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Poor Darren Ford.
When the Giants were stretching on the field Friday at Coors, I looked over each player to figure out who hadn’t been through the annual rookie dress-up/hazing ritual. It was the last road trip of the season, which is traditionally when you see a clubhouse full of rooks in adult diapers, cheerleading outfits and S&M wear.
Amazingly, all the rookies – Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Dan Runzler, etc. — were up last year in September and paid their dues. The only exception was Ford.
No way, I thought. You can’t make just one guy do it.
Well, they did. After Sunday’s win, Ford found his clothes replaced by leather short shorts, a mesh leather top and a shiny policeman’s cap. Oh, and a cat o’ nine tails.
Misery loves company – especially when you’re wearing that outfit on the flight all the way home. But Ford had nobody else with whom to share his plight.
“It’s all right – all fun and games,” Ford said. “They got me, though. I saw it in my locker and said, `There’s no way they’re doing this to me.’”
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No getups for me on the flight home, although I almost needed a seat belt extender because of all those Choco Tacos I crushed in the Coors Field press box.
One fully loaded, chocolicious week of regular-season baseball to go…
