Tim Lincecum arrived at AT&T Park on Wednesday morning and told reporters that his back was feeling much better, and he was hoping to get on the mound as soon as possible.This is certainly a relief for Giants fans, whose team has no margin for error whatsoever in this National League wild-card race. Heading into Wednesday's game against the Padres, they trailed the Rockies by three games, with 23 to go. Even with Lincecum, they had their work cut out for them.
The question now facing the Giants is when to put Lincecum back on the mound. It's looking like he'll pitch on Monday against Colorado, which would have been his next turn anyway.
There was a loud rumble of suspicion from Giants Nation that this whole back spasm thing was just a ruse to get the rotation reshuffled so Lincecum could pitch on Friday, thus facing the Dodgers and then the Rockies next Wednesday.
That is utter nonsense, on a number of levels.
The proof came Wednesday, when the Giants announced that Lincecum is not going to pitch Friday against the Dodgers, but even before that, the idea of some conspiracy was crazy.
First, the Giants need to win every game that they can. It doesn't matter who the games are against. A win against the Padres on Tuesday night means just as much as a win against the Dodgers on Friday night, considering that the Dodgers are too far out in front to worry about catching.
Second, the Giants would not have called up Madison Bumgarner unless they really had to. Bumgarner did not need to be placed on the 40-man roster yet because he was only drafted two years ago. Once he's on there, he is essentially on there for good. By putting him on now, instead of when he'd make his expected big-league debut in 2010, the Giants have one less spot to use to protect someone else in this winter's Rule 5 draft.Some people just refuse to believe anything about an injury.
Maybe Jeff Kent is to blame for that.
