RSS
Home
San Francisco Giants Lincecum scratched, top prospect Bumgarner gets start
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is shown after taking batting
practice before a baseball game between the Giants and the San Diego
Padres in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. Bumgarner will make his
major league debut after Tim Lincecum was scratched from his scheduled start
Tuesday night against San Diego with inflammation in the lower left side of
his back. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
With an inflamed back, San Francisco Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum has been scratched from tonight’s game against the San Diego Padres. Lincecum has been bothered by back spasms for a few days and the Giants decided to play it cautiously and sit the young pitcher.
“He’s feeling pretty good today,” Bochy said before the game. “But we don’t want to risk anything by putting him out there today, so he needs a couple days.”
In his place will be the much-talked-about top Giants prospect Madison Bumgarner, who will be making his first Major League start. Bumgarner was originally brought up to help in the bullpen, but with Lincecum ailing, the 20-year-old gets the start.
“You look at our situation, he’s our best option,” said Bochy. “Sure, he came up here on a fast track, but he’s the best choice we have to put out there. He’s the guy who’s probably our best starter in the minor leagues. Just like we brought up Posey—he’s our best catcher up there and we needed a catcher. So this is why this move was made.”
While it must be thrilling for the Bumgarner to get a taste of the big leagues, it was made even sweeter with his promotion to starting pitcher for the night. One may question if the kid can handle stepping into Lincecum shoes, but the Giants manager thinks he can handle it.
“He’s fine. I talked to him. I just told him 15-20 minutes ago, ‘you’re starting tonight,’” Bochy said. “He’s excited, he’s fine. First of all, you get called up to the major leagues, you’re excited, now he’s getting the start—he’s going to be fine.”
After Lincecum returns to the rotation, Bumgarner’s role will revert to what it was originally slated to be, which, according to the skipper will be “helping out in long relief, maybe he can come in middle relief.”
The Giants remain optimistic about Lincecum’s return, saying the back issues are not major. There’s a possibility he may return as soon as this weekend—just in time to face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“The way he was making progress, he would be able to go today, but we scratched him,” Bochy said. “We’re hopeful in a couple days this thing will clear up completely and he’ll be fine.”
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
