Did Bruce Bochy blow it by yanking Lincecum too soon?
The weather on Wednesday was your typical day-game forecast in San Francisco, Calif. — cloudy with a chance of garlic fries. (Pardon me for the feeble children’s storybook reference; I took my kindergartner to the game today). Indeed, the conditions at AT&T Park were perfect for a series sweep of the two-time defending NL champion Philadelphia Phillies by your San Francisco Giants.
Through 8.1 innings, 32,000-plus fans basked in the glory that is Tim Lincecum. The Freak/The Franchise/Big Time Timmy Jim was simply masterful. He gave up just three hits and struck out 11 batters while holding on to a 4-1 lead in the ninth.
Then, it happened.
It started an inning earlier, actually. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Giants manager Bruce Bochy allowed Lincecum to bat after Nate Schierholtz singled to lead off the inning. When BTTJ emerged from the dugout, bat in hand, the crowd erupted. This wasn’t because we all wanted to show Timmy our bromantic feelings for him. It wasn’t because we had some grand illusion that Lincecum was going to deliver a base hit (like he did three times in a recent game against the Dodgers). It was because at that very moment we all knew that Bochy was going to do what he has done so many times in his 16 years as a big league manager of young talented pitchers: He was going to let Timmy go CG.
I must admit I got caught up in it, too. As he has for so long, Lincecum had us all mesmerized on Wednesday. Why not let him go the distance and earn that fifth win the old fashioned way? He’s Tim Lincecum, dammit. He can do anything.
It’s what he did in the ninth inning that did the Giants in. With one out, Lincecum walked Shane Victor-weenie on four straight pitches.
Immediately, Bochy made his move to the mound.
It was time to bring on Brian Wilson, arguably the best closer in the game. Wilson had warmed up between innings and was ready to go. Bochy and Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti had made up their minds in the eighth: if one guy gets on base, we’re bringing in Wilson.
The minute Bochy emerged from the dugout, the boos came — in droves. We wanted to see Lincecum get the complete game. It’s not that we don’t have faith in Wilson. Last time I checked, his jersey did not say Benitez on the back. No, we wanted to see Lincecum finish what he started (cue Van Halen).
Lincecum walked back to the dugout. The fans let him hear it. Pure standing-O moment. Thirty seconds later, Bochy walked back to the dugout and the fans let him hear it too. (Trust me, it wasn’t very ovational).
Within minutes, Wilson had blown the save, allowing three runs to score.
And it wasn’t very long after that, that the Tweets began: “Fire Bochy,” “Bochy’s an ass,” “OMG WTF Bochy!?!?” etc.
As expected, the Giants’ media has been all over this story. Mychael Urban (CSNBA) is calling it “the first raging debate of 2010.” During the post-game show with Kruk & Kuip (KNBR), Mike Krukow asked, “Were we too bush league for booing Bochy (when he relieved Lincecum)?” Andrew Baggarly (San Jose Mercury) and Hank Schulman (SF Chronicle) wrote their pieces about it, with Schulman saying Bochy made the right move.
The “right” move? How can it be the “right” move if the Giants lost the game?
Here’s the deal. If Wilson does his thing (as usual), we’re not talking about Bochy at all. We’re not even talking about Eugenio Velez (and the lazy fly ball he dropped that allowed the eventual winning run to score in the 11th inning). If Wilson gets the save, we’re talking about how great Lincecum pitched, how Schierholtz (who had five hits in the game) is the bona fide, no-doubt starter in right field, and how the Giants are going to the World Series!
Instead, the haters (who have hated Bochy and Giants GM Brian Sabean for years now) have been out in full force: fire Sabean, fire Bochy, demote Velez (OK, I actually agree with that last one).
Bochy did what was logical at the time. Lincecum showed a loss of velocity and command on that four-pitch walk to Victorino so he brought in the Savior. Only this time, Wilson didn’t walk on water.
It happens. Closers blow saves. It hurts is all. Especially when you bring your 5-year old son (who is a Lincecum fanatic) to the game only to have his little heart broken.
