By A.J. Hayes
Our limited experience atop a pitching mound – and the corresponding disastrous results - precludes us from properly evaluating major league baseball pitch counts.
Tim Lincecum
But based on Saturday’s buzz kill of a finish at AT&T Park – Arizona’s 5-3 comeback win over San Francisco - one thing is abundantly clear. If the Giants are going to continue to keep a clicker on young star Tim Lincecum’s deliveries and routinely yank him from the game after a certain number of throws - the club is going to have to come up with a better mound contingency plan when he exits
Any more results like Saturday’s eighth inning implosion and the Giants risk a redux Chicago’s 1978 disco demolition night, sans burning wax platters of Donna Summer’s Greatest Hits.
As usual, Lincecum was rolling right along, striking out a career high 13 batters through seven innings, when he was abruptly yanked from the game. It wasn’t because Arizona had mounted a rally or Lincecum appeared to be gassed - he had just struck out the side in the seventh. No he was sent to soap up with Irish Spring because he had thrown 111 pitches and the team feared possible injury if he pitched any more.
Lincecum had thrown 121 pitchers in his previous game and San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy didn’t want to push the All-Star.
“The consensus was he was coming off a high pitch game. We’ve got to look after him a little bit here in the second half,” Bochy was quoted as saying.
The fact that he seemed to be throwing with just as much velocity as he had in the early innings or that Lincecum has never injured his throwing arm didn’t seem to figure into the decision. He was gone and that was that. Lincecum was yanked, and the beleagued reliever Tyler Walker was summoned.
What happened next was nearly sadly predictable as watching a gaggle of besodden twenty-something in tight fitting denim wobble down Union street on a given weekend night.
Nothing against Walker, he’s a stand-up guy and a solid pitcher when he’s on his game, but he hasn’t been that way for the past several weeks. One could almost see the D’Backs licking their chops as they made their way to the plate to face the Cal product.
The real culprit seems to be the pitch count. This baseball wide policy limits pitchers to a certain number of throws no matter the situation. It’s spread like poison oak through the ranks big leagues the past decade. But its hardly clear if the policy has any effect other than ruining fabulous pitching outings like Lincecum’s.
More pitchers seem to be undergoing surgery and be spending time on the disable list. But on the other hand, maybe Mark “The Bird” Fidrych the sensational 1976 Rookie of the Year would have pitched longer than two or three seasons if he didn’t work 24 complete games in ’76?
We don’t advocate pushing Lincecum to the limit every outing. But if there was ever a case of letting him go at least another inning it was Saturday.
Lincecum is the Giants lone drawing card this season and the park was packed. Season ticket holders who have given away or sit tickets this season, have made it a point to always attend Lincecum’s starts.
He’s appointment viewing and fans deserve a better outcome they got Saturday. Lincecum, is the Giants long attraction of the post Bonds era and they team should be doing every thing in its power to make sure they leave with a smile on the days he pitches. Clearly that was not the case Saturday.
Once Arizona’s Augie Ojeda led off the eighth with a roaring double off Walker one could forecast a crumbling. An error and two hits later Arizona was up 5-3.
It would have been nice to see Lincecum at least start pitching the eighth. Or what about bringing closer Brian Wilson in for two frames? The guy is an absolute horse, and what better way to honor former San Francisco reliever Goose Gossage, the closer who routinely pitched multiple innings, on the eve of his Hall of Fame induction.
The club is just following a baseball wide policy. They don’t want to risk losing their young ace for future campaigns, when the team promises to be more competitively balanced. But you can’t help but wonder if managers and coaches sometimes lose sight of Carpe Diem.
Baseball is entertainment and fans want to see people want to see the team follow through with a win on any given day - it makes the weekend so much more enjoyable.
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