Risky Business

In last night's 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres, Giants manager Bruce Bochy played a most dangerous game with his franchise pitcher, Tim Lincecum. Lincecum, who had thrown 109 pitches over six laborious innings, was the beneficiary of a minor miracle when the worst hitter in baseball, Rich Aurilia, blasted a solo home run in the top of the 7th inning to score what would turn out to be the game's only run.

Tim Lincecum, originally uploaded by bryce_edwards.

With Lincecum staked to a tenuous lead, Bochy opted to stick with his prized starter rather than turn the game over to the lights-out Giants bullpen. Lincecum quickly found himself again in trouble, putting two runners aboard and raising his pitch total to a career high 122 before finally being pulled with one out in the bottom of the 7th. Jack Taschner came on to get out of the jam, followed by Vinnie Chulk and Brian Wilson to preserve the game, and improve Lincecum's early season record to 4-0.

Now granted, it was a nice victory, and this Giants team will have to fight tooth and nail to win games like this to build and maintain momentum. Yet the prudent move for Bochy would have been to bring in the fresh Chulk to start off the 7th, and sit Lincecum after 109 pitches. Certainly 122 pitches used to represent an ordinary days work for any major league pitcher worth the uniform, but this is a new era, and these 2008 Giants need to keep their young arms healthy and well-conditioned for a future when they're a more competitive ball club.

Bochy has received some criticism for his tactical mis-management this season, but of graver concern would be placing the team's best prospects in harms way, either physically or developmentally. My preference would be to let Lincecum have an extra days rest and maybe give Brad Hennessey the spot start Tuesday. As for Bochy, I'm willing to give him the pass this time because it looked like Lincecum really wanted to be in there and it's only human to reward his competitive drive, but this game was hardly "must win", and the disabled lists around the league are littered with pitching injuries symptomatic of overuse and abuse.