Giants fans love their Tim Lincecum -- and their opinions

3 comments

July 30, 12:41 PM

by David Bush, S.F. Baseball Examiner

 

 

Tim Lincecum brings out the passions of Giants fans

One Giants debate that just won’t go away is manager Bruce Bochy’s decision to remove Tim Lincecum after seven innings Saturday night. I haven’t seen Giants fans this worked up since Dusty Baker pulled Russ Ortiz in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series. This debate is more fun to watch than the team most nights

Lincecum had held the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks to two runs on seven hits when Bochy decided he had gone far enough. Then the Giants bullpen, specifically Tyler Walker, blew the lead and the game and all hell broke loose. Or at least it did on the radio talk shows, where Bochy was pretty much excoriated for being too quick on the trigger. One particularly volatile host went on such a verbal rampage you could almost see his veins bulging through the radio dial.

Although it didn’t turn out well, Bochy stands by his decision and was supported by the broadcasters who follow the team. Fan reaction seems pretty much split, but nobody is neutral and nobody is passive..

The arguments on both sides are fairly obvious, and each is supportable. Without belaboring the points, I’ll try to summarize them. Those who felt Bochy acted hastily say that Lincecum was pitching well, without much stress, his energy level was high and he should have been allowed to finish what he started. He had thrown 112 pitches, but is young, strong and has a delivery that minimizes the strain on his arm. They feel too much attention is paid to pitch counts, and not enough to the situation at hand.

Those on the other side say that Lincecum is the future of the franchise and should be handled carefully. He had thrown more than 120 pitches in his previous start and is not used to such heavy work this late in the summer. He should not be abused for the sake of winning one game in a season already lost, especially with a bullpen designed to protect such leads in the late innings.  Erring on the side of caution was the right choice.

I am not going to waste a lot of energy taking sides on this one. If I were to be pinned down, I would have said let him go at least one more inning, batter by batter. At the least sign of  trouble get him out, but let him start the eighth.

But the right or wrong of the decision is not what interests me here. It is the passion of those making the arguments. They really care. Days after the fact, nobody had calmed down. I think that’s amazing for a team that hasn’t been in contention since the first George W. Bush administration. Cynics have accused Giants fans of being more interested in being seen in their (not quite so) gleaming new ballpark than in what is happening on the field. But this debate proves that theory wrong.

We don’t need reminders that this isn’t L.A., but we got one anyway.

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