Lincecum Could Lose Rotation Spot

Tim Lincecum's gotten nothing but support from the San Francisco Giants during his disastrous first half in 2012. But the clock might be ticking on his time in the rotation, according to Bruce Bochy.

Well, it might be safer to say that Bochy implied the potential for Lincecum to be pulled out of the rotation, vis-a-vis not denying it.

"We'll keep an eye on him [Saturday]," Bochy said, per Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury-News. "We'll see how this goes."

If it goes anything like the rest of Lincecum's starts, it'll be a lot of pretty good pitching with the bases empty followed by some solid false hope for Giants fans and eventually a meltdown of sorts once a few runners get on.

That's just how Lincecum's season has gone. But, uh, no pressure Timmy.

"I don't want to put added pressure on him," Bochy said. "But you have to do what's right."

What's right for the Giants is making sure they have an opportunity to win games every time someone takes the mound. For years, Lincecum has provided that -- and much, much more.

But right now, he's not creating opportunities for victories. Instead, he's costing his team a legit shot at moving up in the win column by pitching poorly in basically every start this season.

And at this point, maybe Bochy's decision is the smartest move. Lincecum hasn't been massaged back into success, he hasn't been able to shame himself back into success and it might actually take a rude awakening that involves a bullpen stint and/or skipping his turn in the rotation.

We'll find out soon enough if the Freak struggles again on Saturday.

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