Zito Not Replacing MadBum in Rotation

Madison Bumgarner had a bad outing on Tuesday. A really, really bad outing.

But that doesn't mean he won't pitch well again this season. And it doesn't mean he's finished as a starting pitcher.

And it certainly doesn't mean that the Giants should replace him in the rotation with Barry Zito.

But that idea had been bandied about by various folks following MadBum's one-third-inning shellacking on Tuesday.

Thankfully, Bruce Bochy dismissed such a possibility when asked if he would rest the youngster.

"There's no way I'd give him a rest after today," Bochy said. "C'mon, this kid's been throwing too well. That's the worst thing you could do. It's an off day. I'm sure he's eager to get back out there."

Bochy's 100-percent correct, and you don't have to look that far to figure such a thing out.

After all, Bumgarner threw 10-consecutive complete games prior to Tuesday's nightmare of an outing, even though he went a disappointing 3-5 in those starts.

That's not a byproduct of his poor pitching -- it's a byproduct of the Giants inability to score runs for him.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, pitching wins and losses can trump what people think they see in a performance.

Thankfully, Bochy sees Bumgarner's nearly sub-2.00 ERA during that same time span and realizes that it's not a matter of how he's thrown the ball well.

And he knows, despite sometimes having managerial quirks, that yanking Bumgarner out of the rotation could potentially kill the kid's confidence.

There's plenty of confidence too, which is why it wouldn't be shocking to see him roll out and dominate in his next start.

Which, of course, will come in the normal course of time.

Contact Us