Okay, so I don't know if Bruce Bochy would actually kill him, but it looks as though he may be willing to possibly kill the kid's career. On Saturday night, Tim Lincecum threw his first complete game shutout of the season as the San Francisco Giants beat the Padres 7-0. He also threw 138 pitches in the process.
Now, on the surface, there doesn't seem to be any reason for a manager to leave his ace in a blowout and allow him to throw so many pitches, especially when you consider that both teams are well out of the playoff hunt. So why did Bochy do it? Well, he wanted to help the kid in the NL Cy Young race.
"It was big for him to pitch a shutout," Bochy said. "I don't want him to talk about, 'I haven't finished a game.' I don't want that on his resume when they're talking about the Cy Young voting, and I don't want him to think, 'If I finished a game or two, that would have made a difference.' "
On one hand, I can appreciate Bochy doing everything in his power to help one of his players win an award. It's the kind of thing that earns a lot of love and respect in the clubhouse. On the other hand, I think Bochy must be out of his mind.
Why risk injuring the kid just to help him get a few votes for an award that really doesn't mean anything? And does Bruce really think some voter will think to himself, "Man, I wasn't going to vote for Lincecum before, but now that he's shutout the Padres I have no choice!" Imagine what would have happened if on pitch #138 Tim had felt a pop in his elbow.
