6-man rotation AND 70 pitch counts?

If you read the recap you’ll see that Madbum cruised until the 4th. He went 3-up/3-down in the 1st and 2nd, then gave up a triple with 1 out in the 3rd. With the guy on 3rd he struck out the next guy and got a line out to 2B to end the inning. In the 4th he got the 1st guy out, then Crawford made an error on what should have been out #2. The next 4 hitters went double, groundout, double, groundout for 2 unearned runs. The Defs were still up 4-2 at this point, and they scored another run in the top of the 5th to go up 5-2. They didn’t even send MadBum out to pitch the 5th, even though he would have been in line for the win by finishing out the inning.

So, something strange was going on. You can’t tell how deep in the counts he was going, or how many foul balls he gave up, from the recap, but since he only had 1 K and no walks I can’t believe he was even near 50 pitches. Either he was feeling bad, he tweaked something, he got a blister, or they were under strict orders to only throw him a specific count because he’s being moved in the next few days. I have to believe that it’s one of the first 3. If it was a planned event then they would have had somebody other than their #1b closer (Griffin) come out and pitch the 5th. They would have had a long reliever all warmed up and ready to go.

As an aside, why the F*@# do the Giants still have a 6 man rotation in Conn.? With T2, MadBum, and Sosa being so much better and projectable than the other 3 guys, by going on 5-6 days rest they are just hindering the development of 3 of their top 5 pitching prospects. I could see how they might have wanted to do that in the first few weeks of the season, or if these 3 were straight out of high school/ a long college season. If they’re worried about burn-out then just set a pitch count. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t MadBum and T2 pitch in a 5 man rotation all of last summer with some pretty bitchin’ results? Why the change this year?

Yeah, (I think) last week he missed a start because he was sick.

Bochy is personally lobbying for Ramon Ortiz to get the callup

when Bumgarner has an inning like that, we wonder if something is wrong. When Sanchez has an inning like that, it’s showing a marked improvement.

He gave up a 1 out triple in the third, but stranded the runner with a K and a line out. Then in the 4th Cawford’s error at SS on what should have been the 2nd out put a runner on first. He then went double, groundout, double, groundout to get out of the inning with 2 unearned runs allowed. They didn’t send him back out in the bottom of the 5th even though he was up 5-2 at that point, with 3 hits, 1 K and no walks. Very fishy.