Bochy plans for all five starters in playoffs

For all of you in Giants Nation sweating bullets that one of the team’s five starting pitchers could be left out of the four-man playoff rotation, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Admit it. Your division-clinching celebrations on Saturday night weren’t enough to get those thoughts out of your head.

Fear not, Orange-&-Black-bleeders!

Manager Bruce Bochy announced Sunday that all five starting pitcher would be making the playoff roster, with one of them being put in the bullpen.  The Skipper told reporters before the third and final game against the San Diego Padres:

“I would say that’s the plan now, sure.”

Whew!

While a rotation hasn’t been set yet, Bochy told reporters Sunday that Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain were pretty deadlocked to be starters. (Psssh, like Mr. Perfecto Work Horse wasn’t going to start.)

So out of a bushel containing Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito — who, as well all remember, was scratched from the 2010 post-season roster — who might we see warming up in Sergio Romo’s neck of the woods?

Timmy saw a little relief-pitching action in the 2010 post-season. But being that his love-hate bro-mance with catchers has an obvious affect on his performances, he would only be able to relieve Zito to ensure that Hector Sanchez would be behind the dish.

Sounds like a headache to me.

The most logical choice would be Vogie, given that he was a relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2005. Plus, he had been moved to the bullpen after a dip in his starting performance. Given the slow August and September he has had, maybe a relief spot is the best for both him and the rest of the team?

Bochy told reporters that he and pitching coach extraordinaire Dave Righetti are still at work discussing whether or not to start implementing the new rotation with the remaining nine games of the regular season; a luxury he didn’t have two season’s back, when the Giants clinched their playoff berth on the very last day of the regular season.