Posted By Jeff Fletcher on September 28, 2010 6:42 pm

The Giants are switching their rotation, as was widely speculated the other day. They are moving Lincecum up to Wednesday, and moving Madison Bumgarner back to Thursday. That makes Lincecum available for a possible one-game playoff on Monday, and it also makes him semi-available, on three days rest, for a must-win game on Sunday.

Bruce Bochy wouldn’t even entertain the notion of Lincecum’s availability for Sunday at this point, which is probably wise. He doesn’t know how he’s going to do Wednesday. My opinion is that the Giants will use him if they have to win, but otherwise they won’t. Even if they are one game up, and losing the game would drop them into a playoff, they wouldn’t use him, because they’d have him for the playoff if they lost. And if they are tied with the Padres, with both teams going to the playoffs, they wouldn’t use him just for the sake of winning the division vs. getting the wild card.

Also, Freddy Sanchez is still out with a strained right shoulder. He got an injection today — presumably a cortisone injection, but they didn’t say — so he’s out today. They hope he’ll play tomorrow.

The Sanchez and Andres Torres injuries have made me think about how Brian Sabean is a genius. Or he just got lucky. Remember when he picked up Mike Fontenot and Cody Ross, and you were thinking “huh?” Do the Giants really need those guys? Well, guess what? They do. They have needed them both a bunch this month.

Also, it’s pretty warm here tonight, so don’t be surprised if the ball is flying.