12 Games to Go...

...until I'm either jumping for joy or sitting with my head in my hands. And from the looks of the jam-packed NL west standings, I'm sure I won't know until October 3rd has come and gone.

The bullpen is as solid as I remember it ever being. Every starter seems to have smoothed out his bumpy ride, but the offense's ride is as bumpy as ever. Only one or two bumps a game, actually, if they're lucky. So, as usual, the pitching is carrying things, and there's some buzz lately about whether the rotation should be left alone, or if someone should skip a start so that the best guy is on the mound for the crucial games, such as that last game of the season against San Diego, any of the games in Colorado, the would-be first game of the NLDS, or some weird three-way tie playoff game, if it were to rear its ugly head.

An intriguing question. As it stands now, here is how the rotation would fill out the rest of the season:

9/21 Cain @ Cubs

9/22 Sanchez @ Cubs

9/23 Bumgarner @ Cubs

9/24 Lincecum @ Colorado

9/25 Zito @ Colorado

9/26 Cain @ Colorado

9/27 Off

9/28 Sanchez vs. Arizona

9/29 Bumgarner vs. Arizona

9/30 Lincecum vs. Arizona

10/1 Zito vs. San Diego

10/2 Cain vs. San Diego

10/3 Sanchez vs. San Diego

With everyone kind of peaking, it's hard to make an argument that anything should be changed. In fact, the most compelling argument I've heard either way is that everyone has been solid. That if you mess with the rhythm, disaster may soon follow.

I think the motivation behind tweaking with the rotation is that everyone is secretly afraid of Bumgarner pitching the THIS IS IT game that decides our season. I'll admit that I'm afraid of it. I'm also afraid of one of the hot hitters going into a slump, all of the slumping hitters not finding their way out their slumps, Pablo Sandoval swinging at a pickoff throw to first, Jonathan Sanchez walking the entire opposing lineup in the first inning, Buster Posey collapsing from exhaustion into a pile of bones and peach fuzz, Tim Lincecum melting into a puddle of sweat, Andres Torres somehow having a second appendix which also bursts, and a thousand other things. But the fear of a young pitcher being shouldered with the most important game of the series is thicker, because we are all still traumatized from Salomon Torres' start on the final game of the 1993 season. (Note: This link is for readers who may not be Giants fans or aware of this game. Giants fans proceed with caution. You know what you are clicking on and may not want to relive it).

Fortunately for everyone, this isn't 1993. I'm not looking at college brochures and The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is no longer playing on the radio 500 times a day, so I'm fairly certain. And the last game of the season might not be the most crucial one. For all we know the THIS IS IT game could be Lincecum's start vs. Arizona. Or the division could be clinched some night while the Giants aren't even on the field. Right now they are all crucial games, or at least they should all be treated as such. We can't leave Bumgarner in some waiting room thumbing through magazines until his "safe" start is available - and I wouldn't want to. He's a much more valuable starter than Torres was and we should be using him.

Other things nobody knows: Who's going to be the hottest pitcher or suddenly have a bad start. Before Sunday's beautiful start against the Brewers would anyone have picked Zito to start the THIS IS IT game? Now Zito suddenly has a ton of backers. Right now, the guy I have the most confidence in would probably be either Sanchez or Cain. But both of those guys are just a bad start away from everyone dreading their next start. The Giants need to trust their rotation, not just 3/5 of 4/5 of it. It's tricky to tweak your way into the playoffs. Winning games is usually much more effective.