SF Giants Bullpen Watch: Atlanta series at home April 9-11, 2010

The 2010 home opening day weekend for the San Francisco Giants was like balancing a tray of crystal glasses while riding a rollercoaster: terrifying, exhilarating, and some stuff got broke.

Giant relievers made 12 appearances and pitched 13 1/3 innings during the three game series with the Atlanta Braves, and given the nature of the games— a 13 inning opening win on Friday, a loss Saturday, and a four hour and eight minute rain delay Sunday that Tim Lincecum won— it could have been a geat deal uglier.

            Sergio Romo

The bullpen line for the Atlanta series is remarkable given the circumstances:

Jeremy Affeldt: 3 innings (1 ER, 2 walks, 1 win)
Waldis Joaquin: 2 innings (3 ER, 3 walks)
Dan Runzler: 2 innings (0 ER, 3 walks)
Brandon Medders: 2 innings (0 ER, 0 walks)
Brian Wilson: 1.2 innings (0 ER, 2 walks)
Guillermo Mota: 1.1 innings (0 ER, 0 walks) 
Sergio Romo: 1.1 innings (0 ER, 0 walks)

Obviously if there is a negative it’s the nine walks, seven in the first game of the series. But the entire bullpen roster was used between all three games, and their overall performance was excellent. Todd Wellemeyer started game two of the series Saturday and went 6.1 innings with four earned runs and a loss. Four relievers were used in that game, which came the day after all seven relievers were used in the 13 inning opener win.

Although Manager Bruce Bochy doesn’t need a fifth starter for pretty much the month of April, he is determined to use Wellemeyer every fifth day to keep his first four starters fresh. But if Wellemeyer can’t nail it down, and his starts regularly become bullpen eaters, the Giants will have to face making an early season change in their starting rotation.

Luckily, this team is cooking at 6-1 and with four quality starters going every fifth day, there should be plenty of opportunities for the bullpen to straighten itself out after the occasional heavy use game. Right now, it looks like the best starting rotation in baseball is being backed up by the best bullpen in baseball.