DENVER — Bruce Bochy returned Friday to the news that his ace had been involved in a dirt bike accident, but that didn’t put the manager in a bad mood. Bochy was all smiles on his first day back from a minor heart procedure, meeting individually with several players, joking with staff and reporters, and even challenging one to a basketball game.
“I feel great. I’m ready to roll,” Bochy said. “I feel great. It’s good to be back with the club and get in the rhythm, I guess you could say. I’m glad to be back.”
Bochy said he had been feeling an atrial flutter after workouts and he got checked out Monday. His heart doctor took tests and said it was an easy fix. He had an ablation procedure Tuesday and was kept for observation overnight.
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“I felt I could have gone to Kansas City, but they wanted to wait,” Bochy said. “When this started happening more frequently it was time to get something done.”
Bochy said everything is back to normal. His doctor put him through a battery of tests, including an angiogram.
“He said you may have a bad knee, but you don’t have a bad heart,” Bochy said.
--- The big news today was Madison Bumgarner, obviously. Here’s that story. It’s mentioned in there that Ty Blach will start Tuesday, and Dave Righetti also said Matt Cain will stay on turn. So it’s Cain, Blach, Johnny Cueto and Matt Moore against the Dodgers.
San Francisco Giants
Blach is available for an emergency tonight but otherwise he’ll throw a bullpen session Saturday to prepare for the Dodgers. He said it’ll be a bit longer than normal to get the pitch count back up, but he’s not worried about how deep he can go in his return to the rotation.
“I think I’ll be pretty strong,” Blach said. “My arm feels good. I expect to be able to stretch it back out. I should be good to go.”
Blach will take over Bumgarner’s rotation spot for now and Chris Stratton is here to provide length for the bullpen. The Giants do believe that Tyler Beede is just about ready for his big league audition, but there’s no point in jamming him in as a long reliever right now. If something else happens in the rotation, Beede is the next man up.
--- Trevor Brown’s rehab assignment is officially over. He is staying with Triple-A Sacramento after being officially optioned there Friday.
Michael Morse and Mac Williamson had a travel day Friday. They’ll start with the River Cats this weekend.
--- If you missed it, FanGraphs’ Eno Sarris was the latest podcast guest. It’s an interesting one if you’re into metrics and pitch velocity and all that.