Giants Manager Bruce Bochy Tight-Lipped About Game 4 Starter LOUIS - Pregame interviews during the postseason are highly regimented affairs, in contrast with the loose vibes of the media access afforded before regular-season games. Generally, a team's manager and the starting pitcher for the next day's game will be made available to the entire media horde at once. But the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday switched things up before Game 3 of their National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Manager Bruce Bochy spoke as expected. But it was a position player, Gregor Blanco, and not a pitcher, who sat for the other interview. The reason was simple. Bochy was not ready to announce who his Game 4 starter would be. "I'd say more than anything we're trying to keep our options open," Bochy said. While not tipping his hand, Bochy was indicating to some extent that he did not have many great alternatives to choose from. The Giants" starters entered Wednesday with a combined 5.40 earned run average, the worst of any team this postseason, and seven home runs allowed. There seemed to be three candidates Wednesday evening. Tim Lincecum, who endured a rough regular season and has not started since Sept. 30, re-entered the conversation while working effectively out of the bullpen this month. Pitching eight and a third postseason innings before Wednesday, he had allowed just one run and three hits while striking out nine. "We asked a lot of him to do what he's done, and he really has done a tremendous job at giving us multiple innings there," Bochy said. Another option was Barry Zito, who last pitched Game 4 of the division series. He gave up two runs, four hits and four walks before being removed before the end of the third inning. Lincecum pitched four and a third innings of relief in that game. Even Madison Bumgarner, who has looked out of sorts in both of his starts this postseason, giving up 10 earned runs over eight innings, was in the mix. The concerns about the way he has pitched have not reached "a point where we don't plan on using him," Bochy said. He's on the staff. He had a hiccup his first start, actually the last couple. He's getting out of sync with his mechanics a little bit. Bumgarner, 23, went 16-11 for the Giants during the regular season, and Bochy suggested his struggles of late were simply the growing pains of a young pitcher. "He's pressing a little bit, more than anything," Bochy said, "and we've just got to get his confidence back."