My take

I am disappointed the Giants chose to promote Madison Bumgarner. All the talk of he's not ready or he's not mature enough was clearly garbage. They ahev to be thinking of him being in the rotation next year. They could have called up anyone from AAA if they weren't.

Neither Lou DiBella, Charlie Dowd nor anyone else in the front office/ownership knew about this. Why do I know this? Because they have zero say in baseball operations.

To blame people not involved makes no sense.

Bumgarner got the call Monday -- not a bad Labor Day surprise. He won't be back this series against New Britain, and he won't be back for the league championship.

Let's separate emotion from reason here: You here Steve Decker say this all the time, the minors are about player development first. Winning comes second. If you are able to kill two birds with one stone, great. But the needs, both short- and long-term of the San Francisco Giants matters most.

Does losing Bumgarner cost the Defenders the first round? No. It means the series goes four, maybe the full five games. They still win. The lineup is intact and if you hadn't noticed, the Rock Cats were decimated by players taken for the World Cup.

Does losing Bumgarner cost the Defenders the league title? It could. There is no room for error on the part of the starters against either Akron or Reading. If it makes you feel better, Kyle Drabek has been shut down for the rest of the year by the Phillies, so both teams are down an ace.

This is where I am disappointed most -- for the Defenders fans.

Since the Yankees left in 2002, the fans here have been craving a winner. Last year, the team had the makings of something special. Several of the guys from that team said this year that when the Giants promoted Pablo Sandoval and Ryan Rohlinger at the start of a four-game series at Portland (which was up 2 games on Connecticut), it took the wind out of the team's sails.

Everyone knew Pablo was ready. Rollie sat on the bench -- so why promote him? He would have made a difference.

This year, the fans got a taste -- making the playoffs, winning the division title by a wide margin. Now, the feeling si with Bumgarner gone, it's been taken away.

Folks, he's just one guy. And one guy who played every six days. There is a lot of talent on this team and they can win the league championship. If this is the end, don't abandon ship now.

Don't turn your backs on Brandon Crawford or Ben Snyder or Joe Paterson or Craig Whitaker or Tyler LaTorre or Mitch Lively or Bobby Felmy or Mike Mooney or Jackson Williams or Geivy Garcia or Brock Bond or Garrett Broshius or Daryl Maday or Shane Kaufman or Brad Boyer or Mike McBryde or Eddy Martinez-Esteve or Matt Yourkin or Josh Phelps (who is on the roster) or Ramon Castro or Steve Calicutt or Alex Hinshaw (who is back) or Bryan Millikan or Brett Pill or Wilmin Rodriguez or Craig Clark or Dan Griffin.

The point of my listing these names is that you cheered for them for five months and now, because one guy is gone, it's doom and gloom. As much as I appreciate what Bumgarner can do, he's not babe Ruth. Don't forget there are other guys on the field.

There are no less than two games left at Dodd Stadium. At the most, five. Make them the most memorable games ever.