Zito story officially denied

Bruce Bochy tells Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury-News that Bruce Jenkins' story -- which had no on-the-record sources -- is nonsense.

I'm a little annoyed that Bochy's insisting on referring to Zito as the fourth starter when he's obviously anything but. Does that mean that if he had to choose between Zito and Bumgarner to start a game, Bruce would go with Zito? Of course not. Bochy's smart enough to realize that Zito's an overpaid headcase who GOT LEFT OFF THE POSTSEASON ROSTER FOR VERY GOOD REASONS. Bochy knows that he's not going to respond well to even more criticism.