Bumgarner OK waiting

Jeff Samardzija has admitted that not pitching is driving him batty. Madison Bumgarner is a different cat.

“I’m fine,” he said Tuesday as the Giants prepared for their home opener. “I try to be the same day in, day out no matter what the situation is. I’m just working hard to get back. It’s a little different. There’s only so much you can do waiting for a bone to heal.”

Bumgarner discussed his broken left pinkie in the same monotone he would use talking about the price of horse feed in North Carolina. He sustained the displaced fracture when hit bya Whit Merrifield line drive in the final Cactus League game March 23.

He knows what to expect somewhat because this is not his first rodeo. Bumgarner had to deal with the physical and mental ups and downs of not pitching for three months last year after he dislocated his shoulder and injured his ribs in a dirt-bike accident in April.

Bumgarner does not expect to be out that long this year. Asked about the club’s prognosis of an early-June return, Bumgarner called that a “little conservative.”

He can work out a little more than he did in 2017 because his arm is fine. He just cannot do any lifting that requires him to grab something with his hand. Nor, oddly, can he sweat too much, lest he risk infecting the wound from his surgery to insert three stabilizing pins.

He pledged to try to return sooner than expected but admitted he can’t pick a date because he does not know how long the pins must stay in.

“I never thought I’d be shut down so much by a pinkie,” he said. “But when it’s displaced and you have three pins, it’s going to affect a lot of stuff.”

Samardzija (strained right pectoral muscle) is way ahead of Bumgarner. Samardzija threw a 30-pitch bullpen session with manager Bruce Bochy standing at the plate as a “hitter” to see his stuff. Lineup moves: Bochy had been thinking about starting Pablo Sandoval at third against tough right-hander Felix Hernandez on Wednesday, though Bochy said after Tuesday’s game that he would reconsider after Evan Longoria homered.

Bochy had Buster Posey play first base Tuesday so he could be out of the squat two straight days after catching all four in Los Angeles, but that left Brandon Belt on the bench after Belt had four great plate appearances Sunday. Briefly: The Giants went 2-0 on replay overturns, resulting in an Austin Jackson infield hit and a Gregor Blanco double . ... The Giants allowed four first-inning runs in a home opener for the first time since 1942, against the Dodgers.