Angel Pagan back with Giants and feeling no pain

Center fielder Angel Pagan joined the Giants on Friday for the first time since his back surgery a month ago, said he had “zero pain” and offered a positive prognosis for the start of spring training.

“I’ll be perfectly ready for that,” Pagan said after flying in from Puerto Rico, where he has been rehabilitating.

Pagan underwent surgery to shave a herniated disc in his back, an injury that cost him nearly two months of the season and impacted his play when he returned in early August.

Pagan said he wanted to join the team sooner but was told not to fly until Thursday, a month after the operation. Well, he did fly to Puerto Rico after the operation with a little help.

“Three or four Percocets,” Pagan said with a smile, “a real happy flight.

“I was just pumped watching the games at home, as well as being there for my family and trying to be relaxed in my head, focused in my rehab and sending positive vibes.”

He jogged onto the field for pregame introductions with the rest of the Giants and watched the 3-2 loss from the top step of the dugout, when he was not retreating to the cage to grab a bat — which he did not swing.

“I was just trying to visualize me in that situation,” he said.

Bullpen reshuffle: In the wake of the Giants’ Game 2 loss, manager Bruce Bochy said before Game 3 that he was ready to adjust how he handled middle relief for the rest of the World Series. In other words, less Jean Machi and Hunter Strickland, more Tim Lincecum and Yusmeiro Petit.

“This game is about adjustments,” Bochy said, “whether you’re a player, coach or manager. We might have to make adjustments in that area, which guys we’ll go to early, bringing Petit and Lincecum into that mix even though they haven’t done it earlier.”

Machi relieved Jake Peavy with two on and nobody out in the sixth inning of a 2-2 Game 2 on Wednesday and allowed an RBI single by Billy Butler. Machi curiously threw three fastballs, not going to a split or curveball that might have gotten the groundball he needed. Perhaps he was gun-shy after allowing a homer on a curve to Oscar Taveras in Game 2 of the NLCS in St. Louis.

Bochy acknowledged that Machi might be tiring after a long season after playing winter ball, although Bochy said, “He’s had some pretty good breaks here. He hasn’t been able to get on a roll. He’s probably lost a little confidence. This guy, he’s been so good all year being the bridge. That said, sometime you have to make an adjustment, back off him a little bit.”

Strickland came on with one out and allowed a two-run double by Salvador Perez and two-run homer by Omar Infante in back-to-back at-bats.

For Lincecum to pitch, his back had to feel good, and Bochy said the pitcher was “good to go.”

Lincecum warmed up in the sixth inning, but did not enter the game.

Clemente Award: Before the game, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, an Alameda native, and retiring White Sox designated hitter Paul Konerko were named co-winners of the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to players for their contributions on and off the field.