Hit Me One Time

I'm not exactly what you'd call a SF Giants fan. I guess you could classify me as a Giants hater, although I don't really get to the emotional level of love/hate in baseball anymore- so let's just say that the Giants are my 30th favorite MLB team. Nevertheless, I'd like to give some recognition to a SF accomplishment that was basically overlooked yesterday. With all of the emphasis on Barry Bonds' pursuit of #715 yesterday, little attention was given to Giants' starter Matt Cain, who pitched a one hitter in shutting out the A's. Cain, who is technically a rookie even tho he started seven games last season, is one of the few Giants prospects who hasn't been dealt away (how's that Pierzynski for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser deal workin' for ya?) However Cain has struggled this season. He started the year 1-5 with an ERA over 7.00 before being briefly demoted to the bullpen to work on his mechanics. Since that demotion he's now thrown 11 scoreless innings while only allowing one hit.

I was in attendance at yesterday's game and Matt Cain was dealing filth all day. His fastball was consistently in the mid 90s and he was locating it well. Aside from one inning of wildness, the A's batters never really stood a chance against him. However even during the proceedings, his dominance was basically an afterthought. The vibe throughout the crowd (which was pretty evenly split between Giants and A's fans) was "what will Barry do?" Actually to be entirely accurate it was more like, "I can't believe I'm going to be sitting in the freaking rain for 2.5 hours...I better at least see some history." Once Bonds was replaced in the 9th, what was left of the crowd began to file out, and virtually noone stayed to see Cain put the finishing touches on his masterpiece.

It was an old school display of pitching dominance that is rarely seen in these days of specialty relievers and closers. So when the game ended, I stood and clapped in appreciation for Matt Cain's performance. However under my breath I still muttered, "Giants suck."