Matt Cain did not have the pinpoint control we are used to seeing from him. Throw in a tight strike zone from home plate umpire John Drake and a patient Nationals offense and the outcome was all too familiar. It feels like 2008, fer chrissakes. If I remember correctly Matty was 5-24 with a 0.88 ERA that season. Cain had his best stretch in the 5th and 6th, when Jayson Werth lined a ball to right field that Nate Schierholtz let get by him for a lead off triple. He whiffed Laynce Nix, and then got Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond on weak pop flies to first baseman Aubrey Huff. He followed that with a three-up three-down 6th inning, salvaging a quality start. Matt threw 53 pitches in the 2nd and 3rd when the Washington lineup wore him down and tied the score. Also, there was the 39-year old catcher thing. Cain was not part of the 2003 club that Ivan Rodriguez killed in the NLDS, so he didn't realize that all outside pitches will be slashed into right field for soul-crushing RBI. I-Rod is death to San Francisco: so it is, so it shall ever be. Buster Posey had another good game, as did Mike Fontenot. Neither Aubrey Huff nor Miguel Tejada can hit, and the offense spirals inexorably toward Padre-ness. Cain gave up just one run too many. If he'd kept it at two they might have been able to pull it out. I guess he's just not the big time ace we are paying good money for. Damn these guys for not throwing shutouts!
--M.C.
p.s. Darren Ford was thrown out stealing again. This time it was you-know-who instead of the rookie. You know it is going bad when your specialist pinch runner with blazing speed gets thrown out two days in a row.
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