Saturday, May 12, 2012

Stopper Cain does it all

Sometimes a guy has to step up and deliver a performance that will lead the team to victory. The Snakes worked Matt Cain hard tonight and forced him to throw a lot of pitches, but he kept the balls in the yard, the runners off the bases, and the runs to a minimum. He struck out eight in his six innings of work and racked up a Game Score of 68 and his second 'W' in seven starts. But it was the two-out, two-RBI double (Matty's second hit of the night) in the top of the 6th that broke the dam and did the damage. When you have the worst run support in the history of baseball, you have to go to extra lengths. Way to go, big guy, way to take care of business! Some disturbing fielding lapses took place, and some quick and ugly PAs as well, but there was enough on the board to keep the bad guys at bay. An insurance run from rookie Brandon Belt (nice-looking triple to right-center) and Mr. Consistency Melky Cabrera (three hits total) had me making joyful noises. It was a night for M.C.'s!

The Giants are a maddening bunch, to be sure. You watch a win like this and think they can do it every night, then they go out there and fall flat. But I'm going to stay positive after the first win of the season in Arizona and the first against them in the last ten tries.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

6 comments:

nomisnala said...

When Crawford made the error on the Goldschmidt grounder, I thought here comes the Goldschmidt curse, and if Matt Cain does not get the win, I am going to sacrifice all my possessions. But he did, so I still have my possessions, at least for now.

Shankbone said...

Lets get back to the W/L numbers we put up on the d-backs before this streak they rattled off.

I missed the take out slide Cain did at 2nd. Hoping they put it up on sfgiants. Straight. Up. Gamer.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Cain looked good on that slide, just the way you draw it up in practice. He's a big boy, too, bigger than most middle infielders, for sure. He also got hit in the leg by a comebacker! The guy is a great ballplayer, not just a great pitcher.

Brother Bob said...

I predict that 15 years from now Cain will still be a Giant, will be considered a certain HOFer, and will be working on a quest to get his 300th win.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Hmm, with 71 wins now, and 26 more starts, he could finish the year with, say, 12 more wins for 83. He'd need 217 more to get 300. Divide 217 by 15 and that's just short of 15 per year. Until he's age 42. His career high in wins is 14. Giants better get some offense.

Rick Reuschel pitched until he was 42 and finished 214-191. If Matt Cain could get to 200 wins that would be something. Another 10 years of good health averaging 13 wins/year, he could do it. He has 210 starts, so it takes 3 starts for every win. That means 130 wins will take 390 more starts. He averages 33 starts/year, so that will take about 12 years. He'll be 39, which seems doable.

Brother Bob said...

Yeah, I know. Even 200 wins would be great. The best part of my fantasy is him spending his entire career with us.