The Giants win their 90th game behind Matt Cain who set the tone right away with a four-pitch 1st inning. He chipped in a leadoff single in the 3rd and scored the Giants first run, then added an RBI single in the 5th. Matt flashed some leather, too, finishing off a nice 3-6-1 double play in the 4th, racing to first base to get the final out of the inning. It was an impressive performance by the big righty. In the 7th he gave up a booming opposite field double to Paul Goldschmidt (what is it with that guy and the Giants?) and a bunt single to Gerardo Parra, then threw a wild pitch to put runners at second and third with no outs. Two whiffs and a ground out later and the Diamondbacks were still scoreless. I liked that. Guillermo Mota, Jeremy Affeldt, and Dan Otero got the final six outs. Matty faced 27 batters in his seven frames, throwing a first-pitch strike to 18 of them. Four hits, one walk, and six strikeouts added up to a Game Score of 74. The final was 6-0. Brandon Belt looked good, stroking three hits including a triple that eluded Justin Upton in right-center by no more than a millimeter. Pablo Sandoval drove in two with two hits, and Marco Scutaro, who I think may be a cyborg, also had two knocks, an RBI, and a run scored. Buster Posey had the big milestone with his 100th RBI. The crowd got the M-V-P chant going after that. He's the best player in the league, if not all of baseball, and if the sports-writers can't see that then there's not much point listening to them ever again.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. Cain got his career-high 16th pitcher-win. (The team is 21-10 when he starts.) His 50 walks is his lowest season total ever and his 191 strikeouts another career high. FanGraphs ranks him 10th in the NL with 3.9 WAR. (Wade Miley, the Arizona rookie who started last night, ranks 5th with 4.5). I think they are selling him a little short, don't you? He will most likely start again Monday in LA. That would put him on track (5th day) for Game 1 on Saturday, October 6th.
3 comments:
Brandon Belt has been hitting way better since:
- He started standing up taller at the plate.
- I went on my little tirade (late July).
I take no credit, though. Bam Bam Meulens & Brandon Belt got that done.
As far as Tim Lincecum goes, I advanced this theory quite awhile ago: Consider that this may be the most dastardly brilliant plot ever hatched by Brian Sabean. The Giants cruise to a Division Title with 10-games-to-spare despite Tim Lincecum being the worst Starting Pitcher in MLB during his 'Contract Year'? Sound a little suspicious? If PED's were helping Melky Cabrera, then Giants-adminstered PDD's (Performance Diminishing Drugs) have been hampering Tim. Now that the Division Title has been secured, & the real action is about to start, long-time loyal Sabean minion Mike Murphy will change the 'formula', & Tim will start pitching post-season shutout innings, one-after-the other. Sure, they'll have to throw Lopez & Romo out there for the 9th inning, just to divert scrutiny & keep Lincecum's salary demands from inflating beyond 'the Team's budget', but the fact is that the new, bionic Tim could pitch 18-inning playoff shutouts, if he had to.
Dude, I thought I had some whacked notions.
Zito did his ugly but effective thing today. I hope Tim was watching. You can get ML hitters out with slowballs, curveballs, and slowerballs, eh? Zeets is living proof that the Mighty can Fall and yet Be Redeemed.
I look at the pitching WAR numbers, and I think the method they use to calculate this is flawed. When you look through the list you can only scratch your head and say What?
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