Oh, Matty Boy

Oh, Matty Boy, the fans, the fans are calling

From blog to blog, and down the City's 'hoods,

The winter's gone, and all the cacti blooming,

'Tis you, 'Tis you must go and give the goods  . . .

Yes, Matty darlin', there's a mountain of expectations on your broad shoulders. But you're a big, strong lad and I think ye can handle it. Seems like the Giants are counting on it as well. Since the Brian Trust has proven that they are smarter than me about all things baseball I'm going with them. They think Matty can still deliver the goods. So, I do as well. In fact, it's amazing to me that he could pitch at all with those "loose bodies" floating around in his elbow. I suppose lots of ballplayers have balky knees and twitchy shoulders and whatnot and yet play through them and still achieve on the field. Obviously the Cain of 2013-2014 was not the reliable workhorse, studly innings-eater, and big game star we got used to seeing in the previous several seasons. But he still has velocity:

From FanGraphs

 And his BABIP and batting average against have been mostly the same since he came into the league. He threw his fastball a lot less these last two seasons and his slider became a bigger part of his repertoire. I'm guessing the fastball was harder to throw due to the elbow issues and he could get more movement with the slider. Certainly teams were teeing off on balls that they normally would have popped up or hit routine flies, so something was amiss. Strikeouts went down, walks went up, and homers happened. We could all see that. Cain is the type that would never admit he had physical issues so I was actually relieved when he was DL'd and went for surgery. I figure if he can get the fastball back on track and get that natural break on the two-seamer working the rest will fall into place. He's still young (turns 31 in October) so it's hard for me to believe he's already in his decline phase. And he has that nice, simple delivery so I imagine mechanical "tweaks" are pretty easy with him. I'm optimistic, of course. Matt is my favorite player (duh!) so I'll admit that emotion is winning out over logic here. But for the bulk of Cain's career he has been Mr. Dependable and I think that betting on the bulk--the norm--and not outliers is the smart move here.

. . . for we'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,

Oh, Matty Boy, oh Matty Boy, we love you so . . .

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

p.s. I'm sure you all saw the story about Boch being hospitalized. Let's hope he's OK and ready to rumble. Over the years I've learned that most managers have a fairly neutral impact on the game and that there are a small few who can really screw things up. Then there is that very special even smaller group that can actually make a positive difference. Bruce Bochy is one of those in the rarefied air. The Giants have had a great team with lots of talent but there's no way they win three titles without their field general. Get well, soon, man.

p.p.s. I've done a few book reviews on this site over the years. Publishers sometimes send me freebies ("advance review copies" in the jargon) with the understanding I'll post about them. Recently an author I know sent me an ARC of his novella that is set in San Francisco and has a Giants-Dodgers series as the backdrop. I've only done baseball (non-fiction) books before, this will be my first foray into fiction. I'll post something Sunday or Monday. I think you'll be intrigued.