Cained

PIT 3  SF 2  (11)

Kevin Gausman gets the Matt Cain Award for a brilliant effort that results in a loss for the team. He held the Pirates scoreless through eight and was leading 1-0 in the 9th but was bedeviled by two bloopers from the first two batters. On came Jake McGee who gave up a grounder through the drawn-in infield and the game was tied. McGee struck out the next three and Tyler Rogers pitched a scoreless 10th. The Giants could only manage one run in the 11th and Caleb Baragar couldn't hold the 2-1 lead. The Pirates got two in the bottom half to even up the series.

If you like old school NL-style pitching duels the 2021 Giants are your team. In fact, the 2021 version of MLB is looking like 1968. Tonight there were a lot of clutch defensive plays by both teams and luck--both good and bad--played a big role. When games are close, anything can happen. The Giants lineup could not get it going against six Pittsburgh pitchers and it cost them a win. Kevin Gausman's final line: 8+ IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 12 SO, 96 pitches to 29 batters.

Johnny Cueto tomorrow at 3:35 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

 

p.s. Baragar had only allowed one run (unearned) this season in his first 14 appearances (11 IP). He did not allow a run in his final 16 appearances last season (14-1/3 IP).

7 4 1 1 2 3 ND

SF 2  KC 1 (11)
The Giants won an agonizing extra-inning torture-fest in Kansas City. That's a big story, the wins have been a little sparse lately. But the real story was a brilliant effort by Giants starter Matt Cain. He gave up a couple of hard-hit balls early but quickly found his repertoire and other than a solo shot by rookie Whit Merrifield in the 5th he was in command and got stronger as he went on. He got pulled after seven and 86 pitches. What a superb job on the road against a tough lineup! The team's failure to support him with runs was a familiar old tale. Matt Cain pitched well--that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

It was a painful game as the Giants blew multiple chances to open things up. This lineup has a tough time getting big hits, and could use an occasional homer. They ultimately broke through with two outs on no one on in the 11th when Nick Hundley's double was followed by Joe Panik's single. There have not been many chances so far to give the ball to the closer, but he got the call in the bottom half. Mark Melancon gave up two hits but got the job done with three strikeouts and the Giants had a huge win. All the relievers made it difficult; the Royals had eight baserunners in the final four frames.

Bruce Bochy had a medical procedure and was not in the house, he'll join the team Friday. Ron Wotus had managing duties.

Madison Bumgarner tomorrow. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I neglected to mention that Buster Posey was in the lineup as the DH and got three hits. That's good news!

Twenty

Brandon Crawford finally hit his 20th home run!  He had been stuck on 19 for what, over a month?  But he looked good tonight to give the Giants their first run, he was on base 3 times and scored twice.  Madison Bumgarner was on the mound.  This might have been his 20th victory, but, after his first try at #19 against Arizona that was thwarted by the Giants inept offense, this try was thwarted by the bullpen.  With help from the offense.

Angel Pagan led off the game with a double.  On Matt Duffy's single with 1 out, Pagan took a weird route and made a weird slide at home and was called out.  Brandon Crawford chalked up the first Giants score when he led off the 2nd inning with a home run.  The Giants then proceeded to put men on 1st and 2nd, only to have Kevin Frandsen (remember him?) ground into a double play.  That put Marlon Byrd at 3rd with Madison Bumgarner at the plate.  Madison struck out and it seemed to rattle him, he thought the called 3rd strike was a ball.  Joe West was behind the plate, and of course Madison did not make things easier on himself by questioning the strike call.   He may have carried it onto the field as he then gave up a walk to one of the Uptons, a single to Gyorko and a home run to Matt Norris.  Still, the Giants managed to eek out 3 runs by the middle of the 5th for a 4 - 3 lead, with the final run coming on a balk by Ian Kennedy.  Madison went 7 strong, threw 120 pitches gave up the 3 runs on 3 hits, walked 3 and struck out 9.  He has netted 228 K this season, a best for him.

The bullpen wasted no time giving this game away, however.  Strickland in the 8th walked the first batter, after Lopez did his job against Cory Spangenberg, Sergio Romo allowed Matt Kemp to tie the score.  In the 9th, Mike Broadway put a runner on before Josh Osich allowed a single and lost the game (Broadway got the L) on 2 pitches.  The offense however, deserves mention.  Matt Duffy had 3 hits, Pagan 2, De Aza 2, Byrd 2 and Tomlinson 2.  But the Giants were 2 for 15 with RISP.

So the Giants drop another series and LA has knocked 4 games off of their magic number in the last 2 days.  They're coming from behind to win, we are coming from ahead to lose.  So the Giants are 11 - 8 against San Diego this season, and 8 - 11 against Arizona, with final series to be played against LA and Colorado. 

Cain, Giants Out of Gas

It seemed that Matt Cain had lost it by the 6th inning this afternoon in San Diego. He got the third out, but had nothing left for the 7th and was pulled after four hitters and one out. Thankfully Jeremy Affeldt got the magic double play ball and the Giants still had a chance. Actually the Giants, these days, only have a chance if the pitcher throws a shutout. Normally if a starter gives a club 6-1/3 and two runs you'll hear "did the job" and "kept the team in the game" and "quality start" and all that jibber-jabber. (Ain't that right, Ryan Vogelsong?) Normally teams score about four runs a game (the league average), too. But that's not how it works for the orange-and-black these days. Shutouts and no-hitters are the only way this team can win. So I reckon that his effort today makes Matty a choker. Zeroes only from this point forward, laddie! You give up runs you are a loser. Want proof? Check the box score: there's an "L" next to "Cain." For $20+M/year we want nothing less than "W" every time!

The Giants continued on their hell-ward spiral today. They couldn't hit and they couldn't string together the hits they got. They couldn't stop the other team from scoring. They were utterly feeble and over-matched by the second-worst team in the league. It's some kind of sick punishment by the baseball gods. Just shy of a month ago I retired from my profession of schoolteaching after 30 years. On Sunday, June 8th, the Giants swept the Mets and stood atop the baseball world at 42-21. Since then the team has gone 5-18. It's not just that they stuck a knife in our hearts, it's now they've decided to twist it, and prolong the agony.

I used to be implacably calm when Matt Cain pitched. You knew, over the long haul, that the Tennesse Stud would deliver. He would grind out quality innings after quality innings and give the team big starts time and time again. These days I'm scared when the big righty pitches. He's not the same as he was. He looks vulnerable, like the league has figured him out. Tim Lincecum fell off a cliff, remember? But here lately maybe, just maybe, he has started to make the adjustments and turn himself around. I never thought that he wouldn't. (How's that for negating negatives?) The same thing seems to be happening to Matty. He is no longer the same guy. He has to re-invent himself, just like Timmy. I believe he will. Athletes are prideful creatures--they like to play the hero and impress the crowd. I think Cain is made of that sort of stuff, too. He wants to be The Horse. The Man. The leader of the pack. It's weird to write this after a good start. It's not like Cain gave it up today or sucked big time. Far from it--he "pitched well enough to win" and in April and May the Giants would have won this game easily. But these June and July Giants are a very different animal, indeed, and it's hard to know what to expect from one day to the next.

The Giants stand at 47-39 or .547 ball after 86 games. I thought, when the season started, that this was a 90+ win team. A 90-win team is .556 ball. That means the Giants have to play, percentage-wise, better baseball from this point forward than they have so far. They have to go 43-33 or .566 just to get to 90, and we know that might not be enough. To get to 94 will take 47-29 or .618 which seems increasingly unlikely. Of course they could snap out of their funk at any moment and run off some wins--this is indeed a possibility. But watching today's effort makes it hard to be optimistic. After the team fell behind 2-0 in the 3rd it was like the air was let out of the balloon. They had nothing and did nothing the rest of the game. Please, Gods of Baseball, say it ain't so. Give me a sign the Giants are awakening from their .217 stretch and are still contenders.

I hope you all had a relaxing Fourth. Happy Independence Day, everyone!

--M.C.

Cain Comeback

Matt Cain pitched beautifully tonight, throwing five hitless innings before finally surrendering two runs in the 7th inning. Jon Niese of the Mets also pitched a great game, holding the potent Giants lineup to only five hits and two runs. It was a crisp, well-played pitchers duel until the 8th when the Giants finally broke through against the Mets bullpen. Local boy Carlos Torres (from Aptos) gave up a two-run homer to Buster Posey and that was the difference. The home team conjured up another dramatic win, their 20th at AT&T and 40th overall.

Even when it looked like Matty might get Cained for the umpteenth time, I was less concerned about the outcome than the fact that Matt Cain looked like Matt Cain. Injuries are funny things, and we aren't used to no. 18 missing turns and spending time on the DL. But he looked strong and had good command until losing it a bit in the 7th when he gave up a double and a homer to the top of the lineup. Homeplate umpire Rob Drake liked what he saw from both pitchers: Cain had 19 called strikes versus three swinging, Niese had 15 called strikes and four swinging. Brandon Hicks excelled tonight--he had two hits and a walk and scored two and figured in all three double plays the Giants turned. Brandon Crawford drove in both of those runs with a sacrifice fly in the 5th and a two-out single in the 7th.

Tim Hudson takes on Bartolo Colon tomorrow night. After that the Giants face Zack Wheeler, Stephen Strasburg, and Doug Fister. That's some serious pitching! Should be fun.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Let's Go Get Cained

If you'd told me beforehand that Madison Bumgarner would throw a complete game in Coors Field and only allow two solo homers, I would have been happy. That spells "victory" to me. But I neglected to account for the continuing wretched state of the Giants offense. At least they put the ball in play (8 hits) tonight. They had two on with no out in the 2nd, and two on with one out in the 4th, 8th, and 9th, so there were, in theory, chances to score. Hunter Pence tied the game briefly with a solo shot in the 5th, and he and Michael Morse got a rally of sorts going in the 8th, but that was it. It wasn't a Coors Field ugly-fest like last night, and in fact it felt much like a game the Giants ought to win. But win they did not do, and won't do if they don't start scoring some goddamn runs. But you know that already.

Watching the Giants hit is like:
    (a) snorting corn starch
    (b) swallowing sandpaper
    (c) smoking sawdust
    (d) scarfing cat chow

I'll announce the winners later. Matt Cain at 12:10 tomorrow afternoon.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. Seven homers by the Rockies in two games.

Hanchez-ed

Because I wasn't going with 'Cained.' The young backstop had a rough night. Passed ball in the 1st that led to a run, whiff swinging in the 2nd, whiff looking in the 4th, two on and nobody out double play grounder in the 7th, flailing whiff with the tying run on second to end it. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, am I right? Matt Cain looked very sharp in his best start so far here in the first month of the season. That's eight straight one-run games for the Giants, the longest such streak for the franchise since 1910. They are 4-4. The Giants got a leadoff double from Angel Pagan but couldn't score him and that turned out to be a big play. Brandon Belt's homer in the 9th was all they could muster after that. Berkeley's own Tyson Ross was overpowering and made the once-mighty Giants lineup look feeble, much like Hyun-jin Ryu did the day before. I like the old Giants offense better, you know, the one from two weeks ago. You figure the games will be low-scoring in San Francisco and San Diego, but I've had enough. C'mon Giants, get some goddamn hits and score some goddamn runs.

Matt Cain pitched very well, and that is never bad. The Giants lost a very well-pitched Matt Cain game. It's that old, familiar weltschmerz. There ought to be some comfort in familiarity, but I'm not finding it.

Tim Hudson tomorrow at 5:40 p.m.

--M.C.

Rockies Give Giants a Good Caining

Here are Matt Cain's career splits, home (top) and away:

                                                          
W     L   ERA   G     IP          H   R      HR  BB   SO   BF   WHIP SO/9 SO/BB
51   46  3.16  138  909.1  733  336  73  306 746 3709  1.143  7.4  2.44
42   43  3.60  130  822.2  717  353  82  275 695 3427  1.206  7.6  2.53

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/12/2014.

Matt Cain is Matt Cain no matter where he pitches, it seems. Obviously the Park helps a bit, but overall he's the same cat out there every time. The last two starts were a bit ugly by Cainian standards, but today was more what we come to expect from the big righty. Of course, a Caining is also what we've come to expect over the years as well, and six Rockies pitchers made sure of that today in San Francisco. Matty had some command issues early, and racked up a lot of pitches, but he settled down and kept the Colorado hitters from any solid contact. I think they had two hard hit balls all afternoon. They scored the game's only run on a limp sacrifice fly to short right field, scoring leadoff man Charlie Blackmon who had walked, moved up on an infield hit, and stolen third base. It was a Giants and AT&T kind of ballgame but unfortunately it didn't work out in the Giants favor. Pagan was 0-for-4, Sandoval was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, Morse was 0-for-4 with two whiffs and a double play, and Buster was 0-for-3 with a walk. Hector (0-4, 2K) Sanchez started behind the plate and batted sixth with Posey at first against the lefty Brett Anderson. Brandon Belt sat on the bench. The Rockies made the big pitches when they had to and snuffed out the few chances the Giants mustered.

Matt Cain gave the ballclub a heap o' quality innings. In the end, that's what matters. The starters have to have better starts and over the long haul that will pay off. It didn't today, and it is frustrating when the team loses a well-pitched game at home. But seeing Matt Cain be Matt Cain took some of the sting out.

Tim Hudson tomorrow afternoon.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. The nice folks at Da Capo Press (in particular, Kristina DeMichele) sent me an advance copy of Bill Madden's new book, 1954: the year Willie Mays and the first generation black superstars changed Major League Baseball forever. I'll put up a review on Monday when, like me, the Giants have an off-day.

Dodgers Dingers Sink Cain, Giants

Matt Cain gave up two solo home runs to two power-hitting Dodgers outfielders, Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp, and that was enough for LA to take the opening game. The Giants got a solo homer from an unlikely source--Tony Abreu--and that took care of their scoring. Hyun-jin Ryu had the rest of the team befuddled for his seven innings, allowing only four hits and one walk. Brian Wilson pitched a perfect 8th, just to rub salt in the wounds, and looked sharp doing it, throwing only ten pitches and striking out two. Like last week, my takeaway from this game is that Matt Cain is back to looking like Matt Cain. After the worst April of his career, the big righty has gradually righted the ship and that bodes well for 2014. His September numbers tell the story of the season for the Giants: 28 IP, 27 H, 7 R, 18 K, and the team goes 0-4 scoring only 8 runs. If this was indeed Cain's last start, and I hope it is, he finishes with exactly half the pitcher-wins (8) he had last season (16), and twice (10) the number of losses (5).

Take a look at FanGraphs. Matty threw his slider in 2013 more (28%) than ever before, and and his fastball less (49%) than ever before. His home run rate (1.1/9) and home run to flyball rate (10.8%) are his highest ever. Interestingly, his xFIP (3.88) is in line with the last few seasons: 4.16, 4.00, 3.78, 3.82 since 2009. He was about half a run higher than that for 2005-2008. His walk and strikeout rates have been pretty consistent, and his 2013 BABIP of .260 is right at his career mark (.264). So, what happened? Why did we see so much "Bad Matt" this season? I like to think it was fatigue--both mental and physical. The burden of expectations is a heavy one. After a near-perfect 2012, a little "regression to the mean" is not surprising. The wear-and-tear of innings pitched and batters faced is also a big one, and I hope the Giants address that with their starters next season. Cain has pitched better since he was on the DL--maybe skipping a start or two now and then throughout the year could become a regular practice. Looks like they are shutting down Madison Bumgarner for the season (Barry Zito gets the start tonight). I find it hard to argue with that.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Bullpen Meltdown Cains Giants

Santiago Casilla was popping 95 mph but couldn't throw a strike when he needed to. Sergio Romo was snapping sliders but couldn't get anyone to bite. The Mets were patient and made good swings on pitches in the zone and got the job done in the 9th inning, ruining a perfectly nice ballgame. They almost pulled off a similar comeback in Tuesday night's game, but the 'pen managed to hold the line. Not last night, though, the dam burst and the Giants walked off losers. Matt Cain had another great start--it looks like what was broken earlier might just be fixed. That's the takeaway for me, after all, what's another loss in a lost season? If this game had been part of a pennant chase, I'd be in sackcloth and ashes pouring forth lamentations of the most lamentable variety. The only really regrettable thing about the loss is that the Padres are now 1-1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the battle for third place.

The Giants have ten games left in the season. I hope last night was Matty's penultimate start. I love the word "penultimate." In theory he could pitch twice on the final homestand: the first game (9/24) vs. LA and the last (9/29) vs. SD. I think they should give the final game to Mike Kickham. And it would be nice to see Heath Hembree or Jake Dunning get a shot at closing a game or two. The Giants know what the major-leaguers can do. It's time to see what the youngsters can do.

Madison Bumgarner goes this afternoon (10:10 a.m. Pacific) in the rubber match.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

I'll Have My Usual Caining, Please

I thought Madison Bumgarner had taken over the role of hard-luck pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, but Matt Cain returned from the DL tonight to reclaim his place at the top of the heap. I must admit I wanted Matty to spend more time re-habbing before getting back to work--I think his struggles early this year could easily be attributed to fatigue. I know he would never claim that, but after 1500+ innings and 6300 batters in seven full seasons, wear-and-tear on the pitching arm is a legitimate concern. Nevertheless, Cainer was reasonably Cainian tonight, going 6-1/3 and allowing just two runs despite eight hits and four walks. It wasn't, I imagine, very pretty, but it was effective enough to keep the team close. Brandon McCarthy had other ideas, though, dominating the Giants over eight innings to secure the win for the Diamondbacks. A clutch hit, a bloop and a blast, something, anything, and the Giants could have pulled it out. Alas, that is not this team's métier. Last year they won the World Series even though Tim Lincecum was the worst starter in the league. This year Matt Cain is the broken one, and this year they are in last place. I don't know how to make sense of that.

MadBum gets the ball tomorrow for the rubber match.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I was out tonight at a fundraising dinner and missed the telecast. I had a lot of fun and a great meal with good friends. I do have a life outside of Giants baseball, believe it or not!

A Rather Sad Ode to George and Ira Gershwin

Summertime, and Maddy, he's throwin'
Bases full of runners, but no runs are nigh
We saw this before, and we'll see it more later
Hush little baby, now don't you cry.

Big Fly Burns Cain, Giants Fall Apart

The Baltimore Orioles lead the world in hitting home runs. They have 156 in their 117 games, tops in baseball. Their .440 slugging percentage ties them for the lead with the Detroit Tigers. They are third in total bases and fourth in runs scored. Matt Cain kept the lid on them for six innings, but left one up for power-hitting shortstop J.J. Hardy and he hit a two-run homer in the 7th to give the visitors the lead they never relinquished. The Giants looked like they might pile up some early runs, getting two in the 1st, but they fizzled after that and left it up to the pitching. One in the 6th, two in the 7th, four in the 8th, and three in the 9th took care of that notion and the team racked up its 65th loss in this lost season.

Matty gave up nine home runs in the month of April (six starts). Since then, he's had 17 starts and given up nine more home runs. His career average is 0.8 HR/9 but it's ticked up to 1.1 HR/9 this year. The most he's allowed in any season is 22, which he did twice (2009 and 2010). Lots of guys give up home runs. Curt Schilling gave up 347 dingers in his 3261-inning career, or 1.0 HR/9. And a seven-inning three-run start isn't bad. In fact, it's pretty good (Game Score 59). A lot of teams will win games if their starter goes seven and gives up three. But this is the Giants, and the team is in a shambles at this point. The bullpen collapsed completely today, but even if they had held the line, the offense has been so feeble that they likely would not have won the game anyway. The Giants are 29th of 30 teams in homers (only 69!), they slug .374 (third from the bottom), they are 25th in total bases, and 27th in runs scored.

The team has not pitched well, hit well, or fielded well in 2013. It's no wonder they are in last place. They travel tomorrow, and open up a three-game set in D.C. on Tuesday.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Stop Me If You've Heard This Before

Matt Cain pitched a great game but the other guy did, too, and the Giants lost. Wily Peralta wasn't doing anything fancy, just throwing hard and changing speeds, but it was enough to keep runs off the board for six innings. The lineup left eight men on base and was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Two misplays in the field led to runs: Joaquin Arias booted a routine grounder in the 9th, and more shockingly, Buster Posey chucked a pickoff throw into left field in the 4th. Buster had a tough night. When he struck out in the 1st, he visibly sighed and slumped his shoulders. When do you see that? He also got plunked in the ribs with a fastball in the 6th, and grounded out feebly in the 8th with the tying run at third base. I suppose even the All-American Boy is mortal. The only offense was from the youngsters: Brandon Crawford had two hits, so did Roger Kieschnick, and Brandon Belt had a hit, a walk, and a run scored. The veterans (Marco Scutaro, Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence, and Posey) were 1-for-15 with four strikeouts.

Cain looked sharp and generated a lot of pop-ups and weak contact. There were three hard-hit balls in his seven innings of work, doubles by Jean Segura and Norichika Aoki (who scored on Buster's bad throw), and the solo home run from Carlos Gonzales. In his last three outings (22 IP, Game Scores 67, 71, 67), Matty has allowed 16 hits, three walks, four runs, and struck out 20 batters. Regardless of the outcome, it's nice to see him looking like his old self. I wonder if Boch and Rags have considered reducing the big fella's workload come September. You know, an extra day between starts, or drop a late-season road start to give a call-up a look-see. That sort of thing. With 219-1/3 IP in the regular 2012 season on top of 30 IP in the post-season, that's a lot of wear and tear, especially when you add in the six full seasons before that. He's a $100M investment--might be time to think about 2014 and beyond.

Madison Bumgarner tonight. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Arc of Cain

Tonight encapsulated Matt Cain. Brilliant early, he teases us by retiring the first eleven. Efficient, and in command, he gives up a fateful run late, and all looks lost. Cain'd again, we think. Then the team pulls off a miraculous comeback, there's a chance for a victory and a Matt Cain chance for that most elusive of prizes, the pitcher-win. Then it all looks lost, like it will all fall apart, but there's redemption in the end. In one game, a career. Speaking of careers, check out the starting pitchers tonight:

IP          H   R  HR  BB   SO HBP   BF ERA+
1660.2   1384 663 145 566 1392  47 6848  119

1517.2   1360 613 180 383 1436  35 6193  123

That's Cain on top, Cole Hamels on bottom. Neither includes tonight's stellar work. They have similar careers. Cain was the 25th pick of the 2002 June draft, Hamels the 17th. Cain debuted at age 20, in August of 2005. Hamels was 22 in May of 2006. Cain has 256 starts (plus eight in the post-season), 15 complete games, and six shutouts. Hamels has 233 starts (plus 13 in the post-season), 12 complete games, and six shutouts. B-R says Cain is worth 31.2 WAR, Hamels 30.6 WAR. Their most famous matchup was Game Three of the 2010 NLCS, the Giants winning 3-0 en route to a pennant and a World Series championship.

Tonight was an epic contest by two of the game's best. Both, interestingly, are having poor years. Both guys went eight, Cain giving up one run (Game Score 71) and Hamels none (Game Score 72). Somehow, the Giants scratched out two runs against Jonathan Papelbon to make it 2-1 in the top of the 9th. Sergio Romo loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 9th, but somehow held on for the win. Like I said, it was epic, and two of the best in the game showed their stuff. Did I mention Cain was a righty and Hamels a lefty? No? But you knew that already. Tonight right was right, and Matt Cain and the Giants pulled off a win and took the series in Philadelphia.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Cain, Giants Almost Win

I have to think that Matt Cain pitching well and the Giants struggling to score is actually a good thing. I mean, this is the Matt Cain we know and love. Mr. Hard Luck, Mr. No-Decision, Mr. Undeserved Loss--that's our boy. Life is ordered, the universe is in balance, the yin's yanged, and the yang's yinned when no. 18 gets minimal run support. Hey, I'm reaching here, OK? The Giants are fighting tooth-and-nail with the equally feeble Chicago Cubs to stay out of the cellar. And they are now TEN GAMES below the .500 mark. I don't know what to say about that, it's a little too disturbing to contemplate, so I'll do what any red-blooded, self-respecting American would do and simply ignore it. Jeff Francouer delivered a two-run single in the 7th (after Matty's 115-pitch night was done) to overcome the 1-0 deficit and give Cainer and the ballclub a shot at the win. Unfortunately the 'pen could not get the job done, and just when it looked like Sergio Romo would get the last out, Brandon Belt couldn't come up with the hard smash from Rizzo and the Giants were doomed.

Vida Blue said on the pre-game show that Cain needed to mix it up on two-strike counts, that he was too predictable and thus giving up big hits when he should be getting outs. It's worth noting that the Chicago sequence that scored the run in the 6th (Nate Schierholtz double and Starlin Castro single) were both two-strike hits. None of this means a goddamn thing. I've been watching baseball all of my life and still don't understand pitching. Or hitting. Or fielding. Especially tonight's fielding. I mean lack of fielding. Tony Abreu should have stopped the ball that led to the Cubs first run, and Belt was in the right spot for the very type of ball that Rizzo hit, yet could not knock it down and end the game.

Matt Cain pitched well: 7   6   1   1   1   7, Game Score 67. That's something. My mom offered me a shot of bourbon in that horrid 9th, and when I said "no, thanks" she countered with a Jameson. You're all right, Ma, you understand. It was a great visit today, other than the game. Dwight Yoakam has a song, It Won't Hurt, where he sings in that plaintive drawl "but even whiskey cannot ease your hurting me." That was tonight. No sense wasting good whiskey.

--M.C.

Collapse

Matt Cain wasn't pretty, but he was reasonably effective, and I've learned not to scoff at the "Quality Start" statistic. Stringing together quality starts is what usually leads to winning baseball. The Giants though, can't seem to get clutch hits. Today they had a runner at third with one out and failed to score him--that would have tied the game in the 7th. They had a runner at third in the 8th with only one out, but only for a brief moment, as Marco Scutaro was thrown out at second after a questionable decision to advance. In light of Joaquin Arias' double play grounder the inning before, I can understand the desire to have runners on second and third rather than first and second. But it was one of those situations that required the runner to be absolutely sure of not getting thrown out. In fact, he was thrown out, and that meant Buster Posey (2-for-16 in the series) had to get a hit to tie the game, which he did not. Thus the Giants failed to give themselves a chance to win. Jean Machi collapsed completely in the 9th, giving up four runs and ending any hope of a comeback.

Mostly, though, this game was about another Marlins starter befuddling the lineup. We had Jacob Turner one night and Tom Koehler another, and today we got the overpowering Nathan Eovaldi. The Giants were averaging over four runs per game coming in to this series, but they could only manage EIGHT runs total against the vaunted Miami pitching staff. Only Ricky Nolasco was ordinary, and despite giving up nine hits the Giants could not finish him off and wound up losing. Even with Barry Zito throwing a gem yesterday, the Giants still had to resort to extra-inning heroics to win. This was a winnable game and a winnable series, but collapses from the bullpen and feeble efforts from the hitters meant another lost weekend.

Matt Cain continues to give up home runs. Today Justin Ruggiano murdered the second pitch of the game and put the Giants in a hole they never came back from. Cain has allowed 16 dingers in 16 starts. Before this year, he had allowed 129 homers in 235 starts. In 2011 he only allowed nine in his 33 starts, an anomalously low number considering that all his other seasons were between 14 and 22. So, is 2013 just an anomaly, an extreme case of bad luck, much like 2011 being, perhaps, an extreme case of good luck? Is the swing just normal variation? Or is something wrong? If so, what? His hit rate of 7.4/9 is close to his career norm (7.5), as is his walk rate of 2.7/9 (3.1), and strikeout rate of 8.3/9 (7.5). His BABIP of .249 is right there (.263), and his 37.0% ground ball rate (37.2) and 40.8% fly ball rate (43.7) aren't much different. Even his xFIP (3.82) is the same as last season's, suggesting that his expected runs allowed should be close to the same. Alas, he's allowing a home run on 14% of his fly balls, about twice his career rate of 7.1% (it was 8.4% last season and 3.7% in 2011). What's the deal? How can a guy do just about everything else the same and have one thing be completely out of whack? I tell ya, I just don't know, but it ain't no fun to watch.

Giants are firing on only one cylinder at a time these days, and it's hard to take. The parts and pieces are all there, despite the injuries, but they can't seem to get them coordinated and working in a mutually supporting way.

Let's go, Giants. Let's get some goddamn wins!

--M.C.

Agony in Extras Avoided

Good starts. Wins. That's the connection, right? The Giants get good starts, the Giants win. That's our mantra around here. As goes starting pitching, so go the Giants. This season we've seen some poor starting pitching from our beloved ballclub. This week, though, we've seen a nice change. The trend line ticked up a bit. Matt Cain threw seven strong against the Padres on Tuesday. Madison Bumgarner followed that with seven strong on Wednesday. Two good starts, two wins. Chad Gaudin was pitching well before the line drive knocked him out of the game on Thursday but you add in Sandy Rosario's relief job and you got yourself another seven strong. That game was a loss. OK, it happens. Sometimes the bullpen blows it. The lineup can't hit. The breaks don't break. The team pitches well but gets beat anyway. Hell, this franchise cornered the market on that for a while--we fans called it "getting Cained." Yesterday Tim Lincecum pitched well for seven innings but the bullpen coughed it up. And his mates could manage only three runs to help him. Today, Barry Zito delivered his version of seven strong, and his hitters barely squeaked out a run. Fortunately, the 'pen bent, but did not break, and the Giants kept getting second chances. The lineup was pretty damn feeble, and could not conjure up a big hit until the 11th inning. But conjure they did, and the Giants finally crack the Marlins curse and walk off with a much-needed win. I'm happy the team won, and I'm even happier that they've given us a bit of hope with a nice run of good starts. Get the 'pen back in order and the hitters hitting again and wins could start to pile up. They could use a big pile here real soon, on the road against LA and Colorado to close the month.

Matt Cain tomorrow. Seven strong, eh, Matty?

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. Game 72 was Thursday's loss. Sorry for my tardy innings analysis. That's 4/9 of the season. Giants went 11-7 in their first 18 games, and 10-8 in the next 18. Unfortunately they followed that with an 8-10 stretch. After 54 games, 1/3 of the season, they were an uninspiring 29-25. The fourth seasonal inning was another 8-10 stretch, putting them at 37-35. With today's win. they are 1-1 for inning five and sit at 38-36, 2-1/2 back of Arizona. Time to get those winning ways back, lads!

1-0 Was Not Quite Enough

Jeremy Affeldt does not give up a lot of home runs, but he left a 2-0 pitch a little too up and a little too over the plate for Giant-killer Paul Goldschmidt who sent it over the right-field wall in the 8th to decide the game. Matt Cain left after 7+ with a 1-0 lead, having surrendered an infield single to A.J. Pollock. Ol' Boch summoned his normally stalwart lefty who induced a groundout from pinch-hitter Wil Nieves and then struck out leadoff man Gerardo Parra. Unfortunately he then walked Willie Bloomquist to bring the slugging Arizona first baseman to the plate. Dave Righetti made a trip to the mound and said "down, down, down, there's a lefty up next" or something to that effect, and it looked for all the world that Miguel Montero would get his chance, but then it was a three-run bomb and the gig was up.

Matt Cain gave up a hit, walked three guys, and threw 31 pitches in the 1st but wriggled out of the jam, courtesy mostly of the aforementioned Goldschmidt who hit into a double play. Cain got another 6-4-3 out of him later, and followed that with a whiff in the 6th. It looked like a good night. Matty put up six more zeros with only 72 pitches and had Pollock 0-2 before the high-hop grounder to third in the 8th finally ended his night. It was a good start (Game Score 66), and kept the Giants in the game against the Diamondback's young lefty. Patrick Corbin was clinical through the first six, using only 70 pitches to subdue the lineup, but a broken-bat hit from Pablo Sandoval and a two-out single from Gregor Blanco finally broke the ice. Panda, on his gimpy leg, raced to third on a fly out to right from Joaquin Arias (pinch-hitting for an overmatched Brandon Crawford who swung and missed the six pitches he'd seen) to get the extra ninety feet and make the hit from Blanco count. Alas, it was not to be enough. The Giants usually hang on to late leads and usually squeak out the close ones. Not tonight. Matt Cain pitched well, and despite the loss to the division front-runners, that has to be worth something. If the starters can grind out quality innings and string together good outings then the team can get back to their championship form. Madison Bumgarner gets his shot tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. Angel Pagan was finally put on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May 28th. Fresno OF Juan Perez takes his spot.

p.p.s. Brandon Belt made a sweet grab-and-throw on an grounder from Corbin in the 6th to get Didi Gregorius (who doubled to start the inning) at the plate and preserve the 0-0 tie.

A Win By Any Other Name

I came home today just in time to see Javier Lopez take the ball from Bruce Bochy. I missed Matt Cain's 7-1/3 innings of being Matt Cain. Remember when the "Cain can't beat LA" shite was being bandied about? When was that? Who cares. Pitcher-wins are stupid. Teams win, teams lose. Today was case in point, the 'pen was teetering on the abyss of a colossal meltdown in the 8th, and we were all a bit tense, but four pitchers later it was all OK. Lots of opportunities to turn that W into an L or ND. Shit happens. And Hunter Pence. Let us not forget the big hits that led to big runs that made the difference. If Hunter doesn't Pence, Matt would have been Cain'd, and that 'first win' would have slipped away. But a win it was, and still is, and my penny-ante punditry cannot get in the way of some well-deserved high-fives and woo-hoos. If my muse Mike Krukow were next to me now, I'm sure he'd say that the Tennessee Stud "was happy to leave April behind" and follow that with some new Krukovian catch-phrase that will bore into my brain like a Khan-worm into Mr. Chekhov. But Matt Cain and the Giants swept the Dodgers, and that's better than everything else.

I had a great Cinco de Mayo, hope you did, too.

¡Vamos Gigantes!

--M.C.



p.s. Ron: check my Spanish!