Jul 02 2008
Cain and Vizquel
Another great pitching performance last night for the Giants, this time from Matt Cain who threw 8 shutout innings with ten strikeouts in a 2-1 win. This is the Cain we were used to seeing last year, and the type of pitching that Giants fans know that Cain is capable of. It seemed like this year more than others he struggled a great deal. Part of the reason for this, according to a Giant teammate quoted in the Sporting News, was teammate Tim Lincecum. Cain is apparently caught up in trying to match his outstanding teammate and according to the unnamed source it is hurting his development.
Indeed going into his last start his numbers were relatively unimpressive, he was 4-6 with a 4.44 era. However yesterday’s 2 hit performance showed that perhaps Cain is ready to turn the corner. Taking on the Cubs, a strong hitting team, and throuroughly dominating, should be a great boost of confidence for Cain heading towards the all star break, which will likely see Lincecum and possibly Jonathan Sanchez in New York. If Cain can pitch like he did last night for the rest of the season he could conceivably finish with upwards of 15 wins which would really help the Giants. 15 wins for a #3 SP would be outstanding and we could even potentially see some postseason action.
Other Notes:
Giants SS Omar Vizquel is hitting a bare bones .152 and has only 1 hit in his last 35 at bats. His bat is really hurting the team at this point even more than his glove is helping. If there were still interleague games it would make more sense to DH for Vizquel than the Giants pitchers. Both Lincecum and Cain have higher batting averages and hav shown more power. There is not a good chance that he will be traded or released, but the younger Emmanuel Burriss has shown that he is more than ready hitting a respectable .280 with solid defense. He has made only 3 errors giving him a .976 fielding percentage and is a switch hitter so he does not need to be benched for lefties or righties.
