This showed up in a search for "sad face." So here's a photo. (Photo: hjhipster/Flickr)

Okay, so, raise your hand if you were surprised by how this game went. Is your hand up? Good. Now I know who all the liars are.

Matt Cain went out and made history last night, with stoic, ruthless efficiency. I’d love to talk about that (literally for hours), but that’s not the game I’m recapping; I mention it because if I was going to draw a linear graph of pitching experiences, “Matt Cain throws a perfect game” would be exactly diametrically opposite of “Barry Zito walks the bases loaded and gives up a grand slam.” So really, maybe I am a little surprised by just how fitting it was.

Anyway, Zito’s still got a lot of goodwill to burn through this season, after that startling season debut and quite a few quality starts since then. When your standards are as low as “please be an acceptable fifth starter,” pitching some legitimately really good games can do a lot to make friends. But after today, Zeets has a 4.92 FIP, the third worst in the National League. His 3.61 ERA is pretty middle of the pack, which is nice; the problem is that it has been a long time since Barry Zito routinely outperformed his FIP and other peripherals. That was when he was good, and an Athletic. Since becoming a Giant, his actual performance and predicted performance have basically gone hand in hand. » Continue reading “Giants Recap: Barry Zito Does Not Record A Perfect Game”

Matt Cain has spent his entire career in a Giants uniform. Before the season began, he signed an extension — guaranteeing that he will stay a Giant until at least 2017.

Criminally since his first MLB start in 2005, the offense notoriously never scored runs for him. That may be hyperbole at times, but there were times in his career where he had the lowest run support in the entire league, maybe even all of baseball.

A new term was coined for pitchers with a notorious lack of offense or the bullpen imploding or the defense being shoddy: “Cained” That’s what it meant to be “Cained.” But mostly, it was a lack of offense.

On the numbers side, Cain is a statistical anomaly. Sabermetrics showed that his FIP and xFIP wasn’t necessarily considered above average, some fans thought he wasn’t good because he didn’t have the wins. But when he took the mound, you just knew he’s a dominant pitcher who will amaze you.

Cain is a man who breezed through the postseason in 2010, putting up a scoreless ERA and shutting down powerful offenses. Regardless of the statistic, it didn’t matter when he pitched.

But tonight — this year, even — it’s been a different story. Most of the time. There were starts where he didn’t get the runs, but he pitched spectacularly. The Giants’ home opener — he gave up only one hit and it was in the 6th inning. » Continue reading “Giant Perfection By The Bay”