The last victory Matt Cain had was in last August against these same Colorado Rockies eleven games ago. In the span of ten games between the wins, he had a 0-5 record and the San Francisco Giants scored an average of 1.4 runs per game in support.
This night started well for Cain on the offensive side of the ball. Emmanuel Burriss, making a start at short, bunted for a single in the bottom of the first and moved to 2nd on a balk from Franklin Morales. Ray Durham singled him home and promptly stole second. Aaron Rowand drilled a single over Troy Tulowitzki's outstretched glove to score Durham giving Cain better than average run support to start the game.
The other two runs came on a classic 2008 Giants' inning. Walk, sac bunt, walk, double steal, walk, RBI walk, and RBI walk. With a four spot on the board, it was up to Cain and the pen to hold the lead. The outcome wasn't a sure thing, Cain had been in this position before only to see the pen blow the lead.
The home plate umpire for tonight, Paul Emmel, was not helping matters with his small strikezone. Corner pitches was consistently called balls except for the ones on the outside corner to the left-handed batters. The starting pitchers control was not sharp either. Cain threw 100+ pitches in 5 innings including 5 walks. Morales had the same control problems and also had 5 walks.
In the top of ninth with Brian Wilson in the game, he struck out the first two batters. Then the next two batters got consecutive singles which brought up one of the hardest to strike out hitters in the game, Todd Helton. With a full count, Wilson painted the outside corner with a fastball for a called strike three. Good thing, Helton bats left-handed, otherwise that would have likely been a walk.
Speed changes the makeup of the game. Speed puts pressure on the defense and changes singles into doubles. With the fast feet of Burriss and Eugenio Velez are contagious. Even the old guys--Durham, Randy Winn, and Rich Aurilla--are trying for steals. The Giants tallied 4 steals in the game giving them 31 for the month of April which is a team record and gives them the league lead in steals.
There are two players to take note in this game--Dan Ortmeier and Jose Castillo. Ortmeier doubled for his first two at-bats. For a team having trouble hitting extra base hits, Ortmeier should be starting everyday. Castillo, on the other hand, is a free-swinging hitter with singles power. He is basically Pedro Feliz without power. Or to conjure up an even worse image, Castillo compares well to Neifi Perez.
I wouldn't mind seeing Castillo moved to a utility role as a defensive replacement. Start Ortmeier at first base and put Aurilla at third. Make it so Bochy.
Other players doing well:
Fred Lewis had a couple of nice at-bats after coming in as part of a double-switch. The walk he took tied him for team lead with Brian Bocock.
Vinnie Chulk came in for Cain in a pressure situation and shut the door on the Rockies. Chulk's superb pitching since coming back from injury gives Bochy another arm to depend on along with Jack Taschner.
Eugenio Velez for taking his time in the 8th inning and working the count against Josh Newman. The Giants were up 4-0 in the bottom of the 8th inning. The game had already been in play for 3 hours and 30 minutes. Any other player would have just given in and swung at any pitch close to the strikezone, but Velez worked the count full and fouled off difficult pitches then put the bat on the ball to force the defense to make a play. Seeing this type of patience from a young guy like Velez and the other young guys on the team makes me happy for the future.
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