Tag Archives: Matt Cain

“Is There Something Wrong with This Picture?” Probably Not ~

Posted on July 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

I found a great post this morning that talks about the who, why and what of the no-hitters and perfect games that seem to be happening with regularity this season, more than in seasons past.

Keith Olbermann

Last month I posted an article from Keith Olbermann wherein his supposed innuendo was that Cain may have taken PED’s  when he threw his perfect game and that his ” there’s something wrong with this picture” theme was just a little offensive to this writer.

So it was very refreshing to read this article from Bay Area Sports Talk on the subject this morning.  It presents an actual analysis and discussion on the subject instead of a knee-jerk reaction to something the Giants have accomplished as a team, again.  Here’s a few excerpts:

  • With the strict punishments looming over PED users, the playing field has been seemingly leveled — and pitchers are reaping the benefits.
  • With pitching evolving to its maximum potential and PED’s seemingly eliminated, Major League pitchers will be the superstars of The Big Show in the future.

Thanks to Brian Evans for the article, “With Steroid Use Halted – the MLB is Getting a Little More Perfect“.   Good stuff Brian!

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Giants Steal the Show at All-Star Game!

Posted on July 10, 2012 | Leave a comment
By Daniel Brown dbrown@mercurynews.com
San Jose Mercury News
Posted:   July 10, 2012   

All Photo’s Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News

“KANSAS CITY, Mo. — To repay the fans who stuffed the ballot box, the Giants stuffed the box score Tuesday night.”

Melky Cabrera, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Matt Cain propelled the National League to an 8-0 victory in the 83rd All-Star game at Kauffman Stadium, silencing a weeklong uproar from a sour Big Apple.

Sandoval, who surpassed Mets third baseman David Wright in the controversial final balloting, hit a three-run triple to key a five-run first inning.

Cain, who got the starting nod over Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey, pitched two scoreless innings and became the first Giants pitcher to win an All-Star game since Vida Blue in 1981. Continue reading →

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“Giants Garlic Fest” or Garlic Fries and Baseball at AT&T Park!

Posted on June 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

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 “First Annual Giants Garlic Fest”

What a hoot!  When I first found out about the Garlic Festival to be held at AT&T Park I knew I had to be there.  I mean how many blogs are out there about this very subject?  And a book entitled “Garlic Fries and Baseball” no less.  To be perfectly honest it wasn’t about the garlic fries so much ~ I’ve eaten plates full.

“Herbie at home on my bookshelf”!

I’ve been to the Gilroy Garlic Festival many times and to tell you the truth, when I found out they were going to have “Herbie” the bobble head, I had to have one.  So I dragged my dear husband to the ballpark today and we got in line at the Will Call, and again at the Main Gate and the food court and finally at the bobble head give-away table.  And I got my bobble head.

Special Pungent Garlic Fries!

There’s something really special about being out in the warm sunshine, on the waterfront at AT&T Park, well any ballpark really, but especially at AT&T.   We met some really nice people, talked a little baseball and talked a lot of garlic. Smiles were abundant and today the smell of that yummy garlic was everywhere.  Garlic fries were the best of course, but the garlic bread and incredible sauce slathered all over the tender tasty pieces of calamari was to die for.   I knew my husband would share his calamari with me (he thinks it tastes like rubber bands) and that I’d have to give up a little bread and fries in the trade, but it was okay.  It was all good.  I love this stuff.

2012 Gilroy Garlic Festival, July 27, 28, 29th

I understand they’re planning on making this an annual event.  I sure hope so.  We’ll definitely be back next year.  We didn’t stay for the game; instead headed back on Caltrain around 5:30 and arrived home just in time for the first pitch on the telly.

The first pitch this time turned out to be a home run for Cincinnati.  I was rather relieved for Matt Cain.  The way I look at it ~ the prospect of a no-hitter, one-hitter, and perfect game were no longer issues and he could relax and enjoy the game with the rest of us.   Final score was Cincinnati 5,  Giants 1, but you know what?  It was okay.  After these past few weeks, the Giants have treated us to some really special moments and right now, at least for today, they’re standing alone in 1st place in the National League West.

Life is really, really good.  Don’t you just love it?   Garlic fries and baseball I mean.

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Keith Olbermann Not Raining on This Parade!

Posted on June 15, 2012 | 2 comments

Keith Olbermann on David Letterman’s show …..thinking about his next blooper?

Leave it to Keith Olbermann to try to rain on Cain’s parade.  I say “try” because  I’ve never really cared for him or his opinions  as they rarely have relevance to anything, and I wouldn’t have read this one either, except that it got really personal.  Personal, in that Matt Cain belongs to all of us fans here in the Bay Area and if you try to disparage him, you disparage us.

Matt Cain, ultimate pitcher!

Olbermann’s contention is that there’s “something wrong with this picture” because in his mind there have been too many no-hitters and perfect games of late, compared to the good old days.  Here’s the quote that really got my goat:

“I’m not saying the pitchers are juiced and I’m not saying there will be a mental asterisk placed some day on Cain’s perfect game …….”

But?   But what?  Truly unbelievable.   Where do they get these guys?  I mean where did they get” this” guy ~ real sports writers are starting to now proclaim that not only was this a perfect game, but that it just might be the best of all perfect games in the history of baseball.

“Where do they get these guys?”

So what makes an under performing political commentator turned so-called sports writer feel a need to take a stance that’s so off the wall it kept me awake last night?   Or am I just being overly protective of Matt Cain and the other Giants who continue to get no respect, even after this feat and the 2010 World Series triumph?

Good grief.  I can’t believe I’m wasting a half hour this morning talking about something Obie posted, as though something he writes has any relevance to anything, anytime, anywhere.

In any event, take a look here and decide for yourself.    “The Perfect Game Swarm”.

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“CAIN’S PERFECT GAME REIGNS ~ INSANE!!”

Posted on June 13, 2012 | 7 comments

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 Celebrating Matt Cain’s Perfect Game at AT&T Park.  Giants 10, Astros 0.  Photo’s courtesy of San Jose Mercury News and (1) my Comcast TV!

I thought the World Series win would be the ultimate thrill for this San Francisco Giants fan.  But tonight at AT&T Park, Matt Cain pitched the first perfect game in the history of the franchise, and believe you me, it’s got to be the best feeling in the world for any true-blue Giants fan.

Matt’s pitching was dead-on perfect all night, but It didn’t really hit me until around the seventh inning, that this was going to be something really, really special.  It wasn’t just the pitching, but the Giants’ bats were hot all night and the incredible fielding, particularly in the 7th and the 9th innings, well all of it really, was spot-on.   An incredible team effort.

When the ball hit Belt’s mitt for that final out in the ninth, I could hardly see what was happening as my emotions got the best of me.  But I managed to see Buster Posey charge to the mound and physically lift the  6′ 3″, 235 pound Cain up and carry him probably 10 feet before everyone let their emotions rip.  Matt said later that he trusted Buster’s calls all night, never questioned one, and just let it happen.  Of course, every pitch he had was near perfect on this night, so between the two of them it was destined to happen.

Said Matt after the game, “It was an all out effort tonight and it turned out perfect.  It was awesome!” Said Buster when asked if he was nervous,  “I was as nervous as I’ve ever been on a baseball field.  It’s a different kind of nervous, different from the World Series.”

As for me, I’m exhausted, stoked! Have to go watch that game again!!  Thank you Matt Cain.  This is almost better than the World Series!!   Almost :))  Or as Chelsea Cain, Matt’s wife, expressed after the game, “This is insane!”

Here’s a great re-cap from Alex Pavlovic at the San Jose Mercury News.

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Those Phooey Phillies ….. Just Won’t Go Away!

Posted on March 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Well, to be honest with you, I’ve always liked Roy Halladay, even if he is a Phillie!   I saw this video for the first time today and wondered if all Major League pitchers feel the same way about their catchers as Roy feels about his.   I can see Lincecum and Cain showing Buster a little love, but all bets are off when it comes to Wilson.  Can you just see Brian Wilson in the kitchen, making pancakes while  discussing the morning with a balloon replica of Buster Posey? 

I saw an interview  with Buster Posey after the season was over, and as I recall, Buster said at one point he started to go out on the mound to talk with Wilson, took one look at those dark green eyes glaring off into space, promptly turned around and went back behind the plate.  Later he explained, he just thought it was something he should do, not that Wilson wanted it or needed it.  Posey didn’t say he was intimidated, but that was the implication.

One can only hope  Roy Halladay spends a lot of time in the kitchen talking to blow-up dummies for the next  six months.   Is it post season yet?

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SF Giants ……. They’re Everywhere!!

Posted on January 1, 2011 | 1 comment
The other day I was in the Safeway parking lot and had to do a double take on the guy pulling in next to me.  My gosh!  For sure it was Sergio Romo, in the car right next to me.  What to do?  Should I just ignore him, maybe introduce myself, thank him for a great season, or just act my age and ignore him?   After taking a few deep breaths I got out of the car and immediately realized it wasn’t Sergio after all, just someone who really reminded me of him!  This has been happening a lot lately.   We returned late last night from Las Vegas.  We flew down just to see “The Jersey Boys” playing at the Palazzo and it was probably the best show I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of shows!   As we were being seated  I nudged my husband and said” Oh my gosh!  Look!  It’s Buster Posey! ”  He was just being seated 4 rows in front of us!  Whattathrill!  Only to realize as he turned around it was a Posey lookalike.  I wondered if  this guy had to deal with fans often as surely others would have made the same mistake I just did.   But the reason I’m even mentioning this subject is that during the play, about a third into it,  the “Bob Gaudio” character was introduced and I immediately thought what a striking resemblance he had to Matt Cain.  Really!  Throughout the entire performance all I could think about when this guy was on

The "real" Bob Gaudio

stage was Matt Cain, his looks, height, curly hair, mannerisms, voice, everything!    So I mention this to my husband

Matt Cain

at intermission and he looked at me a little concerned, like  maybe I was starting to get a little obsessed about the Giants ……..really?  You think?   When we got back to our hotel room, I thought I was really onto something and looked frantically through the Playbill to find this identical twin to Matt Cain, the Bob Gaudio character, only to find they didn’t look anything like each other, at least not in the pictures.  I began to think my hubby was right and I was becoming obsessed.  After all, this was happening more and more lately.  Everywhere I turned I saw someone from the Giants team.  I haven’t seen Lincecum yet, but I’m sure he’s out there.  It’ll happen.  I have to get this under control!   It’ll be my New Year’s resolution, to stop obsessing about the  SF Giants!   Hmmm…..I wonder if Matt Cain can sing?

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TEXAS CAIN-SAW MASSACRE ~ GAME 2.

Posted on October 29, 2010 | 6 comments

Geez, I know, it’s a really bad title, but it is almost Halloween.  I thought about “Giants Smoke Rangers“, but with all the San Francisco pot stories and ballot measures promoting the stuff right now, I didn’t like that one either, so here it is ~ SF Giants 9, Texas Rangers -0-.    First, let me say, this was a really close game.  Close until the 8th inning and then the bottom fell out of the saddle for the  Texas Rangers.  Up until that time it was a knuckle-grinder and anything could have happened with just one pitch and one hit.  As Aubrey Huff said after the game, the score was really  technically 2-0, and I agree.   It was a wild and crazy 8th inning.  Every game in the post season the

Matt Cain

Giants have managed to come up with a different hero, so there’s not one really spectacular player that stands out about this team.  It’s been like that all year.  This time it was  Matt Cain, record breaking, torture-ending, masterful Matt Cain.  And it was also Edgar Renteria.   Edgar Renteria?  Who’s Edgar Reneria.   See what I mean?  No one’s ever heard of the guy, just like you’ve never heard of   Cody Ross or Juan Uribe or Tim Lincecum.   (Well, maybe Lincecum since he’s a two time Cy Young Award Winner!)   I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this game because, to tell you the truth, in spite of my euphoria for the Giants, I felt bad for the Texas Rangers.  I felt especially bad for Derek Holland,  the young pitcher they brought  in in the 8th Inning, who allowed 3 runs and 3 walks before they finally took him out.  I ‘m still

Edgar Renteria

pondering why Manager Ron Washington left him in so long.  Bochy would have had him out after the first run.  The fact is they’re a much better team than what they showed last night and everyone knows it.  We’ve all been there with really bad games you just want to forget and get past and move on to the next.   But as the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton explained after the game, “Obviously they (Giants)  have the momentum right now, but it sort of felt that way even before the first game started”.   Next game will be at the Texas Rangers table with fan support behind them and I’m thinking it’s gonna be one of those low scoring, close games again.  That’s what the SF Giants are used to.   And besides, Halloween’will be here and gone soon and things can get back to normal.

(Note about Matt Cain.   After last night’s game, Andrew Baggarly, who’s a beat writer with the SJ Mercury News, said he asked Matt why he hadn’t tipped his cap to the crowd and their wild standing ovation for him, and Matt said “Can’t do it with a runner on base.  Just didn’t seem right.”   He had just issued a one out walk and there was still work to be done.  And that’s why he’s so admired and respected by his teammates and the  Giants fans.    Matt Cain, a real team player with a lot of integrity.  Does your heart good doesn’t it?  Just another example of a real class act!  GFBB)

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