Yardbarker: Matt Cain

A Letter to an Owner

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:07:01 -0500

Raising Matt Cain sends a letter to the Giants’ managing general partner.

BtB Power Ranking Season Review: NL West

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:30:15 -0500

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP Matt Cain thinks the Giants' 23rd placement in the BtB Power Rankings is crap! (He thinks the same about his FIP, xFIP, and tRA*.) But can there be justification for ranking a contending team so poorly? Read on... Browse more photos » In our final installment of of the BtB Power Rankings posts of 2009 (aside from some possible methodological work I'll do this offs...

No Cain Do - Cubs 1 Giants 5

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:52:39 -0500

Game One Hundred Fifty-Five - Cubs 1 Giants 5 WP - Matt Cain (14-7) LP - Randy Wells (11-10) Save - Brian Wilson (37) After an excellent start to the four-game series against the Giants, the Cubs could not complete the sweep on Sunday afternoon behind Randy Wells. The Cubs' offense managed three hits against Matt Cain in eight dominant innings ... and one of the three was a double by Randy Wells. The Cubs showed little to no patience against Matt Cain. They swung at too many first pi...

Post-Game Recap: Matt Cain is Good

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:53:30 -0500

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP Thanks for the great season, Matt. Browse more photos » Matt Cain #18 / Pitcher / San Francisco Giants Height: 6-3 Weight: 245 Bats: R Throws: R Born: Oct 01, 1984 W-LGGSCGSHOSVBSIPHRERHRBBKERAWHIP 2009 - Matt Cain 14-7 32 32 4 0 0 0 212.2 178 71 68 22 72 166 2.88 1.18

Diamondbacks 10, Giants 8: Cain is Un-Abel to restrain Arizona

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:20:09 -0500

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP Pablo Sandoval asks Mark how he stays so thin. "Not eating so freakin' much," seems like a plausible response. Browse more photos » Record: 66-86. Pace: 70-92. Change on last season: -10 Well, not quite sure what happened to Sprankton, but apologies for the untimeliness of the recap - it does, however, allow me to use one of the crap puns we came up wit...

Post-Game Recap: Giants Are Most Assuredly Out of This Thing

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:57:20 -0500

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP Blerffh. Browse more photos » Matt Cain's had bad outings this year, but this is the first time he's combined a) more than three earned runs with b) fewer than six innings pitched. On the few occasions he's been lit up, he's at least saved the bullpen from being overworked. It's been an amazing season for Cain. One absolute stinker is to be expecte...

Game #147: Jorge De La Rosa vs. Matt Cain

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:08:57 -0500

Rockies: Your mission is to win. Period. Jorge De La Rosa #29 / Pitcher / Colorado Rockies Height: 6-1 Weight: 210 Bats: L Throws: L Born: Apr 05, 1981 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 14-9 29 28 0 0 0 0 166.2 159 86 81 20 75 170 4.37 1.40 Matt Cain #18 / Pitcher / San Francisco Giants Height: 6-3 Weight: 245 Bats: R Throws: R Born: Oct 01, 1984 ...

Open GameThread, 9/11

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:00:33 -0500

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Matt Cain 13-4 28 28 4 0 0 0 190.1 155 56 53 19 65 146 2.51 1.16 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Hiroki Kuroda 5-6 17 16 0 0 0 0 93.1 89 47 43 9 20 66 4.15 1.17 Current Series 3 game series vs Dodgers @ AT&T Park --> 3 game series vs Dodgers @ AT&T Park Los Angele...

Open Thread, 9/5

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:00:20 -0500

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Matt Cain 12-4 27 27 4 0 0 0 183.1 151 54 51 19 63 141 2.50 1.17 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Yovani Gallardo 12-10 28 27 1 0 0 0 169.1 134 68 67 19 83 186 3.56 1.28 Current Series 3 game series vs Brewers @ Miller Park --> Giants lead the series 1-0 Fri 09...

Hi Joba Rules, Meet Matt Cain

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:55:00 -0500

The New York Yankees continue to insist that they play by the "Joba Rules". Joba Chamberlain must not exceed his innings limit, or his arm just might fall off. So they decided to spend the past few weeks toying with him and the rest of the pitching staff. He gets 8 days off here and there and now he's limited to 35 pitches in one of his starts. The Yankees have invested money in Joba, the best way to protect his arm is to not have it pitch. And yet everytime I see this I think to myself, Matt Cain.

Hi "Joba Rules", meet Matt Cain. Matt Cain is currently amongst the front runners for the Cy Young. The combination of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain is the singular reason the Giants are tied for the wild card. He's a 24 year old horse who already has two 200 innings pitched seasons under his belt and is well on his way to his third consecutive season with 200 plus.

So how did Matt Cain develop into such a horse? He pitched, and he pitched a lot. In 2002 Matt Cain was drafted and threw just 17 innings in the minors. In 2003 he was lost for the season due to arm troubles. Then in 2004 the Giants ramped up the youngsters inning totals full throttle. As a 19 year old Matt Cain threw 158.2 innings. As a 20 year old Cain threw 192 innings between the minors and the Giants. A horse was born.

The Giants did exactly the opposite of what the Yankees are doing with Joba. They threw Cain, they threw him a lot and now he's a dominant beast capable of throwing potentially 220 innings this season. He has not broken down in any of the past 4 seasons.

Maybe Matt Cain has better mechanics than Joba. Maybe he's just better built for the long haul of an MLB season than Joba. I don't know. What I do know is that the two pitchers have incredibly similar builds (within an inch and 10 lbs), and that playing around with a pitchers inning totals isn't the only way to build up a pitcher. Just see Matt Cain.

Post-Game Mourning Thread

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:24:45 -0500

More photos » by David Kohl - AP Matt Cain allowed a single run because he forgot how to win. Browse more photos » Awful. Just awful. I'll write more after the head-against-desk concussion clears.

David Wright, Matt Cain, and Idiots

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:29:08 -0500

I watch baseball because I want to be entertained. For three hours, I want to forget about the big picture to focus on something inconsequential, but I want to magnify the meaningless past the point of reason. I get really fired up about one-pitch groundouts because it beats getting really fired up about politics. Every once and again, though, something happens in baseball that brings me back to the big picture. Well, the big picture is that the sun is slowly running out of fuel, the uni...

Wright beaned by Cain, leaves game in ambulance

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:47:14 -0500

Mets third baseman David Wright was taken from Citi Field in an ambulance after being hit squarely in the helmet by a 94 mph fastball from San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain on Saturday. Wright, wearing a gray shirt and black shorts, was shown on television stepping unaided into the back of an ambulance about 50 minutes after he was hit in the fourth inning of a scoreless game. The ambulance left the ballpark with a police escort.

Open GameThread, 8/3

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:00:12 -0500

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Matt Cain 12-2 21 21 3 0 0 0 140.0 110 35 33 12 54 112 2.12 1.17 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Mike Hampton 6-8 18 18 0 0 0 0 99.0 109 63 59...

Open GameThread, 7/24

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:00:12 -0500

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Matt Cain 11-2 19 19 3 0 0 0 124.0 104 34 32 12 48 103 2.32 1.23 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2009 - Jason Hammel 5-4 19 16 1 0 0 0 95.0 114 53 45 9 24 68 4.26 1.45 Current Series 3 game series vs Rockies @ Coors Field --> 3 game series vs Rockies @ Coors Field San Francisc...