So as most of you guys know, or will now know, I'm a native San Franciscan and die-hard Giants fan. So, as I turned on the Giants game today, I wasn't expecting anything particularly special from Cain today. However, as the game progressed, I knew something was up, but I had to restrain myself from saying ANYTHING, because I didn't want to get my hopes up too soon. There were several other games where Cain had taken a no-hitter past the 5th and 6th innings, and he's even thrown a couple of two-hitters and a one-hitter in his career. So, naturally, I didn't want to jinx him. So here we go, sixth inning, and WHAT happens?
Oh. My. God. My heart skipped a fucking beat when I saw that ball headed for the wall in left field, but luckily the Melky the "Melk-Man" Cabrera is there to save the day. Ok, so Cain gets out of the 6th unscathed, as I try and regain my composure. At this point in the game, I could care less about what the Giants offense does, as we're leading 10-0. What concerned me at the time was Cain's bid for perfection. As the top of the 7th rolled around, that dreaded tense feeling of anticipation and anxiety overcame me yet again. Cain works his way to a full-count (3-2) , putting his perfect game in danger, as he did several times throughout the game. But then, Jordan Schafer made my heart skip ANOTHER beat, as he hit this ball into what us SF Giants fans like to call "Death Valley" or "Triples' Alley", right-center field, right in the middle of Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco. I was cursing profusely at the TV, believing that Cain's bid for perfection would end in the top of the 7th inning. But I was wrong.
No. Not again. I couldn't believe what I saw. NO WAY THAT JUST HAPPENED. But it did. And with that out, Cain had retired 19 batters in a row. But I knew we far from over. There was still 8 outs to be had, and no team, especially the Astros, who have been no-hit four times in their franchise history would want to be on the losing end of a perfect game. (Actually here's a fun fact, Hall of Famer Juan Marichal of the SF Giants threw a no-hitter against the Astros on June 15, 1963 at Candlestick Park). Those last 8 at-bats had to be the most gut-wrenching at-bats I've ever had to witness, as I, as well as 40,000+ Giants fans watching at the park and all over the city were all scared for Cain. Scared that perhaps he would fall short so close to the pitcher's nirvana. Hell, Mike Mussina took a perfect game until two outs in the ninth inning before surrendering a single to Carl Everett back on September 2, 2001, so we couldn't it happen here? Every batter looked menacing at the plate. I kept trying to block out all possible worst case scenarios that were going on in my head at the time. And after 8 and 2/3s innings of baseball, this is what happened:
As a die-hard Giants baseball fan, I am so proud of this guy. I mean, he probably gets the WORST run support ever whenever he pitches. Seriously, if you find all the games that he's started, you could probably see we don't give him a lot of run support, (2 runs or less). But on a day where we go crazy with the bats and score 10, Matt Cain just showed us he didn't even need 9 of them. So thank you all for reading this little article I wrote, and congrats to Matt Cain for becoming only the 22nd pitcher in Major League Baseball History to throw a perfect game.
