Tuesday, April 19, 2016

And the Woes Continue

3-0 loss in SF
Matt Cain allowed no hits in his first four innings and then allowed five hits in the 5th. Arizona scored three times and that was it for Matty and for the Giants. Robbie Ray, the young Diamondbacks southpaw, kept the Giants off the board through the 6th and three relievers finished up. On the plus side Giants bullpen newcomers Mike Broadway and Steven Okert made their 2016 debuts and put up zeroes, and slumping Matt Duffy had two hits and a walk.

It's an ugly time for fans of the orange and black. One thing you don't expect to see is this lineup get shut out. And it's clear Matt Cain is not ready for prime time, at least not yet. Tonight he faced 23 batters with 87 pitches and only generated four swings and misses. He walked four, one intentionally. Whatever it is, it's not working.

It's Bumgarner and Greinke tomorrow night.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

5 comments:

Brother Bob said...

Was this our first shutout?
Apparently I'm going to good old PhoneCo tomorrow and will get to see pitching artiste Cueto do his thing. I hope I have as happy an outcome as the other guys did.

M.C. O'Connor said...

JohnnyC is grand entertainment. He works fast, too, which is great. Sometimes you see looks on the batters' faces like "I can't believe he's trying that Little League shit on me" when he does his wiggles, and pauses, and shimmys, and quick pitches, but they work as often as not so he keeps doing them. And he's got some surprising heat, so stay alert and go get your beer when the Giants are batting so you won't miss anything!

nomisnala said...

Very bizarre strike zones the last two nights. Cain does not have to miss bats if he is pitching to contact, except in the fifth inning he is getting lumberjacked.

Zo said...

It appeared to me as though, in the 5th, Matt was missing over the heart of the plate. Matt has never been a "stuff" pitcher, he just keeps hitters off balance enough so that they miss or hit something not solidly enough to do anything. To do that, he needs location. I don't think the strike zone killed him, the pitches that were hit hard seemed to me to be meatballs. Is he still in spring training? The announcers allowed that was a possibility.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Timmy news of a sort.