Larry Brown Sports

Matt Holliday has become a hot topic of discussion during the NLCS after his take-out slide of Giants shortstop Marco Scutaro in Game 2 on Monday while breaking up a double-play. While he remained in the base path, the slide was certainly very late and began well after Holliday reached the bag. Scutaro suffered a strained hip on the play and is battling a sore right knee, so it is unclear whether or not he’ll be able to play in Game 3.

Though Holliday has apologized and said he in no way intended to hurt Scutaro, there has naturally been speculation that San Francisco will retaliate on Wednesday night. When asked if he will plunk Holliday, Giants starting pitching Matt Cain didn’t exactly give a firm denial.

“You’ve got to go out there and pitch your game,” Cain said according to FOX Sports. “If something gets away from me inside, that’s kind of part of the game. You can’t have a fear of doing that.”

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Any home run hit by a pitcher is a rare accomplishment. We see maybe a handful or so each season, and oftentimes it looks like complete luck. What happened on Saturday with Cole Hamels and Matt Cain was rarer than rare. Both the Giants and Phillies starting pitchers hit home runs — in the same inning.

The last time two pitchers hit homers off each other in the same inning was in 1990 when Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers and Kevin Gross of the Expos did it. You’ll hardly ever see two starting pitchers hit home runs in the same game in general, let alone off on another in the same frame. Maybe the National League can hold off on the designated hitter after all.

Matt Cain warmed up for his perfect game on Wednesday night against the Astros in an unconventional way: by hitting a golf ball into McCovey Cove.

PGA Tour golfer Dustin Johnson was visiting AT&T Park ahead of the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco and hit some balls into McCovey Cove before taking in the game. He also threw out the ceremonial first pitch, though he didn’t pull it off as well as Rory McIlroy.

In addition to Johnson smacking some balls into the water, a few Giants players took swings including Clay Hensley, Aubrey Huff, and former player J.T. Snow. They were looking for more volunteers and Cain stepped forward for a swing. Cain blasted one out of the park and into the water.

“I knew he was a good golfer,” Johnson said about Cain. “(Giants GM Brian Sabean) didn’t want him (to hit). He said he was going inside.”

Johnson also gave himself some credit for Cain’s perfect game:

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The Philadelphia Phillies just lost a three-game series to the San Francisco Giants. They were beaten by Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain who held them to one run apiece. The series loss comes after the Giants knocked out the Phillies in the NLCS last year with Cain and Lincecum going 2-1 against them. Needless to say, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel fielded his share of questions from the media that wondered if Lincecum and Cain had taken proverbial ownership of them.

Manuel wasn’t willing to concede an inch.

“They’re good pitchers. You say they’re great pitchers. To me, I don’t know how great they are. I think as they move on into their careers, there’s the longevity part and things like that. I think that’s when the greatness might come by. This is a consistent game. When you say somebody is great … tonight I saw 90 fastball, 92 at the best. I saw a good changeup. I saw a breaking ball. I saw a cutter. Good pitching, but at the same time we can beat that. I’ve seen us do that.”

“We can beat them. I know we can.”

Sounds more like a pep talk than statement of fact, no? It really comes across as if the Giants are in the Phillies’ heads after beating them this series. The teams meet again next week for a four-game set and you know the Phillies will want to make a statement. If their bats don’t come alive, prepare to hear more chants about the Giants being poised to repeat as NL champions. Besides, we all know what Manuel thinks deep down. He just is afraid to admit it.

The phrase “Cained” has been springing up throughout major league clubhouses over the past few years as a word to describe losing a close ball game, perhaps 1-0, or 2-1. This has come about in reference to Matt Cain, the San Francisco Giants starting pitcher. For those who watch him on a regular basis he is truly the man that makes the Giants staff go. When he takes the ball every fifth day, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. In a rotation with two former Cy Young award winners and a wicked lefthander with a no-hitter under his belt, Cain stood out this season as the only pitcher to record an ERA under 4 for every month of the year, finishing at 3.14. Go figure.

Over the past 4 seasons just 17 pitchers have compiled an ERA under 3.50. All of them except for Cain have winning records. Most are not even close to .500. But Cain is just 42-47. He is known for losing the close ball game. For whatever reason, the Giants hitters simply have not been able to come up with the big hit when they need it with Cain on the mound. Hence getting “Cained.”

In game 3 of the 2010 NLCS, Matt Cain had the fortune of ending up on the other side of a pitcher getting “Cained” as he shutout the Phillies for 7 innings en route to a 3-0 Giants win. It was his coming out party. Cain dominated Phillies hitters on a national stage, locating his fastball with precision, mixing in some deadly sliders, a hard-breaking curve, and a sinking changeup.

Cole Hamels wasn’t so lucky. Hamels looked nearly un-hittable through 4, but the Giants’ sporadic offense picked the perfect time to try and earn Matt Cain a new nickname. Cody Ross delivered another clutch hit to give the Giants a lead Cain would not relinquish. Maybe next year they can start to call it getting “Hameled.”

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu