Matt Cain fires one hitter against Buccos

The Pittsburgh Pirates came within one batter of being no-hit and the hit came off the bat of the pitcher of all people as James McDonald's sixth inning single was the only Pirate to reach base against Matt Cain of the Giants in a 5-0 San Francisco win.
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Pirates,who are winless on this trip on the left coast.
Pittsburgh takes on the Giants today at 9:05,so no coverage on the game.

Pirate Hooks

1)  I listened to the second Dodger game via the XM and skipped the third game of the Dodger series sweep.
I was able to see this one,will miss the Saturday game before the series finale' on Sunday.
Just a little house cleaning....

2) Matt Cain was simply dominant with the one hitter and eleven strikeouts.
I watched the game on tape at work (don't ask why ) and you could see that Cain had his A game working from the first inning on.
Other than the single to left by James McDonald,the Pirates were not even close to smacking a base hit other than the occasional long flyball.
Pittsburgh was simply overmatched....

3) The Giants did score one run off James McDonald that was directly applied to a defensive blunder as Andrew McCutchen broke back on a ball that would fall in front on him with two outs.
McCutchen occasionally does these types of things defensively,which is the difference in a good defender and one that is an average one that occasionally does great things.

4) James McDonald caught the above bad break,but his breaking ball was having trouble staying in the zone.
Mike Krukow made an observation about the 12 to 6 curveball that McDonald favors that it can be very inconsistent from game to game compared to the standard curve.
It would explain much about McDonald's occasional lack of command with the curve,which he uses as his breaking pitch of choice..

5) Garrett Jones started in right field for the first time this season with Casey McGhee starting at first base.Jones would strike out in all three at bats vs Cain.

6) I occasionally get asked why I pull for the Giants other than in their games against the Pirates.
Sometime in the future,I may do a post on the topic,but one reason is the Giants broadcast team on Comcast Bay Area is just so enjoyable to listen to compared to the shrill and forced Greg Brown.
I'll get more detailed in that future post....

Photo Credit:AP Photo