Start of the Week

Matt Cain making another appearance on this blog. 

This weeks start of the week goes to Matt Cain. No not Matt Cain's shutout against The Phillies, but his Shutout against The Pirates. One week ago today Matt Cain pitched a complete game shutout against The Pittsburgh Pirates.

On April 13, 2012 Matt Cain's performance was the best of the season so far. He gave up only 1 hit and 0 walks while striking out 11 batters. The one hit came from the opposing pitcher. Matt Cain's next start should be against The Reds.

A Good Ol' Pitching Duel

In San Francisco last night 2 aces went head to head. Cliff Lee and Matt Cain are both racking up the big bucks now, but who will come out on top. Cliff Lee came into the game coming off a rocky outing against The Mets in his past. Matt Cain is coming into the game to follow up a shutout against The Pirates.

Matt Cain was going hard giving up just 2 hits and 1 walk while racking up 4 strikeouts. He did the preceding over 9 innings of scoreless ball. As for Cliff Lee what could I say about his performance? Lee gave up 7 hits but no walks and collected 7 strikeouts over 10 scoreless innings of work. Yes you read it correctly; a 10 inning shutout. Both pitchers would get a no decision, but The Giants would win in the 11th inning on a walk off single by Melky Cabrera scoring Brandon Belt.

The Giants win 1-0 in a great game!

The San Francisco Giants

The Giants finished 2011 with a record of 86-79. It was a definite downgrade from when they won the World Series in 2010. They still kept their phenomenal pitching, but need help with offense.

The pitching for The Giants speaks for itself. Here are the 2011 stats of the projected 2012 starting rotation:

Tim Lincecum: 13-14, 2.74 ERA, 217 innings, 220 strikeouts.
Matt Cain: 12-11, 2.88 ERA, 221 innings, 179 strikeouts.
Madison Bumgarner: 13-13, 3.21 ERA, 204 innings, 191 strikeouts.
Ryan Vogelsong: 13-7, 2.71 ERA, 179 innings, 139 strikeouts.
Barry Zito: 3-4, 5.87 ERA, 53 innings, 32 strikeouts.

If the Giants can find someone else to be the number five starter they will again have one of the best pitching rotations in baseball. The Giants traded Jonathon Sanchez for Melky Cabrera earlier this off season. Sanchez had a 4.26 ERA and 101 innings pitched. Melky Cabrera played in 155 games, hit 18 home runs, 87 RBI's and an 121 OPS+ for The Kansas City Royals. Seeing how the giants can barely score 3 runs a game, this trade benefits them immensely.  

Buster Posey will be back for the 2012 season, which will help The Giants a lot. With Posey, Sandoval, Cabrera, and Aubrey Huff if he can be himself again, The Giants may be the comeback team for 2012. They traded their top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran, who is now with The Cardinals. That has to be the worst trade of 2011. I would have kept Wheeler until the off season and made a trade for someone worth getting. If the Giants can score more runs in a game they can have four 15-20 game winners.

As for the bullpen: If you have a personality like Brian Wilson who needs anyone else, but Sergio Romo is also sporting a beard and a 1.50 ERA over 48 innings. Javier Lopez is a lefty who did well as a reliever also. He had a 2.72 ERA over 53 innings pitched. The Giants have a relatively good bullpen.

The Giants will be a contender for the NL West with the Diamond Backs. It will be a nice race to watch, because it will be so close.