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| From NineBuck on SFGIANTs Forum |
I have seen some great performances this year from our Big 4 (the 5 minus Zito) and this has to be one of the best. Cain wasn't perfect tonight, but when we needed him to be, he made perfect pitches to get us out of big innings. Cain's strength tonight was his ability to mix his pitches for strikes and keep the rangers batters off balance. When they guessed right, they were able to hit the ball well, but more often than not they were on their toes.
Cain was working his change up and nailing the outside corner with that tailing change up, getting most batters to lay off thinking it was a fastball. It was moving downward and it seemed no Rangers batter was able to get under it and drive it. His fastball was shooting out of his release and although the highest I saw him hit was 93, his change of speeds had the Rangers late on his fastball and early on everything else. He did exactly what hes done all postseason: limit base runners, pitch out of jams and not give up a single earned run. Timmy may be the Freak, but Cain is our workhorse who will hide behind the ace and have himself one hell of a career. This year, no one makes me feel more secure as a viewer than Cain, so in my opinion, he has been our best pitcher and always keeps us in the game.
Other Props:
I have hated on Renteria for 2 years and I still think he was a terrible pick up for this team in need of a impact bat at SS, at the price tag of 10 million. However, tonight he showed the fact that he can be quite clutch and turned on a pitch that 95% of the time as a Giant he pops up near third base. I have not seen him turn on a pitch like that since he was playing in Boston.
Rowand, you still suck and you capitalized on a bullpen that was in shambles.
Moving On:
Was funny watching the game tonight at the same spot (Kennedy's in Lower North Beach), because you could tell people were still recovering from cheering and drinking too much the night before. The crowd was tamer, the glasses less abundant, but people were still having a great time. SF is the smallest big city I know of, as I managed to run into a: former coworker, former manager, former teammate from middle school baseball with 2 other kids from middle school and a family friend. This was just walking up Green street to get home...
Its going to be an intense game 3, because it is a must win for the Rangers and they go against a nasty lefty in Sanchez who can be lights out when hes on. I think the pressure on the Rangers will help the Giants out, as I think they will be looking more to swing than be patient, which will surely help the erratic stuff of Sanchez. Lewis is an under the radar guy who has a great tailing fastball and a nasty tight slider which is really tough on Right handed and Left Handed hitters. He is basically the Andres Torres of pitchers as he had to go to Japan for 2 years before anyone here wanted him back. Great story, but I hope we get to him early and put the pressure on the Rangers to make something happen. My key to game 3 is going to be Sanchez's change up, as that pitch will be huge in helping him get through all the right handed bats in that rangers lineup. Lots off these guys hit fastballs well, so without the change up, he will be in trouble if he isn't on with location. The development of the change has been huge in his improvement, so it will likely be key on Saturday night.
Shout Outs:
Monte Ellis: Looks like he is back to caring about playing Bball and is laying off the scooters. He dropped over 40 in his first game and I look forward to seeing if he can go back to being that 50% efficient scorer that he was during the "golden age" of the Nelson era.
Shannon Brown: A little late, but boy did he look good against the Rockets. Everyone was talking about Gasol as the only key to that trade, but Brown was amazing at Michigan State and I knew he would be an impact player at some point. If they can teach him how to play a true PG and he makes some small adjustments, he could replace Fisher and be ever more dangerous. I hate the Lakers by the way...
Hope everyone has a good Friday, I don't know when I will be on next...but either way, GO GIANTS!
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