Wednesday night 6/13/12 Matt Cain threw the Giants (New York and San Francisco) first ever perfect game- of which only 22 have ever been accomplished (no runs, no hits, no walks, no errors, no nonsense).
Just a rough calculation- this is one game out of about 20,000 Giant games played.
Sometimes these accomplishments occur as a freak of nature where a talented pitcher with unrealized career potential do realize it on one night. Here was an example of the best kind: an excellent pitcher providing his team and city an occasion to celebrate. The night before Cain's teammate Madison Bumgarner excelled but not to this level. For the record, Bobby and Meredyth, and our friends Michael, Sirina and Zachary were at the perfect game. Michael caught a ball tossed up in the stands by Melky Cabrera in the ninth inning as a topper. We watched the early part at my Dad's and then the last 3 nervous innings at home. I had no superstition about hoping for a 27 up, 27 down game but thought it lost on the crushing drive that Gregor Blanco tracked down. On a 3-2 count, Cain was going to put one down the middle for the player to hit and rely on his defense not to let him down. Whew.
Anyway the press will cover in detail everything about the game but for you guys to remember- here are a few things about Matt Cain that have always impressed.
*player representative for the team (before big salary days and now, with a big salary)
*even when pitching a great game (exceptions may have just been this one game, possibly game 2 of the World Series), Cain walks off the mound and does not tip his cap to the crowd; he does not want to be interpreted as being disrespectful of the other team.
*he shows up, ready to pitch. Cain has rarely missed a start in his time with the team (longest tenured current SF Giant), never complains about any lack of support (runs, errors) and no matter the circumstance of a loss- carries it as his loss, his failure to complete the task
*four or five years ago moved to the back of the team bus to protect his buddy Lincecum- when a teammate was wanting to do some harm to the slight #55 (Cain is not slight). It was done with proximity and support, not with fists or anger.
*happy to be a SF Giant , even with the nickname "Cainer"
http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2012-06-14/matt-cain-perfect-game-buster-posey-san-francisco-giants-catchers-no-hitters
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