Perfect

This past Wednesday, I had the great privilege of working Matt Cain's perfect game. Not even the World Series games in 2010 compared to the atmosphere in the ballpark that night. Cain was beyond brilliant, striking out 14, tying Sandy Koufax as the only pitcher to ever strike out 14 in a perfect game. It was the first in the Giants franchise. And nobody deserved it more. Cain owns a career 77-75 record, due in large part to years lacking in run support. He has a career ERA of 3.28 and has struck out at least 160 in every full season he's pitched. He's reached 200+ innings in each of these seasons as well (except in 2006, where he clocked 190.2). Opponents have hit .225 off of him.

And he has had the lowest run support in the majors since 2005, keeping him under the radar and national attention off of him.

The Giants and the baseball gods owed Cain that perfect night on Wednesday. And when Arias fielded that ground ball for the 27th out, people all over the country took notice. Cain will be reading a special "Top 10" on Letterman on Monday night. And, hopefully, he'll be starting the all-star game in Kansas City in July.

Going back to the last blog, Brandon Belt has finally gotten some consistent playing time. This is the first time all season that Belt has started eight games in a row (he hadn't started more than five games in a row all season). In this stretch, he's hit three homeruns, he's raised his RBI total to 24 (from 15), and has brought his average up to .248 (from .226). He's played a solid first base and hasn't committed an error in, well, a week. (I mean, he's still a 2012 Giant, after all). And he did scoop up that last out for Cain's perfect game. So, there's that.

The only dark cloud on the horizon right now for the Giants still seems to be Tim Lincecum. With yet another rough start in the books tonight in Seattle, his record on the season drops to 2-8, while his ERA climbs to 6.19. He has flashes on brilliance - his change-up was wicked tonight, and his velocity was back up to 93 MPH on the fastball - and then it's almost like he remembers that he's supposed to be the guy who's struggling. The best sign right now is that Lincecum still wants the ball and is adamant that he not skip a start. For now, we'll take all the good signs we can get.