Dear Giants,
Please mix more of these kinds of games in with the torture.
Sincerely,
Giants fans everywhere.
P.S. As a staunch pitch-count agnostic, I was fascinated by the decision to leave Matt Cain in for the eighth inning. He was already well over 100 pitches, and the Giants had a five-run lead. Even with a short bullpen -- Guillermo Mota pulled his it-girl, in case you didn’t hear -- the Giants should still have been able to been able to cover two innings.
Yet Cain was absolutely nasty in the eighth. His fastball was up to 95 mph as he cracked the 120-pitch marker, and he was snapping off some fetid breaking balls. I’m pretty sure I would have pulled Cain for a pinch-hitter in the seventh, but it’s a little tough to use the top of the eighth as a data point in support of that position.
Instead of taking a stand, I just want to see Bruce Jenkins and Rany Jazayerli get in a knife fight. I’ll follow the winner’s ideology.
Also, this lineup sure would look a lot better if Freddy Sanchez and Pablo Sandoval could get hot at the same time. Work on that, Giants.