Cain's Curse Continues

Three trends continued in Wednesday's loss to the Padres. The first is a trend that should prove to all Giants fans that still have hope, that this year just ain't the year. After an inspiring series vs. the Yankees in which the Giants took the last two and looked like a solid team in doing so, they roll over and lay an egg vs. San Diego. If there was ever a time to put together a nice little winning steak, that was the time. They had a chance to win all 3 vs. San Diego and they were at home, but they just couldn't get the job done. If they take those 3 vs. San Diego, then roll into Arizona on a nice 5 game winning streak and 2 series victories in a row vs. quality teams, then you start to look at things a little differently. But they didn't and they won't go on any big winning streaks at all for the rest of the season. Even with the quality starting pitching, the inconsistent and creaky lineup is getting more tired and inconsistent as the season wears on, and they aren't going to put up enough runs to put together any kind of winning streaks. Even when this team was winning at the begging of the year, the offense was barely doing enough to get by and that was in April and early May, when they were fresh, and Barry Bonds was playing at a very high level. Now as we hit July and August, I don't see why things would get better.

The other two consistencies that continued Wednesday are that Matt Cain continues to pitch well, and Matt Cain continues to get quality starts turned into Losses because of the pathetic offense or horrible bullpen. Take away his last start vs. the Yankees, and Cain hasn't has only given up 4 or more runs twice in a start since May 3rd. The Giants are managing a measly 2.55 runs per game every time Matt Cain takes the hill, and his record has now fallen to 2-9 because of it. If the Giants gave Cain the run support they're giving Matt Morris or Barry Zito, he'd be an all-star this year. He has brought some problems on himself because of his wildness at times, and even had a stretch a while back where he strung together a few below average starts, something he hasn't done much in his young career. However, for the most part this guy is nails. Even when he gets in trouble, he has the stuff to get out of it. You know your team is bad when you have a starter with an era in the 2's and double digit losses, two things that are well within Cain's grasp.