Matt Cain Steps Out of Shadows, Into Playoff Lore With Perfect October

SAN FRANCISCO -- Matt Cain doesn't have the hair, the hardware or the heat of Tim Lincecum, so he is still just a supporting character when most baseball fans from around the country consider the Giants pitching staff.

That may be changing this month.

While Lincecum has been spectacularly good and a little bit frazzled, all in one postseason, Cain has simply strung together one zero after another.

CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt ... all came into this October in the spotlight as pitchers to watch.

None of them has been as good as Matt Cain, whose postseason ERA is a tidy 0.00.

WORLD SERIES COVERAGE

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Game 2: Giants 9, Rangers 0 | Box
Hickey: Texas Awesomely Awful
Fletcher: Cain Blossoms in October
Price: Giants Surprise Themselves
Krasovic: Your Move, Texas
Olson: Giant Sense of Moment
Moore: Resilient Rangers Done
FanHouse TV: Phillips | Analysis Cain blanked the Rangers into the eighth inning of the Giants' 9-0 victory in Game 2 of the World Series, a performance which came on the heels of seven scoreless innings against the powerhouse Phillies in the NLCS.

"He's turned it up," said Giants veteran Mark DeRosa. "That's what big players do. They feed off this environment and he has kicked his game into another gear."

Including his start in Game 2 against the Braves in the NLDS, Cain has pitched 21 1/3 innings this postseason without allowing an earned run. (He gave up one unearned run to the Braves.) He is the sixth pitcher in major league history to have three consecutive starts in the same postseason without allowing an earned run. He is the fourth to do it in his first three starts. The last was John Matlack of the Mets in 1973.

Cain doesn't fit the profile of the Giants' other postseason heroes. He is neither a veteran rediscovering his youth (see Renteria, Edgar) nor a journeyman having a hot month (see Ross, Cody).

"He's turned it up. That's what big players do. They feed off this environment and he has kicked his game into another gear."
-- Giants infielder Mark DeRosa on Matt Cain Cain is a 26-year-old starter who is nothing less than the whole package that makes general managers salivate. The only pitchers in the majors to pitch 200 innings with an ERA below 4.00 over each of the past four years are Sabathia, Halladay, Dan Haren ... and Cain.

Cain is a little short on the type of personality that draws attention, and he doesn't have the big fastball that racks up strikeouts, so the statistically inclined tend to overlook him. He's also been unfortunate enough to pitch for an offensively challenged team that has, by coincidence, been at its most challenged on the days he pitched.

That's how a guy can have a 3.45 career ERA over five-plus seasons ... with a 57-62 record.

So he gets overlooked by people who look at old-school stuff like wins, and by people who look at new-school stuff like FIP.

Oh, and he also pitches on the West Coast, in the shadow of a two-time Cy Young winner.

So, you are excused if you were scratching your head as you watched him stifle the same Rangers team that left the Yankees pitching staff as a pile of rubble.

"I think Cain has a lot of fans, and clearly after tonight, on a global stage, a lot more people are going to give him the looks he deserves," Giants closer Brian Wilson said. "We know what we have. We have a workhorse."

The Rangers, most of whom had little or no firsthand experience with Cain, saw all they needed to see on Thursday night.

"He's a great pitcher and he was hitting both sides of the plate all night," Michael Young said. "We had two guys on second and third once, but he made big pitches to get out of that. You have to tip your hat when a guy does that to you."

Cain allowed one hit over the first four innings, and then he got a break. Ian Kinsler hit a ball off the top of the center field fence. An inch from a homer, the ball instead popped up and back onto the field for a double. Still, it was a leadoff double in a scoreless game, so it qualified as a threat. Cain got out of the jam with a lineout, a groundout, an intentional walk and a groundout.

In the sixth, the Rangers had back-to-back one-out singles, but Cain got out of that by getting Nelson Cruz on a popup and Kinsler on a flyout.

He had only two strikeouts, but he hit his spots and kept the Rangers off balance enough to induce weak contact, over and over. Just like he did all year. And the year before. And the year before that.

Hitters may not feel dominated, even when they are.

"Cain was very good, but we had a chance to get him a couple of times, but we didn't come up with any hits," David Murphy said. "He was able to throw all of his pitches to both sides of the plate, though, and made it very tough."

This postseason roll for Cain is viewed in two different ways by his teammates. They love that he seems to have picked up his game when it matters the most, and also that he has somehow done it while maintaining looking like he's pitching on March 17 in Scottsdale.

"You see the way he goes about his business and nothing changes in his demeanor from the regular season to now," DeRosa said. "His preparation stays the same. I venture to say every guy in this clubhouse has a lot of confidence in him."

DeRosa said he is not at all surprised to see that the quiet, consistent Cain has carried his game into the postseason, even taking it to a higher level.

"He's got that look," De Rosa said. "You can see it. He's been waiting for this moment."

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Matt Cain left a buzz in his wake with a dazzling Game 2 performance.