Tonight Matt Cain threw the first perfect game in Giants history and just the 22nd in the history of baseball. This was the first time (as far as I can remember) that I've ever watched a perfect game from start to finish and wow. You just don't anticipate something like this happening when you turn on a game because, well, this was only the 22nd perfect game ever.
The Giants beat the Houston Astros 10-0 tonight and Cain was awesome right from the start, as you would imagine. It's always something special to witness something like a no-hitter or a perfect game. When it's your favorite team -- well, it's hard to use words to describe. When the game got to the sixth or seventh inning, I had a nervous anxiousness with every pitch that Cain threw. I wanted this to happen so badly and knew that opportunities like this don't come around every day.
In the 8th or 9th inning, I remarked to my wife that I hadn't been this nervous watching a Giants game since the 2010 World Series run. The whole thing took on a playoffs sort of feel -- in a sense it was different because each pitch meant so much. If even one thing were to go wrong -- a walk, a hit batter, an error defensively, and of course a hit -- the perfect game would be no more. That's what makes it such an amazing achievement. And I think that's what contributes to players and fans, myself included, being so happy when it does happen.
Of course there were a pair of nice defensive plays made, including an incredible catch by Gregor Blanco. That just adds to it all. I feel like I had to at least mention that. What a great night.
Cain is one of my favorite players. In fact, I have a Cain jersey in my closet that I will be wearing tomorrow. The script couldn't have been better than for a workhorse like Cain to throw the first perfect game in franchise history. Awesome!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
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