So Matt Cain was most decidedly not perfect tonight, going just 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and walking 4.

His bullpen behind him, though? 12 up, 12 down, to preserve the Giants' 5-3 win against the LA Angels.

And I guess Aaron Hill hit for the cycle. Do people care about that? I really can't bring myself to. Seems like a rather artificial achievement. If a guy goes 5 for 5 with three doubles and two home runs...is that going in a record book anywhere? No. But if instead he has a single and a triple among those hits, it does.

It's kind of a neat oddity, but I really don't view it as anything more than that.

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Originally Posted by clashcityrocker10

With that one-hitter today, R.A. Dickey has become the first MLB pitcher since Dave Stieb in 1988 to throw back-to-back one-hitters or better. He's the first NL pitcher since 1944.

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You forgot to mention that Stieb's were both no-hitters broken up with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning :-O They just showed that on SportsCenter. I mean, holy crap. A year later, he had a perfect game broken up with two outs in the ninth inning.

He did complete one no-hitter in his career, in 1990. He might have gone insane had he not :p

So Dave Stieb would've been a baseball themed super villain named "The No-Hitter" if he didn't ever get to pitch one.

What do you think DWB, about swapping Noesi out of the rotation for Iwakuma? Noesi's ERA is fourth-worst in the AL among qualifying starters (fascinating: You know who's second-worst? Philip Humber). Aside from really sparing flashes of brilliance, he's been badly overmatched this season. He needs to learn how to finish off a hitter (he's gotten into so much trouble on 0-2 counts). As far as I'm concerned he can do that in AAA (if he has options, I don't know if he does), but the next best thing would be doing it in Iwakuma's mopup role. Iwakuma has quietly been sort of okay. He's really only had one bad outing this season.

The Blue Jays pitching rotation is a disaster. Drabek will be undergoing his second Tommy John surgery today, giving him an ETA of next July at the earliest. Brandon Morrow has a strained left oblique giving him around six weeks to heal and then the rehab after that. Drew Hutchison will get his second opinion on his sprained ulnar collateral ligament. I guess we'll get some timelines today or tomorrow. Luckily Mr. John says his injury is clearly less serious than Drabek's. This brings Bret Cecil back to the majors. Thankfully his velocity is a little better than it was in the spring and last year, but he still needs to be very accurate with his control sitting at 89-90 mph on his fastball. Jesse Chavez will take the mound today, which is not the most promising thing. Tomorrow's starter is TBA, I'm expecting that they will try to milk 5 innings out of Carlos Villnueva, and push the bullpen through the rest, given an off day Thursday. It's really a crappy situation, because Henderson Alvarez will have to find his missing sinker at the MLB level due to the shortage.

All of this occurs just as Colby Rasmus takes off on a hitting tear, Bautista hammering 15 hr since the start of May and Lawrie coming out of a cold spell. I guess I have to hope that the offense can carry this team to a respectable record for a while. But yesterday's 7-6 loss doesn't give me any confidence.

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Originally Posted by SheSaidSheSaid

So Matt Cain was most decidedly not perfect tonight, going just 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and walking 4.

His bullpen behind him, though? 12 up, 12 down, to preserve the Giants' 5-3 win against the LA Angels.

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Don't remind me the lack of situational hitting in that game and over the past week is stupid.

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Originally Posted by ClaptonsWig

I can't stand people who piggyback off their patents talents.

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He's a better player than Cecil ever was. Cecil had Prince's power, but couldn't hit for average at all. Also he was kind of a douche. I've met Prince, he is one of the most genuinely nice athletes I've ever met.

So, in summation

Prince > Cecil

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Originally Posted by SheSaidSheSaid

What do you think DWB, about swapping Noesi out of the rotation for Iwakuma? Noesi's ERA is fourth-worst in the AL among qualifying starters (fascinating: You know who's second-worst? Philip Humber). Aside from really sparing flashes of brilliance, he's been badly overmatched this season. He needs to learn how to finish off a hitter (he's gotten into so much trouble on 0-2 counts). As far as I'm concerned he can do that in AAA (if he has options, I don't know if he does), but the next best thing would be doing it in Iwakuma's mopup role. Iwakuma has quietly been sort of okay. He's really only had one bad outing this season.

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If he has options, send him to AAA for a little bit to work on his consistency. Otherwise, use him in the mop up role and let Iwakuma take some starts. Can't be any worse than what we've seen so far from Noesi.

I do find it funny that Humber has the 2nd worst ERA in the AL. He'd have the worst if not for that No-No he threw against the M's.

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Originally Posted by Cubecubed

He's a better player than Cecil ever was. Cecil had Prince's power, but couldn't hit for average at all. Also he was kind of a douche. I've met Prince, he is one of the most genuinely nice athletes I've ever met.

So, in summation

Prince > Cecil

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Even Prince Fielder thinks that Cecil Fielder was a douche.

Bobby Ball is killing me, especially with the sacrifice bunting. Ridiculous. Guy on 2nd, no outs, and Bobby has Cody Ross bunting. Is it the ninth inning in a timed game? No. Bobby Ball. Go away.