
SAN FRANCISCO -- Matt Cain settled into the Scottsdale Stadium clubhouse this spring and said he wanted to give the Giants another ace alongside Madison Bumgarner. On Sunday, after the final game of a season that won't end with a postseason trip, he said the same thing.
"That's my plan. That was my goal going into this year and I don't think that changes," he said. "I want to be right there with Bum doing the same things he's doing."
It sounds weird to hear that from a guy with a 5.79 ERA, but Cain certainly went out on a high note, giving the front office confidence that he can be a frontline starter in the even year. Cain, who wasn't stretched out to start, breezed through five innings, allowing just two hits and walking one.
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Bruce Bochy wanted Cain to end the year with a good one and that's why he gave him this start. Mission accomplished.
"Wow," Bochy said. "He should take away from that that he's back. What a job he did. I thought he had good stuff, good off-speed stuff down in the zone, and he was hitting his spots. He should be really encouraged. I thought this outing would be a really important one for him. This should do a lot for him."
Cain said it did, even if the Giants -- in classic Dominant Cain fashion -- didn't get a win.
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"I'm not going to hang today as everything, but today definitely felt good," he said. "I had done that early in the season and sometimes in the past couple months at times, but sometimes the results didn't show. It wipes the slate clean. You have a nice offseason and you're not worrying about rehab. It's definitely a good way to end the year."
Cain won't be coming off two surgeries when he starts camp next year and he won't be dealing with a barking elbow. For months, he has insisted that the flexor tendon is healed and that he's good to go moving forward. After just his second shutout outing of the year, Cain said he's ready to rest up and have a normal offseason, and when he returns, it doesn't sound like he's expecting too many new rotation-mates. After saying he wants to push Bumgarner, Cain noted that Chris Heston and Jake Peavy are capable of doing the same thing. What about the big additions?
"If they want to go out and grab a good guy, a big guy, the more the merrier," he said.
Cain mentioned Mike Leake as someone who has pitched well, and barring a surprise, the trade deadline acquisition will be by far the most likely choice to join the rotation next spring. The Giants and Leake have had some early talks, per sources, and the right-hander certainly didn't look like a guy rushing out of town on Sunday. He stopped by manager Bruce Bochy's office on the way out of the clubhouse, and he has said this is a place that will be near the top of his list.
On Monday, we'll know more about the rest of the plan. Bochy, Bobby Evans, Brian Sabean and Larry Baer are set to meet with the media. They had hoped to end on a high note like Cain did, but the Giants gave up seven runs in the ninth and ended up with their 78th loss. Bochy tried to get George Kontos the save on a day he used 11 pitchers.
"George is the unsung hero with the year he had," Bochy said. "He's bailed us out so many times. It didn't work out, it didn't play out."
Kontos entered with a 1.96 ERA but gave up a game-tying three-run homer. Ironically, the guy who stranded so many inherited runners got burned when the next man up couldn't strand his. Kontos ends the season with a 2.33 ERA.
"It was a Debbie Downer, the last inning," Bochy said. "There's no getting around it."
--- Buster Posey finished with a .318/.379/.470 slash line and 19 homers. He said he wants to "zone up" a little more next year, honing in on specific pitches with his new swing-earlier approach that worked so well this year.
"I get in certain modes sometimes where I feel like no matter where they throw it, I can hit it," Posey said.
As for the "where" he plays part, Posey reiterated that he wants to catch.
"That's the spot I want to be in, to my wife's dismay," he said.
--- Ryan Vogelsong wasn't one of the franchise-record 11 pitchers to take the mound, but he got to give the post-game speech. Vogelsong is pretty sure he won't be back.
"I don't know where I'll be next year or what the front of my jersey will say, but I do know one thing. I will always, always be a Giant," he said to the fans who stayed.
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At the moment, it doesn't look like the Giants will bring him back, and it certainly seemed a bit odd that on a weekend when the Giants did such a great job of honoring Tim Hudson and Jeremy Affeldt, they didn't find a way to let Vogelsong walk off the mound to a similar ovation. The fans here are smart, and they would have known the situation. It'll be a bit unfortunate if his last appearance for the Giants is as a long reliever in a game that was all about Hudson, but you never know with these things. Vogelsong looked like he was headed for Houston last year and then it fell apart. I wouldn't completely close the door on another reunion, and given that Yusmeiro Petit barely saw the mound last month, you figure the Giants still may be in need of a sixth starter/long reliever type.
--- There were a lot of end-of-season stats today, and they can be found on my Twitter feed. I have a couple more features coming at some point, and as always, I'll post those here on Facebook. As for today, we'll end it with a tip of the cap to the first shortstop to lead the Giants in homers (21) since Bill Dahlen in 1905. Brandon Crawford wasn't in the starting lineup today, but his impact was felt throughout the day. He chose Leake's walk-up music ("Ghetto Superstar") the other day and it worked out well, so Crawford chose songs for pretty much the entire team and had a list forwarded to the stadium operations people.
The list can be found here, and it's really well thought out if you dig deep. Mac Williamson is from North Carolina. The Brett Bochy one is self-explanatory and brilliant. Kelby Tomlinson, who uses Christian rock, got some picks that were right up his alley, but the rookie also got trolled with a little Creed. Jarrett Parker, who usually uses a French EDM song, got the "power" theme. Jackson Williams got the "I'm sorry Ms. Jackson" treatment. The favorite in the clubhouse was the choice for Kontos, Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy."
"I think he needs to keep it," Posey said. "I don't think he's going to."
Not after the way today ended. Hopefully, Crawford keeps this as a Game 162 tradition.