Cubs 12, Giants 1: Matt Cain: five walks in four innings. Three relievers: five walks in four innings. Jack Taschner has now given up at least a run in four of his last six outings, and at least one hit in eight of his last nine. He is getting absolutely abused by left-handed hitters in one of the strangest splits you’ll ever see for a relief pitcher. I wonder when we’ll start to see opposing managers send lefties up to pinch-hit against him. Whatever the case, The Special Agent needs to go back to Fresno for debriefing and re-education as soon as Jonathan Sanchez is ready for duty.
Back to Cain: the wildness is frustrating, but we have to remind ourselves he’s only 22. Kudos to Bochy for taking him out two batters into the fifth with 92 pitches (!) already spent. For the rest of the year, there’s no reason to put extra strain on the arms of Cain and Lincecum.
A quick question: I’m looking at the details of Ichiro’s contract extension. I wonder why someone making $17 million a year — or if you prefer, $12 mil because of the deferred money — needs a housing allowance and a car provided to him, as well as four-round trip tickets to Japan, etc.? Why can’t he just ask for more money in the contract? Is it a matter of convenience, i.e., Ichiro can’t be bothered to call — or to have his personal assistant call — the travel agent, realtor, and car dealer? Has it to do with taxes? I’m genuinely puzzled.
* Quote of the Day, from this Baseball Prospectus article about the Brewers’ turnaround:
“A lot of times people would ask why I didn’t bench J.J. Hardy or pinch-hit for him in a tough situation,” [manager Ned] Yost said. “They would ask why I didn’t take Rickie Weeks out for defensive purposes in the late innings when we had a lead. If I had made those moves, perhaps we would have won a game or two more in the last couple of years. That wasn’t what we were looking for. We were taking the long-term view of things, and that was to make this franchise competitive again. To do that, it meant playing the young guys and letting them learn.”
