Matt Cain’s major league career is one that most could only dream about. With three World Series rings, three All-Star appearances and one perfect game all under his belt, Cain has nothing to hang his head about as the 2017 season, and possibly his career-long tenure with the Giants comes to a close.
The Giants have used the second half of 2017 to shift to a new era of younger players, in hopes to turn around and make a run in 2018. Cain, the Giants’ oldest and longest-tenured veteran, will be a free agent in 2018 and no longer seems to be a part of that vision. After being removed from the rotation early in the second half of the season, Cain showed some promise that he could use his 13 years of major league experience to hold down a relief role in the bullpen. That was not the case on Sunday during the Giants’ eventual loss to the Diamondbacks, after a landslide of unfortunate events led to Cain departing after just two-thirds of an inning.
Cain entered the game in the eighth with the Giants were down 2-0, and desperately searching for some offense to back up another solid Chris Stratton outing. However, the damage was more than done once Cain was removed after allowing eight earned runs on five hits and two walks tagged to his name.
With all signs pointing to the end of the Cain era in San Francisco, and possibly the end of his career, Mike Krukow gave an emotional testament to Cain Monday morning on KNBR’s The Murph and Mac Show, commending Cain’s dignity and claiming him a role model to the future of the Giants’ rotation.
“The game when it humbles you that way, you just do what he’s done his whole life – you get the next pitch, you concentrate on the next pitch,” Krukow said. “When the manager comes out and takes it out of your hand, you walk off that game with dignity. The way he did it? It was watched by Chris Stratton. It was watched by Ty Blach. It was watched by Kyle Crick. He’s a tremendous professional baseball player, and that includes every facet of him walking on the field or walking off the field. I think what he did walking off the field yesterday was Matt Cain — he did it with dignity and class.
“We all feel the same way about the Big Horse,” Krukow added. “If he doesn’t get another out, we’re still going to love the guy. What he’s done for this city, for this team? Remarkable. But, believe me, as bad as it was, he was still a role model for those young pitchers watching him walk off that field. They’re all thinking the same thing, ‘he just got it handed to him, how is he going to walk off the field?’ Well, like a champion.”
Listen to the full podcast below. To hear Krukow’s thoughts on Cain, skip to 6:01.
