Posnanski: Cain Perfection

[Matt Cain] has been the perfect antithesis to his pitching partner Tim Lincecum: While Lincecum has been spectacular, Cain has been steady; while Lincecum has been been quirky, Cain has been steady; while Lincecum has been mercurial, Cain has been steady; while Lincecum has led the league in strikeouts three times and won two Cy Young Awards, Cain has been steady; while Lincecum has been goofy and quotable and out there, Cain has been steady…

My favorite Cain quote—not that there are many contenders—happened after the he pitched Game 2 of the World Series in 2010. Someone asked him how he was able to sleep the night before his first World Series start… Cain’s answer was pure Cain: “Close your eyes.” ...

that brings us back to the perfect game and how common it has become. Five (or six) in the last three years—it seems insane. Of course, there are some variables to consider. One, there are about twice as many teams in baseball as there were pre-1960. That means twice as many chances to get perfect games. That’s simple math. Also, the strikeout has gone way up, which affects a lot of things… The perfect game is an amazing achievement, but I suspect much of its rarity has been a mental block, like the four-minute mile. So much has built around the idea of a perfect game. You know: Announcers aren’t supposed to mention it on air, teammates are supposed to stay away from the pitcher, all that hype and superstition and mysticism and whatever. Well, I don’t think it’s like that anymore. It’s still extremely hard to throw a perfect game, but I don’t think anyone buys into the barrier now. You don’t have to be Randy Johnson or [Roy] Halladay to do it—you can be an very good pitcher like Dennis Martinez or David Wells or David Cone or Mark Buehrle or Mike Witt, but you can also be a pitcher who just has it all working on a single day, like Phillp Humber.