SF Giants: In"Cain"sistent

The Giants return home after a disappointing 6 game road trip in which the team went 1-5. Matt Cain had another rough outing as his inconsistent start to the season has carried over into May. Cain had been terrific in his previous 3 starts, but was credited for 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings Thursday as his record fell to 1-3 and era rose to 4.50. The Giants #1 and #2 starters are now a combined 1-10 with a 5.76 era. Granted, most of those losses and era are due to Barry Zito's horrific start. Zito had his best outing of the year on Wednesday so expect to see him stay in the rotation for the time being. Cain continues to be a mystery though. He isn't quite struggling, but he certainly hasn't pitched up to his potential for the most part early on this season. I don't put a huge stock into the quality start stat (6+ip, 3 er or less allowed), but Cain only has only been deemed "quality" in 3 of his first 8 starts which isn't a very good ratio. He has the arm and body type to throw 120 pitches a night but he needs to learn how to make those pitches last 7-8 innings rather than 5-6. Cain has been known for getting deep into games his first couple of seasons in the big leagues but has yet to complete more than 7 full innings this year. Again, not saying that this is anything to really worry about with a 23-year old pitcher, but at some point I would like to see more consistency out of Mr. Cain.

The Giants will receive a huge lift, both defensively and most likely offensively, Saturday when Omar Vizquel comes off the disabled list. The most logical move at this point would be to send Bocock to AA Connecticut when Vizquel returns. The Giants shortstop position has been a black hole offensively as Giants' shortstops are hitting under .200 in the early season. Vizquel had a bad season at the plate last year but will look like a slugger compared to what Brian Bocock has done at the plate this year. Omar had a nice September to end the '07 season so hopefully he carries that over into this year. Bocock has been pretty solid in the field but his at-bats are getting worse and worse as the season goes. He started out the year respectable at the plate and had his average around .250 for a while, but over the last 2 weeks he has really been exposed at the big league level. Emmanuel Burris is a little more bat ready for the big leagues and although he doesn't quite have the glove that Bocock has, he still is a solid defender and one the best base runners on the squad.

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