Matt Cain Day

[Edgy MD]

On this day back in 2012, Matt Cain, a favorite pitcher of Keith Hernandez, threw a 10-0 perfect game against the Houston Astros.



It was the first and only such game thrown by a Giant, of the New York or San Francisco persuasion. He struck out 14 batters, tying Sandy Koufax for the most whiffs in a perfecto.



Cain finished with a 101 game score, then third-highest of all time. (It has since fallen to fourth, but we won't get into that right now.) It is tied with Koufax for the highest-scoring perfect game. Former Met Ángel Pagán played a mean centerfield for him, although the top plays were by leftfielder Melky Cabrera (a running catch at the wall in the sixth) and rightfielder Gregor Blanco (a diving catch in right center in the seventh, that put the perfecto momentum into overdrive).



I have no idea why I happened to be watching this one but I was. Later in the season, King Felix Hernandez threw a perfect game of his own, but no other pitcher has thrown one since, making Cain the most recent perfect National Leaguer.



https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6f/cf/29/6fcf292af2ae4fdde2e576f85968edc8.jpg>

[Fman99]

So this isn't about him doinking David Wright in the head, leading to the Great Gazoo helmet? You got me there.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I couldn't believe that no Giant pitcher had thrown a no-hitter until 2012. (That's what the first paragraph seems to indicate.) Before I got to the second paragraph I looked it up and found out that it was the first perfect game by a Giants pitcher.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Mets fans will recall Ed Halicki's no-hitter.

[Edgy MD]

Worth noting that not only was this a 103-loss Astro lineup anchored by a young, merely good version of José Altuve. Also, if you believe the enhanced scorecard up above, they apparently played the entire game in bellbottoms.

[Benjamin Grimm]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=38694 time=1592230165 user_id=68]
Mets fans will recall Ed Halicki's no-hitter.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: =batmagadanleadoff post_id=38694 time=1592230165 user_id=68] Mets fans will recall Ed Halicki's no-hitter.

Met fans with a better memory than mine, anyway.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Same deal. I just don't retain this kind of stuff anymore.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Same deal. I just don't retain this kind of stuff anymore.

Say it ain't so.

[Benjamin Grimm]

When I read "Chris Heston" I thought, oh yeah, that sounds familiar. But is he a Giant or a Brewer or a Rockie? No idea.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'm likelier to forget Heston before Halicki. The stuff from my earliest years of rooting is sort of ingrained in my head. I can probably still recall the uniform numbers of every single player that was a Met during my first few years of rooting, for example. Not even close with last year's team.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yesterday as a mental exercise I tried remembering who was on the current Mets. I had a hard time coming up with J.D. Davis' name. I even had a moment where I thought, "Oh, yeah! Michael Conforto!" I did this to remind myself that the Mets are more than just deGrom and Alonso, the only guys I've given much thought to over the last couple of months.

[Ceetar]

I remember Heston because I was there. I think it might actually be the last game I went to by myself.

[Edgy MD]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Yesterday as a mental exercise I tried remembering who was on the current Mets. I had a hard time coming up with J.D. Davis' name. I even had a moment where I thought, "Oh, yeah! Michael Conforto!" I did this to remind myself that the Mets are more than just deGrom and Alonso, the only guys I've given much thought to over the last couple of months.

In fairness to your older self, this is close to becoming the longest offseason in history. It's been 229 days since the end of the World Series. The 1994 strike into 1995 lasted 257 days.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I no longer retain anything from the entire CitiField era

[Edgy MD]

Today is the anniversary of the Buckets repping MBtN with BANNERIFIC! at Banner Day 2015 at Citi Field.

[Frayed Knot]

I find I'm better at being able to recite WS results from the 20th century than from the 21st

I can usually get the recent ones if given enough time but it takes me longer.





I was doing an organized bike ride a bunch of years ago and at one point there was a guy just sitting on the side of the road (in front of his house?) asking bikers as they went by for their birth year.

If and when they answered he'd immediately shout out the Series result from that year [1960?: Pirates over Yanx in 7]. At least as long as I was within earshot he nailed them all.