Beloved pitcher Ryan Vogelsong retired as a Giant on Sunday, bringing his 12-year MLB career full circle after he was drafted by the club in 1998. Former teammate Matt Cain was also drafted by the Giants, and like Vogelsong last weekend, will take the mound for the last time at AT&T Park on Saturday, in what will be the final start of his career.
Vogelsong was teammates with Cain for five seasons, and the two were part of a rotation that won World Series titles in 2012 and 2014. Vogelsong joined Murph & Mac on Thursday morning, and explained what made Cain such a fierce competitor and an effective pitcher during the team’s glory years.
“He never broke what he thought was going to work that day,” Vogelsong said “If he started slow, if he started fast, he stayed in his game plan and trusted what he knew and you’re right, there was a tenacity about him. He came after you. He was the epitome of man vs. man. You know it’s me vs. you, this is what I’ve got today, let’s see what you can do with it. As nice of a guy as he was in the clubhouse and as laid back as he was, when he took the mound — and I think this is what made our team so good all those years — it was all business, and he was coming after you and he wanted to beat your ass. To me when you have an ace like that, your whole team and your whole staff can feed off of that and we did. He led us and he led by example and we all kind’ve followed suit.”
Cain’s last start will begin at 1:05 pm on Saturday and can be listened to on KNBR 680.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Vogelsong’s comments on Cain, skip to the 4:30 mark.