With the end of this unexpectedly rough Giants’ season comes the end of Matt Cain’s career. Pitching coach Dave Righetti joined Tolbert & Lund on Friday afternoon and reflected on how Cain helped turn the Giants into a championship team.
“There was a lull with the Giants when we first got to this park in 2000,” Righetti said. “We won 90-something games, went to the playoffs. The next year we lost on the second to last day of the season to the Dodgers, the eventual winners Diamondbacks went to the World Series. The next year after that we won 100 ballgames, so the Giants were this hard luck team that always had a good team and excitement, but all of a sudden we started going down in terms of wins and competing for the division.”
All the while, Cain worked his way through the minor leagues and made his Major League debut in 2005. Although the Giants were bound for a tough stretch of losing seasons, Righetti saw Cain as the beginning of a brighter future.
“You don’t know where your career is going, much less the team’s, then this kid showed up and I went, ‘oh, that’s different,’” Righetti said. “Even though the era the everybody is talking about now, the late-90s into the early-2000s, started to change a little bit and this guy was a just a little bit different than what other guys were throwing. His stuff flies and we knew he was young and said, ‘Hopefully there won’t be a rush job, but if we’re not winning this guy is going to be coming up if he’s healthy. We just have to be ready for him.’’
Gradually, the Giants began surrounding Cain with a championship supporting cast. By 2010, Cain’s success was paired with the talents of Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner.
As Cain’s success continued, averaging 14 wins per season with a 2.93 ERA from 2009-2012, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford made their major league debuts and the Giants went on to reignite their winning reputation.
“He brought everything. Everything from young innocence to toughness to doing things he shouldn’t be doing out there to never missing starts,” Righetti said. “He just didn’t miss any starts and he gradually turned into this hell of a young man and still had his stuff. When we were ready to win again, he was right in the middle of it.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 3:25 for Righetti on Cain.