Maddux tops Cain for 355th career win, tempers flare near end
"Meaningless game" and "Dodgers-Giants" are two concepts very much at odds.
One team goes home after today's game and the other is marking time until the playoffs, yet there was a vibrancy to their game Saturday night. The evidence was everywhere, from the din of 38,673 fans, to a brief benches-clearing ruckus in the eighth inning to all the pitching changes made by manager Bruce Bochy in an ultimately futile bid to win.
The Giants fell 2-1 for their 90th loss of the year, with Greg Maddux getting his 355th career win. If the Giants can beat the Dodgers behind Tim Lincecum today, they will finish 72-90. If not, they will match last year's 71-91 record.
Maddux apparently has a saying about the Giants: Beat me once, shame on me. Beat me twice, no freakin' chance.
Eight nights after the Giants blasted Maddux for seven runs and defeated him for the first time in 5 1/2 seasons, he returned viewers to their regularly scheduled programming and filleted Giants hitters over six innings. He threw 47 pitches, 38 for strikes, and held them to Randy Winn's leadoff homer in the fourth inning.
"He's caused me a lot of stress - a lot," Cain said of Maddux. "Every time it seems he and I are matched up, it's 1-0, 2-1. Obviously it's a tough ballgame," with Cain usually on the sorry end. In seven career meetings, Cain is 0-4, Maddux 6-1.
Cain allowed two runs in seven innings and will have to wait until 2009 for another chance to rack up his first career win against the Dodgers. Blake DeWitt drove in both runs with a homer and a single.
The loss dropped Cain to 8-14 for the season and 15-30 over the past two seasons, with a combined ERA of 3.69. Those numbers make sense only when viewed against the Giants' consistent inability to score runs for Cain.
With the Giants likely to dangle pitching for a bat this winter, Cain's name surely will arise. Some Cain fans actually are rooting for a deal to get him on a team that can win for him. In other words, if you love something, set it free.
"I hope not," Cain said. "I like it here. I like all the guys here and the staff. These guys have treated me well. I kind of fell into being a big Giants fan once I was drafted."
The game might have been meaningless, but the emotions were raw. For the first time this season, the Giants were involved in a bench-clearing skirmish when Billy Sadler struck out Casey Blake to strand Matt Kemp at third base in the eighth inning.
Sadler pumped his fist and screamed his way off the mound. Blake and Kemp did not like it. Each started jawing at Sadler, who hollered back toward Kemp. The benches emptied when pitching coach Dave Righetti ran out to intervene. There was much tongue-wagging, but nothing more.
Blake said Sadler's celebration was "uncalled for." Kemp called the whole thing "dumb," adding, "If I hit a home run off him, I'm not going to pump my first and yell, especially if we're out of it. But that's him. It's not me. In this game, it was barely a big strikeout. Maybe he needs to pick his places."
Those within earshot said Righetti was telling the Dodgers that the Giants would handle Sadler themselves.
Sadler's celebration actually was subdued compared with the Aug. 9 incident that actually started this thing. In that game, also in San Francisco, Sadler pumped his fist and shot it into the air after catching Manny Ramirez on a called third strike. The Dodgers stored that in their memory banks. Sadler was unapologetic then and now.
"I'm so focused in a zone," he said. "It has nothing to do with disrespecting the hitter. To me, emotionally I'm excited because I did my job. I helped put my team in a situation to win. There's nothing wrong with showing emotion at that."
Catcher Bengie Molina lectured Sadler after the first incident, reminding the young pitcher he could get a teammate drilled at the plate with his antics. On Saturday, manager Bruce Bochy said there is a line between being excited and showing up a hitter, "and I don't think he realizes what he's doing."
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