Matt Cain is A Really Good Pitching Punk

Matt Cain is good. Correction, Matt Cain is very good. He may very well win the Cy Young Award this year.

But ultimately he's a Class A punk.

The hat tip during Saturday's game sealed the deal for me. I believe Cain didn't throw at Wright on purpose or at least he wasn't trying to hit him in the head. He was visibly upset about having done that, but then he had to go and tip his hat to the irate Mets fans who were obviously, and deservedly, angered at Cain for almost killing the face of the franchise while sending him to the hospital.

Andrew Baggarly at the Mercury News had this to say in defense of Cain's hat tip:
"Cain tipped his cap as he came off the mound, which I’m sure the Mets fans didn’t appreciate. What they couldn’t have known is that the small contingent above the Giants dugout that stood and cheered him weren’t just any group of out-of-town Giants fans. They were the minority owners of the club, along with their families. Bill Neukom, Larry Baer and many of the investors accompanied the team to New York for the series. After Friday night’s loss, they were glad to have something to cheer — finally.


I’d tip my cap to the people who sign my checks, too."

But here's the thing, Cain isn't saying that's why he tipped his cap. In fact he's changing his story. On WFAN's Joe & Evan in the Mid-day, Evan Roberts noted that Cain when asked about tipping his cap after the game originally said something to the effect that "hey, this is New York" alluding to the fact that fans often prey on players and players in turn play to the crowd.

But Roberts went on to say when Can was asked again later about whether or not he tipped his cap on purpose Cain said, "I was just adjusting my cap" and that he wasn't tipping his cap to the crowd.

Now if he was tipping his cap to the Giants fans behind the dugout, then fine, but why not say so? Why change your story? Just come out and say you're a punk and it was probably not the right thing to do. End of story.

I don't care if the Mets don't face Matt Cain for another two seasons. The next time he's up at the plate, he should be put on his back. Then we'll close the case on this one.

The only good thing about this is it gives us something else to be angry with other than this ball club. Kinda nice for a change of pace.

Update 4:15 p.m.
I guess I've confused some people with this post because I say Cain appeared to regret hitting Wright, but then I'm angered by the fact that he tipped his cap. So which body language is correct?

I admit it's difficult to sentence someone for "body language" but I think the second act (a.k.a the hat tip) added to the fact that he's changing his story when asked about why he did what he did that makes me think he showed no regard for hitting Wright. Cain basically wanted to be a punk to the fans and tell them to shut up because he was leaving the game with the lead.

It's just stupid to react to negative fans. No good can come from it. Any action you do is not going to help you in any way. It just adds fuel to the fire. And that's what Cain did. 

Updated August 18th, 11:23 a.m.
Thanks to Wendy over at Bleacher Report for updating me with the following: "Bochy, Molina and Cain all called him on Sunday and spoke to him in person yesterday to let him know that they wish him well and that the pitch was not intentional." Looks like Cain isn't as much a punk as I originally thought or is at least making amends. Good to see.

There is No Justice for the Mets

When you start to expect a storybook ending to any game this year, please remember this is 2009. This is the year of injustice for the Mets.

Absolutely nothing can go the Mets way this season. In a season where every star, every important player to the success of this team has found themselves injured, David Wright was the only bastion of hope for Mets fans.

And then yesterday, every Mets fans' heart skipped a beat when Wright was crushed in the helmet by a 95 mph fast ball. I literally gasped when it happened and stared blankly at the TV waiting for Wright to get up. How can this happen? Why is this happening?

Matt Cain had no intentions of hitting Wright, but he did commit the one unpardonable act a pitcher can do, hitting a batter in the head. Thankfully Wright seems to be okay and sustained a concussion but CT scans were negative according to a Mets spokesperson.

But after Wright exited, I found myself thinking that this would be just the spark the Mets needed to jump start this team. Then Santana folded giving up 3 runs in the 6th inning on back to back to back to back to back hits.

The worst part of Santana's outing is when he tried to provide some justice for Wright's beaning by throwing at Sandoval's back. Of course this is the 2009 Mets, so Santana missed him and on the next pitch Sandoval crushed a home run.

The Mets somehow rallied to tie the game and force extra innings and had every Mets Lifer hoping for some justice. But KRod threw the biggest meatball I have ever seen to Benjie Molina who slammed it into left field.

Game over.

So as the day came to a close it found Wright in the hospital, Santana with a loss, KRod with a blown save and justice still avoiding the 2009 Mets.

There are no breaks for this Mets team, unless it's a bone.