San Francisco Giants shut out A’s behind Cain, Posey

The San Francisco Giants, behind Buster Posey’s first home run of the spring and stellar pitching by six different hurlers, shut out the Oakland A’s, Friday night at At&T Park, thus winning the first of six meeting between the cross-Bay rivals, 4-0. Matt Cain, in his final tuneup prior to the regular season, pitched four complete, allowing three hits and two walks, while striking out three.

San Francisco wasted no time in the first inning, capitalizing on two Oakland miscues in the infield, and scoring three quick runs when Posey sent one over the center field wall. Though it was his first of the spring, Posey’s numbers are solid enough. In 47 atbats he has a line of .277/.382/.468/.850. Of note is his on-base-percentage and the fact that even with only the one home run, he has six doubles. He also had fewer ABs than any other regular, not impacted by injury.

Oct 28, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey before game six of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Of the Giants’ seven hits, only Angel Pagan had two, with Brandon Crawford adding a double. Joaquin Arias accounted for the final Giants run by singling in Brandon Belt in the bottom of the sixth. Posey’s homerun off of Kendall Graveman was only the second earned run off of the A’s pitcher this spring, in 10.2 innings, prior to Friday’s game.

Five Giants pitchers closed out the shutout for Cain, each pitching precisely one inning. Jeremy Affeldt (5.40 ERA), Juan Gutierrez (2 Ks, 0.00 ERA), Jean Machi (1 K, 3.21 ERA), Hunter Strickland (2 Ks, 5.56 ERA) and Sergio Romo (1 K, 2.16 ERA) Aside from the three hits given up by Cain, Giants pitching limited the A’s to only one additional hit, and a single at that.

No walks were issued by the Giants pen, as each came in and efficiently did his job. The individual components of this championship team are falling neatly into place, with a precision that smacks of a group of individuals who know what they are doing.

The Giants do not care that they are once again overlooked in the predictions for a successful campaign. Yawn. Been there, done that. They do not care that their cross-town rivals have their way during the spring. No one cares, except for A’s fans. Yawn. Been there, done that.

What the Giants have not yet done, is win a world championship in an odd-numbered year. If they want to break a pattern here, why not start with that?