Good things come to those who wait.
Determined to avoid compromising NLCS victory by retaliating for Matt Holliday’s Game 2 slide into Marco Scutaro—which was called everything from illegal (by Bruce Bochy) to dirty (by all manner of Giants fans)—Matt Cain waited until it would hurt the Cardinals most, and the Giants least, to respond.
St. Louis, trailing 7-0 in the sixth inning of Monday’s deciding Game 7 on an electric San Francisco night, appeared too stunned by the score to be able even to fully absorb the intent behind the pitch. Before the ball connected with Holliday’s left tricep, it had long since been assumed that the Giants would let his slide go unanswered.
Cain, we now know, has a longer memory than the Cardinals anticipated. (Watch it here.)
St. Louis players were already wearing long faces as they counted down outs toward what already appeared to be an inevitable, inexorable slide from the postseason. Before the drilling—as sure an intentional pitch as has been thrown all season—it seemed impossible that the Giants or their home crowd could be any more pumped up than they already were.
As soon as ball bounced off batter, however, it was clear that such a notion was folly. AT&T Park, we found out, does indeed go to 11—especially when the frontier justice runs in their favor.
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Revenge is a dish best served cold.
It was real…and it was spectacular. I loved that Cain got him to 0-2 first; it was like he wanted to prove “Hey, I could just blow another slider by you here and chalk up another out, but we’re beating you by so much I really don’t care about putting a runner on base. So instead, WEAR THIS!”
To Holliday’s credit, he took it like a man and gave nothing but a glance toward Cain before trotting down to first. Well done by both sides; that’s just good old country hardball the way it’s supposed to be played.
“Justice” was served by The Baseball Gods themselves, with Holliday’s pop up settling neatly in Scutaro’s glove to end the series.