James McDonald had a hit…eey ay eey ay oh. That’s just about all that went right for the Pirates today.

The rest was all Matt Cain. The $100 million man earned a chunk of that contract today by tossing a 1-hit, no-walk shutout against the struggling Pirates lineup. Cain hit every corner, changed levels, and made Garrett Jones look like Shirley Jones. Pedro Alvarez- along with Ms. Jones- struck out three times, while Cain cruised to 11 Ks, just one shy of his career high. Look for Pedro and Garrett to be sent to Corona Beach wearing oversized sombreros. I’m convinced that place is more of a punishment than a reward, with only thing missing being the Miami Marlins song on a loop.

The middle of the order continues to execute. Melky-Panda-Posey is a rough stretch for any pitcher right now, with Melky not only looking like a great acquisition but it’s becoming apparent that he should be leading off. More on that later.

Brandon Watch 2012:

-Crawford: 0-3 with some slick leather. This was the most Crawford-y Crawford game so far this season

-Belt: Aubrey Huff’s line-drive home run, along with an RBI single….aw, who am I kidding? Brandon Belt is done-zos. Gregor Blanco has a better chance of starting at this point.

Speaking of that. I was trolling a bit on Twitter when I posted “7-8-9-1 batters 0-13 today” but Angel Pagan is now 3-27 on the season. His defense has been good and the stolen base potential is still there, but we might be a few games away from Gregor Blanco getting a legit shot at a starting job.

Bitching and moaning done, the first game at AT&T this season was a success. Good weather, a Buster, a Cain, and a slew of great former Giants in attendance. We won that one for Stow.

Stats of the Day:

5: Number of walks drawn by Aubrey Huff this season. Today’s was intentional but Huff is getting on base at a nice clip and hitting line drives. Good to see.

3: Number of one-hit shutouts in Cain’s career

3: Number of three-ball counts Cain got to in 28 batters faced

2: Number of complete game shutouts for the Giants this season (Zito)

1: Hours late to work my housemate was today. He wanted to see Cain finish it.