Matt Cain just wasn’t quite right all night. But that’s okay, because his battery-mate Buster Posey was.

Posey hit a ground-rule double in the first, then followed that up with dead-center no-brainer panty-dropping 2-run home run in the 6^th that hit the scoreboard. Before today’s game, I didn’t know where the scoreboard in Miller Park was. Buster showed me the way. I could get all fanboy about Buster Posey here, but I think I mentioned the panty-dropping. He is consistently floating around .300 and combines power with the ability to hit to all fields. Nuthin’ fancy.

As for Cain, this is the second straight start where he just didn’t look quite right, giving up four earned runs in both starts. And just like against St. Louis last Thursday, the Giants got Cain a win. Today, Cain gave up 11 hits (7 for extra bases) but zero walks and struck out 8, all with men on base.

Huh. Veteran grit? Pure luck? Eff you pitches? There really is no answer. Other than, wait for it, Matt Cain. He is the answer to many questions. Such as: after giving up 20 baserunners in his last 13 innings, on a scale of 1 to Matt Cain, how worried are you about Matt Cain? Matt Cain.

Brandon Watch 2012:

Belt: Sat in lieu of Aubrey Huff, who made his first start at first base since heading to the DL with a broken heart club foot anxiety issue. Word is Huff may get the start tomorrow, too. I mean, he did take a walk today. He’s trendy.

Crawford: Some more slick fielding, another base hit in four at-bats. I would take this every day. Which leads into my favorite segment…

Kruk Quote of the Day: (on Brandon Crawford) I think this guy can go .260, .280.

Sigh.

Stats of the Day:

12: Hits by Buster Posey at Miller Park, in 23 at-bats

6: Home runs by Posey at Miller Park, in 23 at-bats

3: Innings Bruce Bochy missed with a myseterious illness. But whatever, watching Manny Burriss play hurts my stomach too

0: The number of walks issued by Matt Cain in seven innings, a major-league record

0: The number of players who tested Melky’s arm after smoking Aoki at the plate

Tim Lincecum gave up four runs to the A’s. That’s like giving up a 3-pointer to Ronny Turiaf. He’s broken folks.

Sure, some of those hits were on good pitches and just found holes, but hitters used to struggle to make contact on Timmy’s pitches. Missing bats is what won him two Cy Young awards and got him to four consecutive All-Star games. Oh, and the hair. The hair helps.

And the worst part about Lincecum’s struggles is that he is still missing bats. Another five strikeouts in four innings today. Three previous outings: 7 IP/7 K, 5 IP/8 K, 5 IP/4 K. Looks like a dead ringer for vintage Lincecum. Except for the whole, you know, not getting into the late innings thing.

Let’s find some silver lining. You know the best part of every Tim Lincecum start? Melky Cabrera. A 4-hit day puts him on pace for 1 quintillion hits this season while batting Cecil Fielder’s weight. When Pablo Sandoval returns from the disabled list, the Giants will have a 2-3-4 that all will hit .300. It’s like they have an offense or something.

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I don’t mind losing to the A’s. It’s sort of like losing to your little brother at ping pong. It stings a little, but you can still pop him one if he mouths off.

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Brandon Watch: Belt has now come to the plate four times with the bases loaded this season. The result? One walk, three strikeouts. While there is no way in hell I think this is enough of a sample size to judge Belt’s progress as a major leaguer, these are the at-bats that frustrate fans and Bruce Bochy alike. Hits with the bases loaded are also how you get those mythical RBIs. You know, the ones that win you MVPs and Gold Gloves. With reports that Aubrey Huff is “emotionally ready” to start at first base again, Belt will be challenged to not look overmatched in key at-bats.

Crawford: Settling in nicely in the 2-hole. Yes, it’s with a sub-.300 OBP but that’s just one of those “milestones” that nerds use to make athletes feel bad about themselves.

Krukow Quote of the Day:

Kuip: I’ve never done a game from the White Sox ballpark…what’s it called?

Kruk: Comiskey?

Kuip: U.S. Cellular

Kruk: I can’t get over Comiskey, too good of a name for a park

Stats of the Day:

1: Quality starts for Tim Lincecum this year

The Giants got insurance runs. Now, normally, Giants games go one of three ways:

-The Giants have a small lead, the offense shuts down, and the bullpen locks up the win

-The Giants have a small lead, the offense shuts down, and the bullpen loses the game

-The Giants never lead because the offense never booted.

The hypothetical fourth option in the game of baseball would be:

-Team B (Giants) has a small lead over Team B (Cardinals), the offense keeps driving in runs, assures victory despite possible bullpen run leakage.

Doesn’t happen. Except today. Also notice that I just couldn’t bring myself to make the Giants “Team A”. When rumors of Orlando Hudson being a good fit start swirling around your ball club, you can never be “Team A”.

But back to insurance runs. Aren’t they nice? Especially when they come off the bat of Brandon Belt, who had yet to have his signature game of the season. Signed, sealed, delivered (he’s ours).

But Belt wasn’t the only Brandon worth watching today. When the lineup came out today and Brandon Crawford was penciled into the 2-hole, the Mayans people on Twitter got all snarky and sh*t. I joined the chorus of “bwhahahaha”s and “eff my life”s.

My defense:

It is my right as a blogger to criticize a series of strange or poor decisions like Bochy’s mishandling of the 2-hole in the lineup. But it is also my right as a fan to cheer like hell when that decision works out and Brandon Crawford gets his first RBIs in May from said 2-hole. These rights exist simply because I am unpaid and far from a public figure. Phew.

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Keeping it short today. I’m going to enjoy the spoils of this game as much as anyone can enjoy a home split with THE DEFENDING WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!! I’ll leave you with my only recurring segment of this particular afternoon:

Kruk Quote of the Day: I’d like to know how long it takes to get his (Brandon Crawford’s) hair ready before he goes out. I’m goin with like 3 minutes. Out of the shower, head shake, go get ’em. One thing about this generation you don’t see a lot of hair driers. Not the case in our generation.