Matt Cain, the Giants’ most winning pitcher of 2009, goes for his ninth victory on Sunday. He’s having a good-luck kind of year. Maybe his most lucky since 1994.

That summer, Cqin was 10 years old when a seriously horrible tornado ripped through his home town in Tennessee. The twister killed three people. It knocked down a wall of the high school and ripped through the Cain family’s 25-acre spread, touching down just yards from his house.
“I slept through most of it,” Cain remembered Saturday. “My parents woke me up. Then early the next morning, we went outside to see what had happened. It literally took the roof off of our barn, picked up the roof and put it on the other side of our fence.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how close Cain came to not even being around for 1995, let alone 2009.
The experience must have put all of Cain’s bad baseball luck the last few years in perspective. Right? “I hadn’t really thought about it,” Cain said, sitting in front of his locker stall, not thinking about it.
Cain is definitely an even-keel guy. That’s how he was able to endure so much uneven keeling during the last two seasons of his Giants’ life. Now that the keeling has reversed and he is on track to make his first All-Star Game, he will be making no policy change.
“You definitely have situations where stuff goes your way and stretches where it doesn’t,” Cain said. “You just want to keep working harder and trying to get better.”
From the moment Cain was promoted to the majors in 2005, there was never any question that Cain’s stuff was winning stuff. But after posting a 13-12 record in 2006, bad luck bit into his arm and wouldn’t let go.
Game after game, same thing. Cain would pitch good. The Giants would bat bad. With the expected result. In 2007, Cain lost 16 games despite having the 10th best earned run average in the National League. In 2008, he lost 13 games while experiencing the league’s lowest run support.
Yet all along, Cain never uttered one complaint, earning respect but little sleep. He now admits that going home after some of those games was no fun.
“You definitely go through some tough nights,” Cain said. “But if you’re sitting there and think you’re having your whole career based on luck, that’s not going to happen. You’ve got to put a lot of it in your own hands.”
Or put less carbonation into your stomach. Before this season, Cain did just that. A world class consumer of Coca-Cola (”I would wake up and drink it.”), Cain cut back to one can of Coke per day during the winter. He also visited the gym more often. He dropped 15 pounds.
The weight loss has given him more stamina. His arm is as strong as ever. And just his luck, Cain’s good luck has also returned. The combination has been almost unstoppable.
Example? Ten days ago in Washington D.C., Cain only had to face 22 batters to earn a “complete-game” victory over the Nationals when the contest was called after five innings because of rain. Five days ago in Phoenix, he allowed 11 base runners in 6°innings while giving up four earned runs — but the Giants scored nine times to give him the victory.
“Run support does make a difference,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said, giving away no baseball secret. “But if you’re consistent, it’s going to even out over the long term.” So that’s what you could call this spring: The reward for Cain’s consistency.
However, Bochy believes Cain is also a better pitcher than he was a year ago at this time, with better poise and more command.
The numbers bear it out. After Cain’s first 12 starts of 2008, he had a 2-3 record and a 4.38 earned run average. At the same juncture this season, Cain is 8-1 with a 2.55 ERA.
Just how impressive is that?
Tim Lincecum remains the Giants’ unquestioned ace. But he is currently second to Cain in number of victories and ERA. Both men deserve to be All-Star pitchers. But it is rare to see two starters from the same team on a league’s roster. Cain, of course, is attempting to even-keel the speculation.
“I try not to think about it,” Cain said, “but you guys keep bringing it up.”
There is still a month left before the All-Stars gather in St. Louis. But if Cain isn’t in a National League uniform, it won’t be bad luck. It will be a baseball crime. With the roof blown off.