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Raise your hand if you think it gets easier now? No one should have their hand up. Matt Cain, tonight's starter for the Giants, is just as tough of a nut to crack as Tim Lincecum is. Perhaps our only hope is that the bad umpiring call will go against them tonight instead of against us (because you know there will be at least one bad umpiring call at a critical point in the game).
The Braves have not faced Matt Cain that much, and when they have it has not been with much success, but we did manage to beat him a couple of months ago in Atlanta. Here are the head to head stats:
| Braves vs. Matt Cain | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Derrek Lee | 16 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .267 | .313 | .533 | .846 |
| Nate McLouth | 15 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | .214 | .200 | .357 | .557 |
| Brian McCann | 14 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .250 | .357 | .417 | .774 |
| Troy Glaus | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .100 | .100 | .100 | .200 |
| Alex Gonzalez | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .000 | .100 | .000 | .100 |
| Rick Ankiel | 9 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .250 | .333 | .500 | .833 |
| Omar Infante | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .222 | .222 | .222 | .444 |
| Melky Cabrera | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Jason Heyward | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .667 | 1.000 | 1.667 |
| David Ross | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 |
| Eric Hinske | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | n/a | 1.000 | n/a | n/a |
| Total | 100 | 89 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 8 | 21 | .191 | .263 | .315 | .577 |
Not much success there for Atlanta, but very limited action.
The Giants have seen Tommy Hanson even less, and Tommy has done well against them in the past -- striking out a batter per inning -- though much of that was last year. Their stats are after the jump...
| Giants vs. Tommy Hanson | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Cody Ross | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .000 | .222 | .000 | .222 |
| Pablo Sandoval | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Aubrey Huff | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .250 | .500 | .250 | .750 |
| Juan Uribe | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .167 | .167 | .500 | .667 |
| Aaron Rowand | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .250 | .000 | .250 |
| Pat Burrell | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 2.500 |
| Travis Ishikawa | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 |
| Buster Posey | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Edgar Renteria | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Freddy Sanchez | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Nate Schierholtz | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Andres Torres | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Total | 55 | 46 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 17 | .130 | .255 | .196 | .450 |
Not very much success at all, except for Pat The Bat, and all of this is taking into account extremely small sample sizes.
So there you have it, not much familiarity with either pitcher for these lineups, though most of the guys have faced each other at least once before. Should be another nail biter of a game.