I don't know. By game score, he had an 82, which would place it among the best starts of his career (tied for 11th), but far from the best. Anyway, game score's an iffy stat, as it doesn't adjust for luck (one of the main components is hits).
FIGS, or fielding independent game score, is thus a more efficient stat for evaluating starts. I don't want to calculate FIGS for every single good start Matt Cain's had -- and I know of no quick, easy way to calculate it (so I can't figure out what the FIGS of his career), but I'll give you this.
First of all, Fungoes' implementation of the stat is calculated like this --
60+2*SO-3*BB-13*HR+Outs-BF
This was the seventh double-digit strikeout game of Cain's career. Here are the other six games, ranked by FIGS:
Today's start earned Cain a FIGS of 73, tied for the best of his double-digit K games. As stated earlier, I don't know if it's his best, but it's certainly up there. Definitely top-five.
Point is, today's start was a beauty to behold. My favorite stat from today's start, aside from the ridiculous 11/1 K/BB, was simply his batted ball data. He allowed nine groundballs, as compared to just two flyballs (one of which was an infield fly) and one line drive.
Other notes --
- Mychael Urban seems pretty confident that Brandon Crawford has won the starting shortstop job -- i.e., he'll keep starting once Pablo Sandoval returns. Great news. I was admittedly quite skeptical at first (rightfully so; what Crawford's done has been pretty unexpected), but Crawford's proven thus far that he's the best option. The offensive standards for a shortstop with Crawford's defensive skills are quite low, and I'm pretty sure he exceeds them.
- The Giants are looking harder for catching help. Eli Whiteside's a fine backup catcher, but no harm in the Giants going out and getting another catcher. The biggest upgrade (if the Giants acquire a relatively blah catcher like Ivan Rodriguez) comes from the fact that Chris Stewart, a sub-replacement level player, would no longer be getting occasional starts.
- Note to Bruce Bochy: please stop batting Miguel Tejada second in the lineup. And please stop starting Aaron Rowand in baseball games.
