Matt Cain + great friends = perfect night

Posted on June 15, 2012

Brad Mangin, Jon Becker, Matt Maiocco, and Steve Owyoung hold up their ticket stubs after Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants threw a perfect game against the Houston Astros on June 13, 2012 in San Francisco, California.(Photo by Giants fan)

 

It’s been two days since San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain hurled his perfect game at the Houston Astros at AT&T Park in San Francisco. For the first time in Giants franchise history (going back 128 years) and only the 22nd time in Major League history a pitcher retired all 27 men he faced. This is truly a rare and special feat, and unlike many people, I will not be lying when I tell friends for the rest of my life that YES, I was there. As a fan. And I loved it!

Why was I there? Because my old friend Matt Maiocco (formerly of Hayward Daily Review Bears fame, currently of COMCAST Sportsnet Bay Area fame) sent me and a few other friends a text message on Sunday night, June 10, at 7:09pm. “Do you slappies want to go to Giants game Wednesday?” he asked.

I immediately responded. “Damn. I am already going Tuesday night. Maybe!” I texted back.

“Ok… Sounds like a definite maybe,” Matt wrote.

“Pretty much. Sounds like fun!” I confirmed.

Just like that, I was in. Fast-forward to Wednesday morning and we still had one free ticket. Maiocco and I are season ticket seat partners, along with a large group of friends. We have four terrific seats in the premium lower box section at AT&T Park, just inside the bag at first in section 108, row 27, seats 1-4. Daily Review Bears legend, former Oakland A’s bat boy and San Leandro Pirate Jon Becker was our third, so we just needed one more. Matt had the tickets this night, but he was busy working at 49ers mini-camp in Santa Clara all day so it was up to me to try and scrounge up one more good Giants fan to hang with us at the yard.

Our old friend Mike Wolcott could not make it, for various complicated communications issues. The next logical person for me to call was the most insane Matt Cain fan I knew: Syracuse native Gary “Frano” Fralick. Frano was excited to hear my voice as we chatted during my drive to Livermore where I had an 11:30am appointment to get my hair cut by John Locatelli, the only barber to cut my hair since November of 1972. Of course, Frano was busy that night. His son Gus was flying in from New York and Frano was picking him up at SFO at 9pm.

“Mind you I’ve always been a BIG Cain fan, but the eeriness of Brad’s voice told me something,” Frano wrote yesterday in an email. “I thought for a second, and felt I had to pick him up. Gus only comes out once or twice a year.” Frano could not come, so I still needed a 4th.

At around 12:15pm I met Becker to give him his ticket in the Amador Valley High School parking lot in Pleasanton. We decided we needed to call our old buddy Steve Owyoung. Owyoung is a huge Giants fan who lives in San Francisco, and he immediately said YES. We had our group. Little did we know what was in store for us that night.

We were four guys in four cars coming from four different places that night. By the time Becker arrived in the third inning, late from a summer Little League meeting about managing his son Brady’s team, Cain was humming along, looking great. The Giants had a nice lead, and it looked like a RARE laugher for the Giants and their fans. So may of their games are stressful nightmares it would be relaxing to watch them cruise to a win. But wait! No one had reached base against Cain. Something special might be going on.

As the game progressed I started getting text messages from many of my friends. At 8:50 pm Clyde Fralick sent me this text: “Frano is kicking himself right now!”

“Is this a you know what or is it the other thing? We just started watching in the bar and don’t know if he’s walked anyone,” asked my superstitious friend Darren Carroll at 9:20pm, in town from Texas to photograph the U.S. Open.

At 9:45pm my friend and “Worth The Wait” co-authour Brian Murphy texted me. “Nice draft pick, Holmes,” he said. We pick our games in a big draft in the winter and weeknight games against the Astros are not exactly hot property. “I honestly think this was one of the last games picked!!! Seriously!!” Murph said.

Needless to say we were all nervous wrecks in our seats, or for the most part on our feet as the game sped to to the 9th inning. When history was made on a scary ground ball to third the place went nuts, and so did we.

I attended the game the night before with my friend Robert Beck and many others who are in town to photograph the U.S. Open. As soon as the game ended Beck texted me. “Why didn’t we go tonight?!” Beck asked. “You dog. I’m telling your cats,” Beck said.

Of course, many of my photographer friends went nuts that I was not shooting the game. First of all, I do not shoot night games, so if I was not a fan I would be sitting at home watching on television. Second, I was able to enjoy this spectacular moment with three great friends, and we had so much fun watching together. Third, I did shoot the game- with my iPhone! I sent out several Instagrams from the game to prove that I was there, and got some great comments from friends and followers.

By the time I got home I was so wired I could not sleep. I watched endless television coverage on COMCAST and read many stories on the Internet. I have been very lucky over the past few years seeing some great feats on the baseball field. I was a fan for Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter in 2009. I photographed Dallas Braden’s perfect game in Oakland in 2010. I witnessed and photographed the Giants incredible 2010 World Series season and published a book about it. Now this. Crazy!

Thanks Matty for putting this great night together. This ALMOST makes up for you and your family missing Ed Halicki’s no-hitter in 1975. Almost!