San Francisco Giants Make Matt Cain Filthy Rich

Matt Cain has been handed the largest deal for a right-handed pitcher in the history of baseball.

The San Francisco Giants agreed on Monday to a $127.5 million, six-year contract with Cain, who wanted to remain in the Bay Area, where his career began. He had this to say about his choice to stick around:

"This is a decision that was made pretty simple for [my wife and I]. It was a process and it was a negotiation. It was good for my family and I to go through all of that, to be able to know this is probably going to be our lifetime as a Giant, that’s pretty cool for us."

Diamondbacks Win NL West, Giants Fail Miserably

After a pair of 90-loss seasons and just a year after going 65-97, the Arizona Diamondbacks are sitting an impressive 91-66 and heading to the playoffs as the division champions for the first time in four years.

In his first full season as manager, Kirk Gibson watched in amazement as his team celebrated on the field, in the clubhouse, and of course, in the pool out behind the right field fence. Sadly, they still had their uniforms on.

Tonight's Badass NLCS Pitching Matchup

Tuesday night has yet another pitchers duel in store for baseball fans.

With the NLCS tied up at a game a-piece, Matt Cain will take the hill against Cole Hamels for Game 3 at 4:19pm ET this evening at AT&T Park, where a sell-out crowd will furiously wave their towels and sing their version of Don't Stop Believing in search of their first pennant since they cheered for Barry Bonds eight years ago.

NL West: the Final Countdown

It's the FINAL COUNTDOOOOOOOOOWN.

Happy October everyone! Who doesn't love a good divisional race? The National League West is coming down to the final weekend of the regular season. With just three sold-out games remaining, the San Francisco Giants need just one victory over the visiting San Diego Padres to win the division and end their six-year playoff drought.

Speaking of droughts, Pablo Sandoval finally ended his 66-at bat homerless skid with a shot into McCovey Cove last night. Kung Fu Panda has just 12 hits in his last 63 at-bats, but he insists he's feeling more chill lately and finding his stroke again:

Get Well Soon David Wright

According to New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel, David Wright could possibly miss the rest of the season after getting beaned in the head by an unintentional 94 mph Matt Cain fastball in his team's 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

The All-Star third baseman was hit just above the ear hole in the fourth inning, sending his batting helmet flying. Wright laid there for several minutes before walking off the field with some help from trainers.

Welcome to Crushingham Palace

Good Lord.

Okay, I'm not going to go on and on about how ridiculously awesome it is that it once again took Ryan Zimmerman only one inning to nail a 1-1 pitch from San Francisco Giants righty Matt Cain for a single to center Tuesday night. Alright, maybe I'll go on a little. This, of course, extends his hitting streak to 30 games.

The only other third baseman to be this consecutively badass was the infamous Pete Rose, who hit safely in 44 straight games, back in 1978. And actually, that doesn't even count, cause Rose played two games in left field during that span.

Giants Give Matt Cain Four-Year Deal

Right-hander Matt Cain and the San Francisco Giants agreed Thursday to a $9 million, four-year contract, including a club option for 2011.

The 22-year-old led rookies with 13 wins and 179 strikeouts last season, going 13-12 with a 4.15 ERA in 190.2 innings and finished in a tie for fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Cain also led the Giants in victories.

He started last season 1-5 with a 7.04 ERA over his initial seven starts, having his turn in the rotation skipped during a May trip to Houston. He made one relief appearance, then was 12-7 with a 3.34 ERA in his final 24 outings, which included the two innings out of the bullpen after pitching a one-hitter against Oakland on May 21st.

[Sports Illustrated]