Bryan Srabian: On the Perfect Social Game

PerfectCain.net Exclusive: Bryan Srabian (@srabe), Director of Social Media for the San Francisco Giants discusses Matt Cain's perfect game and its social media impact. 

as it all unfolded...

There were a few things I noticed immediately.  The conversation on twitter was exploding and growing with each inning towards the 9th.  It’s really surreal to be a game with so much intensity and excitement and monitor the conversations on Twitter simultaneously.   There were a number of trending topics worldwide, the conversation that night belonged to the @SFGiants and more specifically, Matt Cain.  There was a huge spike on all of our social media networks the following days, as well as our website.  We continued to share media including video, photos and quotes from the team and around the world.  It was definitely a shared experience by Giants fans who witnessed live or were watching across the country.

the perfect game versus the World Series Championship...

Some similarities but lots of differences.  The beauty of a perfect game is that the stars align and rewards those happen to be at the game or are watching at home.  It is just 1 game out of 162 and there is typically no build up or hype leading up to it.  Therefore, the game itself is just “another game” up until the 5th inning or so.   Many people have predicted Matt Cain to throw a no hitter at some point, so it is not unusual to see him dominate early in the game.  But many fans could see there was something special building that night.  Witnessing a Perfect Game is baseballs reward for the  diehard fan or the truly lucky in life.  So that was kind of the payoff to see it trend they way it did.  There were over 60,000 mentions of Matt Cain at the end of the game.  It was pretty remarkable to watch live and monitor the social sphere.    

tweeting about Matt Cain's "potential" perfect game ... valuable communication or potential  jinx...

We did not tweet that out at all.  At one point we might have mentioned something to that regard, 5th inning or so, but yes, we are pretty superstitious and I personally am really superstitious.  It probably is not good to admit, especially if you are running a team’s social media, but I am a lifelong Giants fan, and that part of me is hard to hide.  At the same time, there was plenty of conversation going on about the Game so we decided to simply let the game and story play out.  
I did follow the @Mariners account closely when Felix Hernandez threw a perfect game a few months later to compare their approach, and they in fact did alert fans to tune in into History.  I thought that was smart, and maybe next time we are a bit more proactive in that regard.  But I will never forget how nervous I was in that moment, and no matter what your strategy or plan is, until you go through it yourself, you have to trust your gut.  I am happy with the outcome, sometimes less is more and in this case #PerfectCain was a great moment in #SFGiants History. 

regarding whether more fans first  learned of the perfect game bid via social media rather than taditional media...

I don’t have any hard data to back this up, but my gut instinct is yes.  There were several Trending Topics on twitter related to game and Matt Cain was trending World Wide beginning around the 7th inning.  Even though this was a 7:15pm start on the West Coast, I think there was a lot of discussion which led to sports fans to tune into traditional media, and probably increased viewership on a regional level and even amongst baseball fans.  But this is one of those instances that went mainstream and my guess is that many fans found out about the perfect game through their social networks.  It’s a good discussion and debate about the behaviors of fans. 

27 to Know - The Perfect Game Edition

Bill Chuck is famous for his "Nine to Know" but today he reflects on Matt Cain's perfect game with the "27 to Know"...

27 to Know

  1. Cain’s 10-0 perfecto was on June 13, 2012, exactly 107 years after Christy Mathewson no-hit the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 (June 13,1905).
  2. The Giants Hall-of-Fame great Juan Marichal also threw a no-hitter against Houston (they were still called the Colt 45’s then) on June 15, 1963 when he walked two and whiffed five.
  3. Cain’s Game Score of 101 was the highest of the 2012 season and the best Game Score since Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout, one-hitter on 5/6/1998 for the Cubs also against Houston, when he recorded a Game Score of 105.
  4. Cain's 101-point performance tied Sandy Koufax's perfect game (9/9/1969) and Nolan Ryan's seventh and last no-hitter on 5/1/1991 for the best Game Score in a no-hitter.
  5. Cain now has seven complete games in which he has not issued a walk.
  6. Cain now has struck out 10+ batters in 10 games, but the 14 in the perfect game were a career high.
  7. Cain now holds the record for most strikeouts in a perfect game.
  8. Cain now has a one no-hitter, three one-hitters, and one two-hitter. Five other times, Cain had taken a no-hitter into the 7th.
  9. In 2012, five pitchers also struck 14 in a game, but the high for the season came from James Shields, Francisco Liriano, Chris Sale, and Max Scherzer who each struck out 15.
  10. Cain threw 125 pitches, the most ever in a perfect game.
  11. Of the 125 pitches, 66 were fastballs (48 strikes), 23 were sliders (14 strikes), 20 were changeups (5 strikes), and 16 were curves (nine strikes).
  12. This was the third time that Cain had thrown 125 pitches in a game, but they were exceeded by a 131-pitch game on 6/19/2006 against the Angels and a 126-pitch game on 8/10/2008 against the Dodgers.
  13. Cain threw 86 strikes in the game, tied for the eighth most by a pitcher in 2012. Justin Verlander threw 96 strikes against the Yankees on August 6th.
  14. Cain had four 3-2 counts resulting in a Jordan Schaefer fly out to right, a Jed Lowrie strikeout swinging, and a Brett Wallace strikeout swinging and a strikeout looking.
  15. Cain had 17 first pitch strikes, throwing 14 fastballs, seven changeups, four curves, and two sliders.
  16. NL MVP Buster Posey became the 21st catcher to catch a perfect game. Ron Hassey is the only catcher to have caught two.
  17. The umpires for the game were Ted Barrett behind the plate, Mike Muchlinski at first, Angel Campos at second, and Brian Runge at third.
  18. Umpire Brian Runge was involved in three no-hitters in 2012. He was also the home plate umpire for the Phil Humber perfect game on April 21 and the six-pitcher no-hitter thrown by the Mariners on 6/8/2012.
  19. Cain’s home plate umpire was Ted Barrett, who also was behind the plate for David Cone’s perfect game on 7/18/1999 and for Ervin Santana’s no-hitter on 7/27/2011 when Santana walked one. Barrett was also the third base umpire for Humber’s perfect game in April.
  20. Entering the perfect game, Cain’s record was 7-2 with a 2.41 ERA. After the game, Cain ended the season going 8-3 with a 3.26 ERA.
  21. The perfect game was in Cain 217th career game and his 216th career start.
  22. On the same night that Cain was perfect, NL Cy Young Award winner R. A. Dickey of the Mets struck out 12 in a one-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays.
  23. The Astros finished last in the National League with 1276 hits. Besides the perfect game, they were held to one hit once, and two hits twice.
  24. The Astros were 12th in the National League with 463 walks.
  25. In 2012, the Astros were held to no walks in 11 games, tied for 13th in the majors.
  26. Houston has been no-hit five times in their existence, twice against the Giants in San Francisco, once against the Pirates in Pittsburgh (6/12/1997, Francisco Cordova went nine innings and Ricardo Rincon completed the 10-inning no-no), once against the Reds in Cincinnati (4/30/1969), and once against the Cubs in Milwaukee when they were listed as the home team after having been evacuated by Hurricane Ike (9/14/2008). They have never been no-hit in Houston.
  27. The Astros no-hit the Reds the day after Houston had been no-hit in 1969. The Astros defeated the Giants the next night in San Francisco (6/14/2012) as Jose Altuve led off the game with a hit off Barry Zito.

All About Cain's Ks

Matt Cain whiffed 14 Astros on June 13, 2012, tying him with Sandy Koufax for the most strikeouts ever recorded by a pitcher during a perfect game. How did Cain get those Ks? Here's all you ever wanted to know about Cain's perfecto punch outs.

Cain got 11 of his 14 strikeouts with his fastball. He had one of his best heaters of the season, averaging 91.6 MPH (a half tick above his season-long average) and topping out at a season-high 94.4 MPH. Most of Cain's Ks with the fastball came on pitches thrown to his glove side:

Location of Cain's fastball Ks

 Cain also got two strikeouts with his changeup, and one with his curveball. Jed Lowrie got a rough call on a knee-high changeup, but Brett Wallace and Brian Bixler flailed at pitches way outside of the strike zone:

Seven was Cain's lucky number. He had seven looking and swinging strikeouts apiece. He also had seven Ks each on pitches inside and outside of the strike zone.

Cain managed to strike out Jose Altuve three times, no small feat considering Houston's pint-size second baseman had the ninth lowest K rate (11.7 percent) among qualified National League hitters during the regular season. All three of Cain's strikeouts against Altuve came on 93 MPH fastballs (one swinging, two looking).

 

Tributes to Matt Cain

This blog is a tribute to Matt Cain's perfect game... If you would like to contribute to this blog please send an email to info@trumedianetworks.com.