Just call Matt Cain the new “Mr. October”. Cain shut down the potent Rangers offense, allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks in 7 2/3 innings. He left with a runner on second when Bruce Bochy came out to get him. Cain still has a postseason ERA of zero, as that runner was stranded.

Cain has allowed just one unearned run and 13 hits in 21 1/3 innings in October baseball. He is also now just the eighth starting pitcher in Major League history to allow no earned runs in three straight postseason outings. The opposition is hitting just .173 against him. Are we sure this guy has never been to the playoffs before? It’s an amazing run for the 27-year old.

Don’t be surprised if Texas comes back to take a game and we get to see Matt Cain for the World Series clincher. The way he’s pitching he deserves it. Until then, Cain has The Stat Line of the Night for 10/28/10.

Matt Cain threw seven scoreless innings in his impressive victory, allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks.  Although he did throw 119 pitches, he was able to strike out 5 batters.  Lopez and Wilson came in to slam the door on the Phillies in the final two innings, allowing just 1 hit between the two of them.  Cain’s 7 inning 2-hit shutout was just the 5th time in NLCS history that has happened.  Not only did he carry his team, he made history.

Now the Giants look ahead to Game 4, where they can really put the screws on the Phils.  Although the Giants were heavy underdogs coming into this series, they have proven they belong with gutsy performances like Cain’s.  Today Cain wins the “Stat Line of the Night”, but he may be instrumental in winning the biggest prize of all – a World Series ring.

Total Pro Sports – Whether you are standing in the batters box waiting on a 90 mph fastball, or the one delivering it, baseball can be quite the dangerous game.  It is often described as a non-contact sport, but don’t tell that too Mets third baseman David Wright or Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda.

It happens in all levels of the game, whether it is softball, or even little league with children, and just one month ago the Padres’ Edgar Gonzalez was also the victim of a head shot.  Now this past Saturday, Wright and Kuroda were involved in separate scary incidents which saw each of them take a ball of their noggin.

At home against the San Francisco Giants, Wright came to the plate in the bottom of the 4th inning.  Down 0-2 in the count to pitcher Matt Cain, Wright likely wasn’t expecting to see the next pitch come right for his head, but it did just that, sending his helmet flying and knocking him down and out.  Trainers attended to a dazed Wright for a few minutes before escorting him off the field and taking him to the hospital.

Following an exam by team doctors, television cameras showed Wright being taken by ambulance to a hospital midway through the sixth inning. While the CT scan came back negative, Wright was ruled to have a concussion and will stay in the hospital overnight. [MLB.com]

Wright has since been released from the hospital and was placed on the 15-day DL by the Mets.  There is currently no timetable for his return.  And in case you were wondering, no Mets player made their way towards the Giants clubhouse looking for revenge following the game, a la Prince Fielder.

Kuroda’s incident also occurred on Saturday, in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Pitching to Rusty Ryal with no outs, Kuroda was unable to dodge a line drive which hit him in the side of the head.  He remained down for a while and was also taken to the hospital.

Trainer Stan Conte said Kuroda never lost consciousness and a CT scan was negative, revealing no fractures or bleeding. Kuroda will be kept overnight at a local hospital for observation with a likely concussion, although doctors were willing to release him, Conte said. [MLB.com]

Kuroda was released from the hospital Sunday morning, and despite feeling somewhat better, he is still expected to miss his next scheduled start this Thursday against the Chicago Cubs.