Commentary

Cain vs. Colorado, McCarthy vs. Oakland

Updated: May 6, 2009, 2:08 PM ET

By Tom Haberstroh | Special to ESPN Insider

Cain unable

It's not a good sign when a fly-ball pitcher gets pummeled against the Rockies away from Coors Field. On Thursday afternoon, Matt Cain faces off against the team that mashed three home runs off him in his most recent start. For any other pitcher this could be a written off as a blip, but Cain has one of the highest fly-ball rates in the majors. In fact, a whopping 52 of the 69 batted balls off his fastball and slider this year have been hit in the air. That's about twice as many fly balls as the vast majority of pitchers would produce off of the heat. In Coors Field, those fly balls should spell doom. Most pitchers should be sat at Coors Field, but an extreme fly-ball pitcher like Cain could be especially vulnerable to the long-ball.

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