300 and 37: Johnson Wins No. 300, Cain Wins Series for Giants

Mark the date June 4 2009, it may be the last time you will ever see a pitcher reach 300 career victories.

However, I will let my fellow Giants writers delve into the significance of what 300 victories means to Randy Johnson and his historical career.

For the Giants, the more important number on the day was two, and that is two victories.

After Johnson won his 300th, the Giants made sure they took care of business in the second game of a double-header.

Matt Cain won his seventh game of the season in what may end up being the more important of the two victories.

The Giants have been a streaky team all season long and because of it have had a record floating in and around .500 all season long.

But despite the fact that San Francisco has been playing .500 throughout the year, their road record has been far from .500. In 25 road games the Giants are just 9-16 after sweeping Thursday's double header in Washington.

After taking both games in the double-header, the Giants have now won three straight series (7-2) and ever since Juan Uribe's clutch three run double in Seattle back on May 23rd, the Giants offense has come alive.

In the 10 games since the Giants offense has scored 48 runs, an average of 4.8 per game, which is more than enough run support for the Giants pitching which has been lights out all season long.

With Cain picking up his seventh win and allowing just one earned run in the process of a rain-shortened five innings of work, the 24-year-old ace continues to be amongst the top of the league in both categories.

While only allowing a single earned run in the night-cap of the double-header, Cain now has dropped his era to a minuscule 2.27 in 71 1/3 innings this season.

If the Giants can continue to swing the bats during the rest of their 10 game, three city road trip, the team by the bay could very well find themselves within six games of the division leading Dodgers.

But more importantly, since the Dodgers still own the best record in all of baseball, the Giants edging closer to first place may in fact put them in a position as the leader for the wild card.

Even though it is early June, the Giants have not had a record this good, this deep into the season in over three years.

So while it may be early for wild-card talk, the vibe in the Giants club house has got to be light years better than it was at this point in the season last year.

A quality vibe is a welcomed feel to a Giants team that has had to deal with the diva persona of Barry Bonds, as well as a string of four straight losing seasons.

However, in just the second season in the post-Bonds era, the Giants are prime to end their streak of sub .500 seasons and perhaps make a run into the post-season.

In fact, the Giants recent offensive push has come with their cleanup hitter Bengie Molina in perhaps the worst slump of his big league career. "Big Money" as he is (or was) commonly referred to by Giants fans has seen his average drop 81 points, from .329 to .247, picking up just 21 hits in his last 115 at-bats.

That means that over the past 30 games, the Giants cleanup hitter as hit just .182. But in that span the Giants are playing exactly .500 ball at 15-15.

If the Giants can get their cleanup hitter back on track and perhaps add a bat like a Mark DeRosa or another power hitting corner outfielder to replace Randy Winn, there is no reason why this team shouldn't make a serious run for the national league wild-card.

Of course, if they want do want to be serious about a postseason run, they are going to have to start winning on the road. Taking two-out-of-three from the last place Nationals is a good start.

The Giants are a good team and good teams beat the teams they are suppose to beat. Therefore, Matt Cain's seventh win on the season is huge to keep the ball club's confidence high.

Depending on whether or not the Giants can keep this momentum going throughout their 10 game trip, the Giants will either prove their playoff talk is justified or prove that they are still not ready to be true playoff contenders.

Matt Cain's win in the night-cap of Thursday's double-header and 37th career victory may be just as important to the Giants success this season as Randy Johnson's milestone 300th win.

If the Giants were to have begun their road trip with a series loss to the Nationals, the media might be playing up that the Giants won't be in contention for much longer.

However, the series win propels them into what might be the tell tale road trip of a successful season for the orange and black.