Pitching to Paul Goldschmidt is probably one of the most annoying things I can think of. Guy is hitting a career line of .301/.406 /.602 against the Giants. So. Annoying. Finally I understand what it must have been like for Arizona fans all those years that Randy Winn was terrorizing the D-Backs like some kind of crazed peak-level Ellis Burks with good knees.

Anyway, in tonight’s (ongoing) game, Matt Cain pitched Goldschmidt probably as well as humanly possible in this at-bat in the fourth inning. Per ESPN’s pitch-by-pitch gamelog, the AB went as follows: Strike (looking), Strike (swinging), Strike (looking), P Goldschmidt struck out looking.

Or, if you came for some GIFs, pitches number two and three were, in my humble opinion, things of beauty.

Pitch #2 – Slider, 86 mph

Tight slider on the outside corner that Goldschmidt takes a huge rip at and completely misses? Check.

Pitch #3 – Two-seam fastball, 92 mph

This pitch. Holy crap this pitch. Maybe the best part is the umpire doing his best Bruce Lee impression to ring up Goldschmidt.

These are just two pitches of many that Matt Cain has thrown this year, but they are clearly indicative of the pitcher he’s become: a dart-throwing, laser-guided control freak with great stuff. Or, if you’ve forgotten about Cain’s transformation into freakish strike-thrower, this graph’ll learn ya.

“Good.”