Giants’ Matt Cain savors win over Dodgers

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San Francisco’s Matt Cain makes his National League championship series debut Tuesday, starting Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies. For confidence in how he can perform in a big game, Cain looks back to this Aug. 1 game, in which he beat the Dodgers for the first time in 15 career starts.

‘I hadn’t beat them in forever,’ Cain said. ‘That helped me a ton to kind of get that confidence--and pitching against those guys. Obviously, with the rivalry we’ve always had, with the Dodgers and Giants, is definitely something uplifting. You think back to different games, and maybe one of those games as well, when you go into something like this.’

In his final three starts against the Dodgers this season, including that Aug. 1 start, Cain went 2-0 with a 1.66 ERA.

-- Bill Shaikin in San Francisco