Home runs hit by Matt Cain while Matt Cain is pitching: 2

Home runs hit by Bengie Molina, Ray Durham, Rich Aurilia, Ryan Klesko, Randy Winn, Omar Vizquel, Dave Roberts, and Kevin Frandsen while Matt Cain is pitching: 3

That's over 26 starts and 164 innings. Nice. It's an exercise in cherry-picking - notice the absence of Pedro Feliz (3 homers while Cain is on the mound), Fred Lewis (2), and Barry Bonds (6) - and it's not like the Giants should be expecting home runs out of Vizquel and Roberts, but none of that should get in the way of the point. That point:

The Giants haven't been doing a good job at scoring runs, especially with Matt Cain on the mound.

This kind of analysis is why I sit atop a blog and t-shirt empire. Recognize.

So this is an official Matt Cain Appreciation Thread, because it would have been easy for Cain to fail. On July 23, he only lasted 4.1 innings and fell to 3-12. His ERA was just 4.02, but he had every right to curl up into a little ball and start feeling sorry for himself.

Not only that, but he's had to sit back and watch Tim Lincecum become the darling young pitcher in the organization. Lincecum is now the fire-throwing arm talked about in hushed tones. Lincecum is the one on the cover of Young Giants Pitcher Quarterly. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. Cripes, what does a guy have to do to get some love around here?

Cain's still a beast. He's still just 22, an age where a lot of pitchers are still in their first full professional season. He still has the fastball, he still has the curveball, and he's refining the changeup. His control is a continuing issue, but I refer you back to the second point: He's 22 years old.

Open Matt Cain Appreciation Thread. Here's to a man (a certain man), and for this team you may be sure that he'll do all he can. Who is this one? This favorite son? It's Matthew Cain! (It's Mister Cain!) He doesn't like that "mister", he likes Matthew Cain!

(Grant repeats the song and dances around his office a little.)

Here's to one of the reasons we'll continue to watch Giants baseball for the next couple of years.