Matt Cain

Those San Francisco Giants fans who were hoping to see Matt Cain take the mound Tuesday against the San Diego Padres will be sorely disappointed. 

The team’s official Twitter page updated supporters on the condition of the former All-Star:

Heading into the 2014 season, the San Francisco Giants will look to rebound from their disappointing 2013 campaign. Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval and Tim Lincecum are three key players the Giants must see improvement from in 2014.

Last year, the Giants suffered from a World Series hangover and finished the season 76-86, third in the National League West.

The hits just keep on coming for the San Francisco Giants this season. Starting pitcher Matt Cain will be the latest Bay Area star to go on the disabled list. 

The team's Twitter account provides the details:

The San Francisco Giants pitching staff is officially being put on notice—step up your game.

Pablo Sandoval has gone on the disabled list, reports Mercury News, meaning there's a hole in the middle of the lineup.

The San Francisco Giants have been known for their pitching for a long time. But this year, the staff has regressed a bit.

All five pitchers have gone through rough patches this year, some longer than others. Even Matt Cain, he of the perfect game, 15-5 record and 2.86 ERA, has had his struggles. Madison Bumgarner has too, and Tim Lincecum has had a rough year overall.

June 13 was a perfect night for Matt Cain and the San Francisco Giants.

Cain tossed the first perfect game in team history, retiring all 27 Houston Astros hitters in order and striking out 14 of them. Giants fans went ballistic when first baseman Brandon Belt caught the final out, and it marked yet another special moment in Giants history.

However, there haven't been any special moments for Cain since the perfect game.

Picking out quality starting pitching for your fantasy baseball team can be a fickle enterprise, given how difficult it is to project how well any given MLB hurler will fare from year to year.

Not to mention how few and far between aces tend to be.

Tim Lincecum is the face of the San Francisco Giants, but in a time where team loyalty is down and money is king, is it possible that he and other beloved Giants will end up elsewhere?

If there was ever a pitcher in baseball who deserves a lifetime contract extension, it would be Tim Lincecum.

The top two pitchers for the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies are arguably the top tandems in the Major Leagues. 

Each of these pitchers is an ace in his own right, but combined with the other, they make a great one-two punch for their respective teams.

When the San Francisco Giants called up Matt Cain in August of 2005, he made his debut as the second youngest pitcher in the major leagues.  Now in his seventh season as a big leaguer, Cain is a seasoned veteran with a laundry list of accomplishments to his credit.  He finished last year's World Championship season with a 13-11 record with a 3.14 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 177 strikeouts, 61 walks, 223 innings pitched and four complete games (including two shutouts).