For a team that is sixteen games below .500 as the calendar readies its flip to September, finding a scrap of undiscovered excitement remains a frantic goal. Any scrap will do, and the Giants pray it has arrived with their most heralded prospect: Matt Cain. The housecleaners have landed in San Francisco, bringing their buckets, mops and heaps of soapy suds to disinfect the place ? doing whatever they need to in order to rid the area of its season-long stench. May they be immensely triumphant. Bouncing between 6 and 8 games behind the Padres, and pretending there is still some sort of mysterious miracle conclusion is not only foolish but stretches to the edge of unhinged folly. Time for transformation is now ? let the cleaners do their job. Pitcher Matt Cain was the Giants? number one draft choice back in 2002, and he led the Pacific Coast League in strikeouts with 176 this year. In 145 innings, he was 10-5 with an ERA of 4.39. His minor league strikeout total is an impressive 447 in 397 innings. He has a tendency to walk people, but many young power guys do. He will make his first ever start Monday in a Giants? big league uniform against the lowly Rockies, and at twenty years of age, he is the youngest in the organization to do so in over 20 years. He was recently ranked number eight in MLB.com?s list of Top 50 Prospects. ?It will be a good opportunity for him to get baptized, especially for a young kid at his age,? noted General Manager Brian Sabean. He feels Cain has a strong mound presence, to go along with electric stuff. Cain squeezes into the starting rotation, and displaced Brett Tomko takes his beastly 7-14 record and puffy 4.94 ERA to the bullpen as a long reliever. Tomko has been a victim of non-support at times, but still -- how long do you suffer with him? He isn?t happy, but Giants? fans aren?t happy with him loading in gopher balls either. This team featured an overabundance of geezers at the beginning of the season, but slowly things have switched to a badly needed and much desired youth movement. Four of the five starters now will all be under twenty-six. Assuming they stick around, of course. The rental truck continues to back up to the dock and haul more useless bodies away. Kirk Rueter was kicked down the ramp, along with Matt Herges, Jim Brower and Marquis Grissom. Jason Christiansen becomes the latest casualty ? it sure doesn?t pay to complain about your manager burning out pitcher?s arms. No sir. ?His arm is as good as I've ever had, in terms of a lively arm,? Giants Manager Felipe Alou said of Cain, salivating. ?He has everything. He's a presence guy, a fearless guy. He has a healthy arm.? Ripe for the burning. Youngster Todd Linden appears ready to linger in the big show as a right fielder, having pretty much man-handled Triple-A pitchers. And fellow youngster Lance Niekro seems to be the force at first base. So? say again why J.T. Snow still gets most of the snaps there? Exactly who or what is on those pictures he has of Sabean? Talk of Barry Bonds returning in September has once more permeated the winds of discussion. As Bruce Jenkins of the Chronicle pointed out, that would be essential for all parties involved. The Giants need to know what to expect from Bonds in order to plan for next year. If he comes back and blasts 10 homers in the month, everything gets back to normal ? at least as far as the baseball part. If he struggles, maybe the best option is a trade ? the Angels would be willing. For Barry, he too must be wondering about his future, and could be receptive to a deal. Just think? a whole winter to mull it over, and not be in the same clueless position next spring as this spring. Now that would be some real progress. But for the moment, the focus shifts to the fresh but inexperienced right-hander. Can he be the guy to provide a major boost, and add bags of enthusiasm for 2006? Or will he become widely known as Matt ?walking? Cain? Leaving the Fresno Grizzlies was probably not too tough on him, despite the recent Matt Cain Bobblehead givaway night. Maybe he can get one as a Giant some day -- maybe he can become the leader of their sweet train. ?It's almost unexplainable,? said Cain of his reaction when he found out Friday about being called up. ?I was out to get something done to my truck, but I had to cancel that and now we're here.? The truck can wait. Time for the important stuff.