"It's every Giants fan's worst nightmare. Tim Lincecum in Yankee pinstripes. Matt Cain fitting on a Boston Red Sox cap.

The Giants' co-aces, so adored here in the Bay Area, bolting for greener, more potent pastures where run support arrives by the bushel.

Cain and Lincecum have endured systemically poor support over their careers. No major league pitcher has worked with fewer runs per start than Cain since his first full season in 2006. And Lincecum? The Giants haven't scored a run in 10 of his 26 outings this season -- including a 1-0 loss at Atlanta last Thursday.

"Shoot, Timmy could be 20-3 with the Yankees," Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff said earlier this month. "You can only imagine what they'd do if they had a nice lead."

You can only imagine how long they can stand it -- even if they continue to say all the right things after their starts. As infielder Mark DeRosa expressed it in Houston this past weekend, "Our pitching staff is entirely too good and they're being entirely too nice to us, to be honest."

Cain is under contract through 2012. Lincecum has two more arbitration years remaining before he hits the open market following the 2013 season.

Both aces say it's far, far too early to start lining up possibilities. Instead, they say they love being part of the Giants organization and they'd prefer to stay in one place their entire careers. As for the Dust Bowl environment? Instead of choking them back, it has encouraged their growth as pitchers."