Giants notes: Cain to start season finale

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants have used the final month as a launching pad for many of their best young players. They'll try to do the same with their longest-tenured player.

Matt Cain will start Sunday's final game. Cain is one of three veterans who could have started in place of Madison Bumgarner, but Yusmeiro Petit came out of the bullpen Friday and Ryan Vogelsong did the same Thursday. Cain has a 6.31 ERA this season and has not started since August 25.

"It's been a rough year for Matty dealing with all he's had to deal with," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's a little bit of a send-off for him this year. He can warm up like he normally does. It'll be short work."

[PAVLOVIC: Rewind: Heston eager to put on weight, come back stronger]

Cain has thrown just three big league innings in the last five weeks, but Bochy has a full bullpen to back him up. Whenever he's done, the focus will turn to 2016, and Cain will be back in the rotation next spring. Bochy said the organization is optimistic about Cain's future.

"Any time you have surgery, the more time away from it you get, you usually see better results," Bochy said.

Cain had bone chips removed from his elbow last summer. He missed much of this season with a flexor tendon strain.

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--- Vogelsong said the other day that he sees the writing on the wall here. Not so fast, Bochy said. 

"I know he's probably disappointed he wasn't out there every fifth day, but he went back in the rotation and we used him in the bullpen occasionally," Bochy said. "We met three or four days ago. I thanked him for being patient. You never know. Last year he might have felt (this way about returning) and he signed with us and got quite a few starts. I think so much of Vogey."

It wouldn't be a shock to see Vogelsong get into tomorrow's game, giving fans a chance to possibly say goodbye. I know a few of Vogelsong's teammates are hopeful that it happens since he's not starting one of this weekend's games.

--- From last night, Chris Heston has lost 2.4 MPH on his fastball in three months, so he's eager to come back stronger in February. And here's Matt Duffy's reaction to winning the Willie Mac Award.

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