When Matt Cain steps into the batter's box this evening, he has a chance to move into a tie for second place on the S.F. career list for pitchers hitting home runs. Cain has gone deep four times. Jason Schmidt and Bobby Bolin hit five homers for San Francisco. Don Robinson owns the record with seven.

Though Cain has a career batting average of .103, he's generally considered the best hitter among the Giants' starting pitchers.

"He's probably hitting the ball on the barrel most consistently," is how Barry Zito put it.

Growing up, Cain played the infield and he figures that until about the age of 14, "I was probably a much better hitter than I was anything else."

As Cain focused more on his pitching, his hitting regressed - and Cain has a simple explanation for that:

"I probably started seeing more curveballs and off-speed stuff. It wasn't as straight as it was when I was younger."

Hitting coach Carney Lansford can do only so much with pitchers at the plate. "Some guys you can work with," Lansford said, "some guys are a lot more work."

Lansford puts Cain in the first category.

Said Lansford: "Cain is always interested in, 'What can I do to get better?' "

Some pitchers view their batting practice as an opportunity to see how far they can hit the ball. Lansford takes a dim view of that. He stresses to the pitchers to try to hit the ball the other way.

"Work on something that's going to actually help you possibly get a hit in a game," Lansford said.

Considering how offensively challenged the Giants have been in their past nine games, a pitcher's production at the plate becomes that much more important.

"I think sometimes those guys don't realize how ... getting a base hit can help them win a ballgame," Lansford said.

Of course, some pitchers have more of an idea at the plate than others do. Lansford said Jonathan Sanchez "has a lot of problems with his swing. I guess it's to the point with him, where ... just bunt. Get the bunts down."

Being a proficient bunter is really the No. 1 objective for most pitchers. In fact, when asked if, for a season, he'd prefer to hit three home runs or to be successful on all of his sacrifice-bunt attempts, Cain chose the bunts. He estimated 15-18 sacrifices would account for more runs than three homers would.

Expecting three homers from Zito would be quite a stretch, considering he doesn't have an extra-base hit in his career. His first six seasons as a hitter consisted solely of appearances in interleague games in National League parks while he was with the A's. He went hitless in his first 23 at-bats before singling off Washington's Tony Armas on June 7, 2005.

Zito came to the Giants with a lifetime batting mark of 1-for-29 .034.

"When we got him, he had no clue," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's gotten to where he puts the ball in play now." Zito struck out 15 times in his 29 at-bats with Oakland. With the Giants , he has fanned 27 times in 116 at-bats.

Pitchers ultimately are judged by how many runs they allow as opposed to how many they produce. Even Cain, who said he gets upset with himself when he fails to execute a sacrifice bunt, gives himself some slack if he fails to get a hit with a runner in scoring position.

"If a big situation like that comes about," Cain said, "I want to get it done, but I can't harp on it too much because I know I've got to go back out there and pitch."

S.F. pitchers as hitters Most hits, season 28 - Juan Marichal, 1966

24 - Livan Hernandez, 2001

21 - Livan Hernandez, 2000

Bill Swift, 1993

Juan Marichal, 1962

Most home runs, career 7 - Don Robinson, 1987-91

5 - Jason Schmidt, 2001-06

Bobby Bolin, 1961-69

This season's rotation Career statistics