SAN FRANCISCO – For Tim Lincecum, this is old hat. Sort of.
For Matt Cain, a chance to exhale.
For Pablo Sandoval? Well, let the "Kung Fu Panda" tell you himself.
"I'm just waiting for my moment," the cherubic, charismatic fan favorite said through a bashful grin with enough wattage to light up AT&T Park. "It would be the biggest moment of my life."
Yes, all 22 years and counting of it.
All the more reason, then, for not only Giants fans to do the right thing and send him to St. Louis for the All-Star Game, but for knowledgeable baseball fans across the country to do their part.
In this corner, Lincecum and Cain on the National League's pitching staff for the "Midsummer Classic" was a no-brainer. Catcher Bengie Molina also had my vote, for how he carried the wild-card-leading Giants early and how he's molded their pitching staff. Closer Brian Wilson lost me, though, with his foolhardy endorsement of Chuck Norris over Jack Bauer as a cooler cat. But that's a different column for a different day.
Sandoval should have been as big a lock as Lincecum is for starting. But he was caught in a numbers game, along with spending time at third base, first base and catcher, making the uninitiated see him as more novelty or mascot than a force such as David Wright or Albert Pújols.
So, Sandoval is one of five candidates fans can vote for until 1 p.m. Thursday at mlb.com to decide the final roster spot. The others: Washington's Cristian Guzmán, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp, Arizona's Mark Reynolds and Philadelphia's Shane Victorino.
I may be preaching to the choir, but Sandoval deserves your vote. And not just because of the intangibles the Venezuelan boasts for a national pastime always looking to expand its global reach.
"The excitement he brings to the game, he makes everybody better," mused Lincecum, who missed last year's game because of a well-publicized flu bug. "He reminds me of Omar (Vizquel) with the joy he brings to the game."
Entering Sunday, Sandoval's .333 batting average was fourth in the N.L., and his .402 average at home led the league, as did his .400 average with two outs. Beyond that, his 30 multi-hit games were tied for third.
Still, he's precariously close to missing the All-Star Game. More discouraging is that the rest of baseball would miss out on Sandoval and the idiosyncratic and wildly entertaining "panda dance" he does in the batter's box before every plate appearance.
While you'd hope fans outside the bubble that is Northern California would throw some love Sandoval's way, the odds are against him. Remember last year, when big-market players such as the New York Mets' Wright, Philadelphia's Pat Burrell, Houston's Carlos Lee and the Giants' Aaron Rowand were blown away in the vote by small-market Milwaukee's Corey Hart?
It reeked of cyber ballot box stuffing. Wait, didn't Commissioner Bud Selig once own the Brewers? But I digress.
Seconds after Sandoval was named one of the final five, he trudged by me in the clubhouse, a laptop under his right arm. Off to get out the vote? Or maybe even … "Gonna vote for yourself?" he was asked later.
"Oh yeah," Sandoval said, that megawatt smile beaming, "for sure."
He has at least two votes, then.
Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.
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