Slider low and inside- strike two.

Fastball at the eyes, swung on and missed, strike three.

Repeat, lather, rinse.

(No referrals or promotional considerations here, I’m just plugging it because I like the shirt)

Pablo Sandoval- He’s the second youngest Giant ever to have 15 home runs at the break. The youngest? Orlando Cepeda.

Tim Lincecum- The last Giants pitcher to start the All-Star Game: Jason Schmidt in 2003.

Matt Cain- Although he will not play, Matt Cain will enjoy the festivities in St. Louis and appear in uniform.

Jonathan Sanchez- Should the Giants “sell high” with Sanchez and trade him anyways?

Brian Wilson-too many base runners and spectacular blown saves to have merited serious All-Star contention. He’s still young though- once he develops consistency he’ll be a “game over” closer in the Dennis Eckersley mold.

Jeremy Affeldt- Unfortunately there are no All-Star team positions for “left-handed setup men”. Otherwise he’d so be an All-Star.

Juan Uribe- The Giants could do a lot worse than to just keep him at 2B. I’d rather have him than, say, Freddy Sanchez.

Nate Schierholtz- I think the Giants have their man in right field for the rest of the season, and perhaps beyond. Could definitely put up Randy Winn’s stats or better, for about $8.5 million cheaper.

Bengie Molina- We all love Bengie, but he is just not a cleanup hitter.  Put him #6 or #7.

Edgar Renteria- He looks slow out there in the field. I wonder if he’ll decline significantly in the second half. I hope not.

Travis Ishikawa- Still can’t hit a curve ball. If he can learn to lay off on those, then hey, we have J.T. Snow with a goatee!

Aaron Rowand-Remember when Roger Craig would bat Mike Aldrete or Will Clark at leadoff? His power is insufficient to be a good RBI man, but above average for a get on base guy.

Barry Zito- It took him two plus years to get “motivated” to be good? He better stay “motivated” in the second half!

Randy Winn-The Giants have too many on base guys forced into being RBI guys. Winn is one of those.

John Bowker- He’ll need to be a lot more selective to stick around. Take a page from Pablo’s book and swing at strikes!

Eli Whiteside- Remember Rick Dempsey, Orioles catcher from the ’80s? That’s who Whiteside reminds me of. Mabye it’s the grey hair.

Merkin Valdez- It’s tough staying sharp when you’re only pitching once a week.

Brandon Medders- Kind of quiet, but he’s generally getting the job done.

Bobby Howry- As long as it’s not a stressful situation, he’s fine. This year’s Tyler Walker.

Fred Lewis- Just keep your head up and get on base, Freddy- the home runs and RBIs will come naturally. You’ll just have to be patient and work your way back into the playing rotation.

Andres Torres- What a surprising spark plug. Part of a really deep Giants bench. Willie Mac Award contender.

Justin Miller- Nice job on Saturday with the 3.2 innings in relief of Matt Cain. I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a spot start (he used to be a starter when he first broke into the big leagues).

Sergio Romo- Hey Brian Wilson? Don’t get too cutesy with those drama saves. Sergio can close ‘em out too.

Rich Aurilia- Enjoy the second half ride, Richie. This is likely your swan song as a player.

Kevin Frandsen- If John Bowker sucks, he’ll stay. If he doesn’t, it’s back to Fresno. I hope he’s got a good mileage plan.

Randy Johnson (DL)- Without him, the Giants are actually thinking of adding pitching. We’ll need him down the stretch. Get well soon, Randy!

He’s always had the stuff, and tonight, he put it all together. In the past, I felt he didn’t really use his slider as much as he did tonight, and relied primarily on fastballs to blow away hitters. Tonight, his slider was breaking well and he used it to devastating effect against the Padres hitters.

With his father in the stands watching him starting a major league game for the first time, a Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t have scripted it any better. Congratulations!

Christian Guzman’s campaign “Go for Guzman” features a Facebook Page and a Twitter by “Teddy Roosevelt”, the mascot of the Washington Nationals. The button design is reminiscent of a campaign button, appropriate for the nation’s capital.

For Mark Reynolds, the Diamondbacks have a simple “Vote Reynolds” on their web site and an endorsement video from Senator John McCain. Like the Giants, they have also set up computers to let fans vote at D-backs games. Their game on Tuesday featured a “Super Tuesday” promotion where a randomly selected young fan got to sit in the television broadcast booth with a computer and vote throughout the game. The D-backs are also getting the word out through their broadcasters, including an informal arrangement between the Angels and D-back announcers where Reynolds and Chone Figgins of the Angels are cross-promoted as a “ticket”.

Not surprisingly, the Dodgers are also cross-promoting with the Angels, promoting the “Vote SoCal” ticket of Matt Kemp and Figgins. Voters are automatically entered into a drawing for an autographed Kemp bobblehead doll. The Dodgers have also set up an “I Voted for Matt Kemp” Facebook group which claims to have 70,000 members.

Shane Victorino, who held the lead briefly on Wednesday and is the closest to Pablo Sandoval in the voting, is running a more low key campaign. He made a “campaign appearance” with Philly Mayor Michael Nutter and did some radio and TV spots. The Phillies have also printed t-shirts, and in a move that will win “worst pun of the first half of the season”, are plugging Victorino and Tigers 3B Brandon Inge, resulting in the slogan “Vote Bran Torino!” (a reference to the recent Clint Eastwood movie). Even if Victorino doesn’t make it, he still has an excellent chance of being named as an injury replacement for Carlos Beltran (guess who is the NL All-Star manager?)

Will it be the campaign experience of the Giants marketing team and relative tech savviness of Giants fans that sends Pablo to the All-Star Game?

Or will the much larger market of the LA area give Kemp the edge?

How about the political acumen and social media campaign in Washington DC for Guzman?

Will John McCain’s endorsement make a difference for Reynolds?

Or, will Shane Victorino live up to his name based on his recent hot streak?

We’ll find out at 1PM.

What happened ultimately? It was decided to keep him with the Giants, but skip him for a couple of starts and give him a chance to work out his issues. He threw some sessions on the side with Dave Righetti, made one appearance in relief, and then was reinserted into the rotation.

Who was this pitcher? Matt Cain.

In Cain’s case, the Giants showed patience and it paid off big time. Hopefully the same course of action can help Jonathan Sanchez.

A’s fans resent that despite that fact, nobody really cares, and the Giants are still the “alpha” team in the area. The Bay Bridge Series is typically the few days where all the A’s fans pound their chests and point out the fact above…and then once interleague play is over, everybody goes back to paying attention to the Giants.

It’s like being the very capable, but somewhat low-key guy at work, who stands up during a meeting and says something completely reasonable and correct, and then the entire room just nods and then goes back to listening to the guy who’s flashier and more personable.

A couple of observations:

Whiteside pretty much made Holm expendable, as they’re both essentially the same level of talent, except Whiteside has hit a little better in his time up in the majors than Holm did. However, Holm has probably shown enough to be a competent, if not capable, backup catcher in the major leagues. I’d be pleasantly surprised if nobody claimed him.

As for Burriss, he was essentially rushed to the major leagues. Folks forget that he jumped from Class A ball to the big leagues in 2007, so he really didn’t get much of a chance to really develop a game. It’s really shown these past few weeks. He’s already shown that he can play great defense- I think this stint in AAA will help him figure out his offensive philosophy, which needs to evolve. If I were his hitting coach, I’d recommend that he work on bunting for base hits, baserunning, and perhaps adjusting his swing to hit a few more ground balls that he could beat out. He should get another chance post-Renteria, if not sooner.

Downs was a 38th round draft pick out of Alabama in 2005. HIs minor league stats showed some power (20HRs last year splitting between San Jose and Fresno), and a little speed (24 steals, though caught a lot). He is of no known relation to former Giants pitcher Kelly Downs. Like how the Giants gave him Kelly’s old number though.

Most poignant moment was when Jose Uribe’s wife and daughter appeared with Juan Uribe, and Mrs. Uribe put on the number 23 jersey.

Rick Reuschel looks like he could still pitch. I think he actually still does, on the fantasy camp circuit.

Roger Craig still has the same walk he did when going out to the mound. He just needed those black vinyl sleeves underneath his jersey.

There was an eclectic but long list of the ‘89 Giants who appeared. From utility infielder Ed Jurak, who had exactly 42 at bats with the Giants that year, to Will Clark, Robby Thompson, and of course, ‘89 NL MVP Kevin Mitchell. Roger Craig and his coaches, heck, even the trainers were invited. Here’s the complete list:

Coaching Staff: Roger Craig, Wendell Kim, Norm Sherry, Bill Fahey

Staff: Greg Lynn, Mark Letond, Mike Murphy

Infielders: Will Clark, Robby Thompson, Ernest Riles, Ed Jurak, Greg Litton

Outfielders: Pat Sheridan, Kevin Mitchell, Donnell Nixon

Pitchers: Rick Reuschel, Don Robinson, Scott Garrelts, Kelly Downs, Atlee Hammaker, Bob Knepper, Mike Krukow, Dave Dravecky, Randy McCament, Ernie Camacho

Rating for the A’s-White Sox game on Wednesday: 0.82

Rating during the Giants rain delay on Wednesday: 0.79

Of course the Wednesday Giants game, had it been played, would have had the obvious historical implications. But you’d think folks would at least watch the A’s game first until the Giants game started. Are Giants fans really that indifferent about the A’s?

Original article from the Merc