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.

Travis Ishikawa needs to be in a platoon, but not the obvious lefty-righty platoon. Rather, he should only play at home. He hits well at home but on the road, he looks like a pitcher when he’s hitting. Mabye it’s the water, mabye it’s the hotel bed, mabye he needs to wear his home jersey under his road jersey. Somehow, he needs to drastically change his routine for road games if he wants to stay in the big leagues.

Speaking of Rich Aurilia, he needs to start hitting. Otherwise he might find himself “designated for assignment” after the next time the Giants bring up Jesus Guzman.  He’s shown some signs, but overall the Giants first base position is just a complete black hole right now.

Emmanuel Burris, on the other hand, is the anti-Travis Ishikawa. He hits on the road, and looks out of it at home.

I think Freddie Lewis is miscast hitting lower in the lineup. He’s not doing well right now because he’s being pressed to fulfill a role that frankly, his hitting style is not suited for. His best value to the Giants is that he can get on base and once on base, can steal. He should bat either leadoff or second.

Pablo Sandoval has often cited Bengie Molina as a mentor. But thank the baseball gods, one part of Bengie’s game the Kung Fu Panda has not followed is the lack of patience at the plate. Over the last month, Sandoval has become noticeably more selective at the plate, and his hitting has correspondingly improved as a result. Molina, on the other hand, has cooled off dramatically after a hot start. In this case, perhaps it’s Bengie who could take a page or two from Sandoval’s approach to hitting.

And finally, please, no more Eugenio Velez. He has been completely lost at the plate, his fielding can be most diplomatically described as adventurous, and even his only obvious asset, speed, is useless when he keeps getting picked off. He had a hot few weeks when he first got called up in September 2007, and he’s milked that for all it was worth.

I don’t really agree with the observation itself, but I actually like the Dodger comment about Pablo being “cocky”. First of all, anything that annoys the Dodgers is fine by me. Second, it’s been awhile since we’ve heard that about a Giants player.

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