The National League All-Star roster was announced Sunday, and local heroes Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain made the cut as expected.
But the Giants may have an All-Star surprise in store for them -- as of this writing, Giants' third baseman Pablo Sandoval is in the lead for the final spot on the NL All-Star team.
The spot is up for grabs via a promotion called All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote where fans get to vote the final player onto each league's All-Star team roster. Not so shockingly, fans participating in this vote are encouraged to do so using some Sprint mobile device, where standard text messaging rates will apply. Voting can also be done online for free.
Obnoxious sponsorship aside, this adds some intrigue to the end of the first half of the Giants' season. Sandoval has become the Giants' best hitter, and the "Vote Bengie" background graphic on the Giants' web site has been switched to a "Vote Pablo" background graphic.
Sandoval's game-winning grand slam Monday night surely didn't hurt his cause.
Sandoval barely leads Shane Voctorino of the Phillies for the Final Vote spot. Thinking it might help, the Giants played yesterday's game with "Vote Pablo" stickers affixed to various parts of their bodies.
USA Today asked Sandoval if he planned on voting for himself, and he straight up told them, "Sure. Why not?"
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If you second that emotion, the voting continues until 1p.m. Pacific time Thursday afternoon.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who is also trying to vote himself onto the National League All-Star team.
