Sandoval, Victorino Make Their Cases for All-Star Team With Authority

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pablo Sandoval and Shane Victorino are taking this campaigning thing seriously.

A day after Sandoval and Victorino found themselves among five players competing for fan votes to sneak into the final spot on the NL All-Star team, Sandoval hit a grand slam and Victorino had four hits, four RBI and four runs in the Phillies' dismantling of the Reds.

"I don't think you could ask for a better game than that," Giants starter Matt Cain said of Sandoval, who drove in four of the runs in a 5-4 victory on Monday night. "I think everybody in the United States ought to know who is he is now."

Just in case you've missed out on the guy they call "Kung Fu Panda" in San Francisco, Sandoval is a bubbly, 22-year-old who swings at everything, usually managing to hit it hard. He plays third and first, but he came up as a catcher. He's a switch-hitter, but he also can throw with both hands. He's a natural left-handed thrower who taught himself to throw right-handed so he could be a shortstop, like fellow Venezuelan Omar Vizquel.

The Giants have pulled out all the stops in campaigning for him, handing out "Vote For Pablo" stickers at the ballpark. Even his teammates wore the stickers during batting practice. None of that will go as far to getting him to St. Louis as his .332 batting average, 13 homers or 48 RBI.

"He should be there," Giants closer Brian Wilson said. "He should be starting, unfortunately I couldn't vote a million times. Hopefully the world will see what he's doing."

Sandoval had taken the early lead in voting, even before his grand slam on Monday. The other three candidates for the final spot on the NL All-Star team are the Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds, the Dodgers' Matt Kemp and the Nationals' Cristian Guzman.