Here’s an injury up date from Chris Haft / MLB.com

08/26/09 1:09 AM ET

“I want to be in there but it’s their decision,” Sandoval said. …”I only want to miss two games, not the rest of the season.”

Sandoval, who fouled a ball off his calf last week in Cincinnati,
aggravated the injury as he ran out a fly ball Monday at Colorado. But
he didn’t sound overly concerned as he spoke before Tuesday’s series
opener. Asked if he could pinch-hit, Sandoval grinned and replied, “Oh,
sure.” He did so in the seventh inning, earning an intentional walk and
being lifted for a pinch-runner.

From a couple of days ago:

Sun Aug 23, 6:21 PM ET

San
Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, front, falls after
running into the bar over the photographers’ pit while pursuing a foul
ball against the Colorado Rockies in the eighth inning of the Rockies’
4-2 victory in a baseball game in Denver on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009.
Giants infielder Juan Uribe, back, reaches up to keep Sandoval from
falling down into the pit. Sandoval did not catch the ball.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

We’re hoping for good news about Pablo’s calf.

Here’s what Baggs said in the Merc:

Pablo Sandoval’s 11-game trip ended a bit early. He was replaced in
the middle of the third inning Monday night because of a tight right
calf.

Sandoval hit .350 on the trip, but his defense slipped
noticeably. He had made just seven errors as a third baseman before
committing four in a seven-game span, including a costly throw to
second base in New York. Freddy Sanchez aggravated his left shoulder as
he lunged to catch it.

Sandoval’s defensive play has been one of
the Giants’ most pleasant surprises, but bench coach Ron Wotus expected
a stretch like this.

“He’s played extremely well there and it can
be difficult to keep that up,” Wotus said. “The dog days of August
leave you a little fatigued. That’s when your concentration and focus
can waver.”

Sandoval’s season is longer than most. He played
almost every day in spring training while getting a crash course at
third base. He played in the Venezuelan winter league, too.

Sandoval’s
conditioning is a factor, especially in humid cities like New York and
Cincinnati. It’s a major reason the Giants won’t consider putting him
behind the plate next season to serve as a stopgap until top prospect
Buster Posey is ready.

Wotus has dialed back Sandoval’s ground
balls to preserve him. But the Giants want Sandoval to drop 20 pounds
and so he does a half-hour of cardio exercise after most games. At least the Giants are heading back to the cool, maritime breezes at AT&T Park.

Baggs told us last night:

Pablo Sandoval doesn’t know if he can play tomorrow. He was taken out
in the third inning with a strained right calf. He said he hurt it when
a pitch hit him in Cincinnati, but he wasn’t hit by a pitch in that
series. I can’t remember, but maybe he fouled a ball of his leg.
Anyway, he’ll be reevaluated and there should be a clearer picture
tomorrow.

@keithlaw Is it bad that when I read “Pablo Sandoval injures calf” I pictured him actually eating a small cow?

Here’s a video interview with the Giants’ Panda after losing 14-11 in Colorado. Understandably low-key.

http://player.theplatform.com/ps/player/pds/BkJdv72S2-&pid=Q6bA2eLgmAa96R3Dem0aU4d7HsdIpDhZ

Quite a game yesterday, featuring a nifty duck-and-split from Kung Fu Panda, as the G-men took the series finale from LA. Nice article from MLB’s Andrew Pentis:

Sandoval … was brushed back by a first-pitch fastball
from McDonald that appeared to graze Sandoval’s left elbow, prompting
the Giants third baseman to stare out at the mound and raise his arms.
Both teams’ benches cleared..

McDonald said, “He swung at the pitch. How bad could it have been?”

Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp added, “If he doesn’t want to be pitched inside, tell him not to hit .330.”

Sandoval said the ball definitely hit just below his elbow, and he
tried to show the mark its impact left to the umpires, though they had
already ruled it had nicked the knob of his bat. The plate appearance
ended in a walk.

“I was surprised,” Sandoval said of the umpires’ decision. “[But] that’s what they saw.”

… “I didn’t want to [behave like] that,” Sandoval said, adding he let
himself get caught up in the “temper” of the game. “[I realized I] had
to calm down.”

… Sandoval’s interesting sequence didn’t end there: Two batters later,
Nate Schierholtz grounded into a potential inning-ending double play,
but Sandoval stopped in between first and second base, evaded the tag
of Juan Castro while doing the splits and found second base safely.

Castro appeared to swipe at Sandoval with his glove, while the ball was in his right hand.

All that, and Sandoval only traveled 180 feet.

“I’ve never been in a game like that,” Sandoval said, smiling. “It was my first time.”

From Andrew Baggarly

Even Pablo Sandoval, whose .371
average at AT&T Park
is the highest among all NL players in home games, showed rare frustration.
Sandoval, who is 3-for-16 over his past four games, spiked his bat when he
popped up in the fourth inning.

“I got mad because I missed a
pitch,” said Sandoval, who turned 23 on Tuesday. “We’re trying, but
we have to be more patient at the plate. We have to hustle for everything. We
can’t do anything wrong, because when you play these teams, you have to be
perfect.”

Today is Kung Fu Panda, Pablo Sandoval’s birthday! He was born on August 11, 1986, in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo, Venezuela. I hope he celebrates tonight vs the Dodgers …

Great stuff from SI:
… he pounds the on-deck circle four times with the knob of his bat, taps
it four times against his toes, four times against his shins, once
against his helmet, then draws a cross in the dirt to the side of home
plate. He digs into the batter’s box, but only for a moment before
suddenly rushing out in front of it as if he might charge the mound.
Face-to-face with the opposing pitcher, he smacks the barrel twice
against each cleat, gives the bat a full-length rubdown, points it
skyward and bangs it once more against his helmet. Only then, after a
few more thwacks upside his head, is he ready to go to work.

… Sandoval has a problem: “I like every pitch,” he says happily, “no
matter where it is.” … He dreams of
reaching across the plate and hitting an intentional ball. “If it’s
close, I’ll do it,” he vows. “I did it in Little League once, and I got
a double.”

… He taps his barrel four times: once for his grandmother, Josefa; once
for his grandfather, Luis; and once for his baby sister, Diana, who
died in a car accident when she was six months old. (The fourth tap, he
says, is to honor God.)

From Baggs:

Kung Fu Panda’s been in the bigs for a year.

“Not a year,” Sandoval corrected. “Eleven more days from today.
…“It’s like yesterday,” Sandoval
said. “Everything in baseball goes so quick, so fast. The most
important thing is the opportunity they give me every day. I want to
show them every day what I’ve got.”

… Sandoval has played every inning since the All-Star break; he has started 25 consecutive games… “I
don’t get tired,” Sandoval said. “I’m a competition guy. I like the
pressure. I want to show everybody we can do this. We can make the
playoffs and the World Series.”

I know Pujols has a lock on the NL MVP this year, but the biggest change to any team in the last 12 month is the new spirit of this Giants club. Signing all the “gamers” you like doesn’t come close to the fun this guy brings. If the G-men make the playoffs, it’ll be because of what Sandoval has done on and off the field. And even if they don’t get to the post-season this go-round, it’s easy to feel good about next year. How do you get more valuable than that?

From the NYTimes:

Pablo Sandoval zoomed Thursday, hijacking his injured teammate Emmanuel
Burriss’s bright blue electric scooter and racing around the expansive
room. A dervish with a devilish grin, Sandoval weaved around pillars,
laundry carts and some objects that were less inanimate (teammates)
than others (reporters)… the pudgy, free-swinging third baseman whom Zito labeled Kung Fu Panda
after the charming, clumsy animated character. Sandoval proudly showed
off a modest collection of small panda signs that have begun to pop up
in the crowd at AT&T Park.

Sandoval did nothing to diminish his popularity on Thursday, belting his first home run into McCovey Cove.
He drove in four runs, which served as a reminder to Manuel, who picked
one of his own players, Jayson Werth, for the All-Star team over
Sandoval as an injury replacement.