ST. LOUIS _ There are two things everyone loves to watch in a baseball game _ position players pitching in blowouts and heavy pitchers in general.
The Giants treated their fans to a combo platter last week, using portly third baseman Pablo Sandoval, aka "Kung Fu Panda," in relief during a blowout loss to the Dodgers.
Sandoval threw five curveballs in a 1-2-3 inning and his "fastball" was clocked as high as 88 mph.
When someone asked where he learned to throw a curve, Sandoval replied: "You don't learn that. You're born with it."
Few organizations are as rigid as the Giants when it comes to using pitchers exclusively to pitch. The last position player to pitch for them was Greg Litton in 1991. Dave Kingman pitched in two games in 1973 and Matty Alou did it once in 1965.
But manager Bruce Bochy decided the time was right, and picked the right man.
"He's always having fun on the mound," Bochy said. "I knew he had a pretty good delivery. I didn't know it was quite this clean and he had a breaking ball like that. It was legit. I think without question, he wanted to do it. He was the perfect guy for today."
Thanks to strength training and better diets, fat pitchers are an endangered species. The days of fat guys on the mound like Rick Reuschel, Gaylord Perry, Mickey Lolich and David Wells are long gone. Only a few obese pitchers remain, including C.C. Sabathia and Bartolo Colon.
Watching the "Panda" was refreshing, and brought to mind the famous quote from lovable closer Rod Beck, who never was bothered by criticism over his weight.
"I've never heard of anyone going on the disabled list because of pulled fat," Beck said.
