At the Giants home opener last week, 49ers legend Jerry Rice threw out the first pitch to Steve Young.  (I always liked Steve Young better than Joe Montana.)  Rice got the ball out for the plate, then when deep to get the toss back from Young.

Check out these two videos of the festivities:

***

I had a pretty surreal experience yesterday afternoon taking in the last game of the Pirates-Giants series at AT&T Park.

Between innings these giant-headed mascot things — kind of like Milwaukee’s sausages or Washington’s racing Presidents, except with the heads of the Giants CSN-Bay Area broadcasters — come out.  The PA announcer says they are going to roshambo.

I immediately think of South Park and anticipate that this will be the greatest between-innings promotion in the history of ever.

Giant-headed broadcaster mascot things kicking each other in the balls until one of them falls — BRILLIANT!

Instead they played rock, paper, scissors.  Apparently rock, paper, scissors in French may sound something like Rochambeau or Roshambo.

That’s some roshambullshit if you ask me.  I ain’t seen no French people in San Francisco.

Then Aubrey Huff led off the inning with an inside-the-park home run, which took away a smidgeon of my disappointment.  But just a smidgeon.

The one other weird bit of San Francisco dialect I’ve picked up is their use of the word beanie.  I kept hearing about Tim Lincecum always wearing a beanie, and I’m thinking of that little yarmulke-looking thing with a propeller on top you put on babies.  But they mean just a knit hat.  (Like this one.)

Please, someone, find me video of mascots kicking each other in the balls.

From the always insightful and entertaining Tirico Suave (via SFist), television photography of the promo for the Giants wearable blanket promo night — presented by Fanta — and the fruits of the labor of the Tim Lincecum Snuggie photo shoot that 7IS spread all over the interwebs.

My friends at 12 Angry Mascots have put together a pretty hilarious video with the help of Fernando Perez of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Perez, who scored the winning run of Game 2 of the 2008 ALCS, speaks candidly about what it’s like to be a player making minimum wage.

To learn more about 12 Angry Mascots and Fernando Perez, check out these goodies from the Bugs&Cranks archive:

1. Video: Happy Presidents’ Day, A-Rod!
2. VIDEO: Fernando Perez Interview
3. Al Roker vs. Brian Knobbs
4. Fernando Perez Is Awesome
5. Fernando Perez’s Separated At Birth: Tim Lincecum
6. Fernando Perez has a mohawk

This is a pretty amazing minute of video from CSN Bay Area.  Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is terribly eager to model a San Francisco Giants Snuggie, which the team will be giving away this season.

Little Timmy doesn’t appear to realize that he doesn’t need to remove his pants before donning the Snuggie and gets as far as unbuckling his belt before he’s stopped from dropping trow.  Enjoy:

We read darn near the entire internets so you don’t have to, presenting you with some of the best baseball-related material darn near every weekday in Peanuts & CrackerLINKS….

• Jerk’s bold prediction: 2010 NL Champions will be the Arizona Diamondbacks? [major LEAGUE jerk]
• Season Preview Haikus are back, starting with the damn Yankees. [babes LOVE baseball]
• Every team’s complete salary arbitration stats since 1974. [biz OF baseball]
• Jose Canseco has his own YouTube Channel: CansecoTV. [sharapova's THIGH]
• Jim Leyland might have to fight the law — Michigan’s new anti-smoking law. [sports UNTAPPED]
• Little Tim Lincecum is worth every little penny. [josh Q public]
• Could the NFL Pro Bowl ever be cooler than the All-Star Game? [nesw SPORTS]

Got a post you think is worthy of link dumpage? Please send links @ NESWblogs-at-gmail.com. Or just follow Chalk on twitter and send him a DM.

We read darn near the entire internets so you don’t have to, presenting you with some of the best baseball-related material darn near every weekday in Peanuts & CrackerLINKS….

• Albert Pujols, Mark McGwire and Tony LaRussa don’t know what a mistake is. [zoner sports]
• Giants lowballin’ Little Timmy Lincecum. [sharapova's THIGH]
• Hef takes issue with Tom Verducci’s latest column ranking how much bang MLB teams get for their bucks. [major LEAGUE jerk]
• The McGwire confession is not enough, and LaRussa and Bud Selig sound delusional. [biz OF baseball]
• VIDEO: the early days of the Expos. [the SCORE]
• Nobody wants The Shaved Emasculated Shell Of Johnny Damon, so TSESOJD is talking retirement. [sports UNTAPPED]

Got a post you think is worthy of link dumpage? Please send links @ NESWblogs-at-gmail.com. Or just follow Chalk on twitter and send him a DM.

Word on the street is that Tim Lincecum and the Giants are 5 million dollars apart with their arbitration proposals. Sure, compared to other players his age, the extra 5 mil might be fair, but it might adversely affect the ability to pay players for the Giants. Besides, what does a 25 year old need that much money for?