With all the great pitchers we got, no one would have expected that Jonathan Sanchez would be the one to finally end so many years of futility for the Giants franchise. Both Cain and Lincecum would have been more obvious choices, plus Lincecum was perfect for 6 innings himself yesterday. We have had many close calls before, Atlee Hammacker, Scott Garrelts, who was just a couple of outs away against the Reds, if I recall correctly. Instead, it was Sanchez.
I've been fortunate enough to listen to each of the no-hitters that a Giants pitcher has thrown since I've become a fan, first Ed Halicki, then John "The Count" Montefusco, and now Jonathan Sanchez. I expect to experience another one in the next decade with Lincecum, Cain, then Bumgarner, in the rotation, and who knows, maybe Sanchez too now. I guess he'll be getting another start, eh?
Jonathan Sanchez went 9 innings, no hits, more amazing, no walks, and 11 strikeouts, with an error preventing a perfect game in the 8th, but I think that was ultimately a blessing because if Uribe didn't make the clear error, that could have been scored a hit because it was a tough grounder. He had 110 pitches, 77 of them for strikes. He was dealing.
As noted in the post-game interview on KNBR, the amazing thing is that his father had never seen him pitch in the majors before, and flew out to attend this game to support his son, because they knew of his struggles. A great belated Father's Day present for his dad, "Freddy"! Maybe his father should attend more games! How great is that!
Sanchez has not even had a complete game yet in the majors and this is his first. However, this is not his first experience with a no-hitter: he had 4 of them in college. Now he has one in the majors and no one can take that away from him.
Why I've Been Saying We Should Not Trade Sanchez
This is now exhibit A why I've been advocating that the Giants not trade Sanchez unless we get a lot back for him. This is why I've preferred that the Giants not trade Sanchez away, that we make do with who we have in our system for offense. As I've been saying for a while now, BP noted that it is a pitching staff that gets a lot of strikeouts that is a key contributor to teams that go deep into the playoffs. Sanchez, if he can consistently pitch like this, would give us three starters with Cain and Lincecum, four if Johnson can return to health.
This is also part of my theory about how a dominant rotation can change a short series in your favor. I have noted how the tandem of Johnson and Schilling did it for the D-backs in their World Series, the tandem of Koufax and Drysdale in the 60's. But instead of two, the more the merrier it is for us.
As I've been documenting with PQS, both Cain and Lincecum have been among the best in DOM%, but Sanchez was in that stratospheric level last year as well, before he tired. If he can harness that for the rest of the season, we would be sitting pretty in the playoffs, should we make it.
To be clear, this does not mean that Sanchez will ever meet his awesome potential. But I think this shows what we could have if we would just be patient with him. I would rather roll the dice with this rotation than risk getting an offensive player for him (assuming we are not talking about an elite hitter in exchange and not simply an upgrade over what we got now).
This has got to wear on the 'Dres too, they might have been mentally into the All-Star break already, but now being no-hit and nearly no-hit twice, it should shove them directly there and give us a great chance for a sweep, particularly with Cain tomorrow, then Zito the next day, after coming within 2 outs of a complete game shutout in his last start.
Unfortunately, the D-gers scored 6 runs in the 12th inning, so they won again and we did not gain on them. However, the silver lining is that we added another game to our lead over the Brewers, who lost to the D-gers.
But the D-gers amazing feat can't take anything away from this great win! Congrats to Jonathan Sanchez once again!!!
Go Giants!!!
According to Baggarly in the Merc, it is only the 5th no-hitter in SF history, not 7th as I thought KNBR reported.
ReplyDeleteForgot to note something else. How ironic is it that Sanchez's idol growing up was Randy Johnson, who has been riding on him all season that he has as much stuff as anyone on the staff, but that he needed to be consistent every season, every game, every pitch, and Sanchez pitches a no-hitter pitching in place of his idol, who injured himself.
Johnson is accomplishing what we had hoped acquiring Matt Morris would do, teaching our young guys.
I hope Cain doesn't miss a start. It's bad enough we lost the unit. We've been lucky with Sadowski so far. Maybe not so lucky with the next guy they bring up.
ReplyDeleteChances are Cain will miss his first All-Star appearance, just like Lincecum last year.
Good post. I appreciate your argument about the damage that dom pitching can do in the post season, with its emphasis on the short series, which is why the Giants might be more dangerous than many folks assume.
ReplyDeleteI think Sabes deserves some credit for building this team around pitching, a counter-intuitive choice after the Bonds era. It has, however, been a great disappointment to see that we haven't been as creative on the offensive side of the equation. Think Koufax-Drysdale Dodgers and the way they perfected moving runners to the plate.
Is there any chance we'll get a new offensive philosophy to go with our truly extra-ordinary pitching?