New York Nine

Okay, to call Sanchez a middling reliever is not really fair, but if you were to look at what the young talented Jonathan Sanchez has accomplished thus far this year, Sanchez would hardly be among the top three guys you'd think of when you hear "San Francisco Giants Pitcher Throws No-No." Indeed, as a team with immensely talented pitching spearheaded by arguably the best pitcher in the world, Tim Lincecum, the Giants have been foridible to say the least. With Lincecum and Matt Cain off to the All-Star Game, a future first ball hall of famer in Randy Johnson, a pitcher whos being paid over 100 million as their fourth best starter at best (Zito kind of sucks, but you could do worse as a four starter) the Giants are the enby of the rest of the league for their prodigious pitching. Well it seems that pitching has gotten even more impressive as Jonathan Sanchez, whom wasn't even in the rotation due to ineffetiveness, came in against the Padres and three the gem of his life, nine innings, eleven strikeouts, and no hits. Add all of these elements together and despite the fact they have practically have no offense, the Giants seem suddenly more dangerous than ever, posied atop the wild card race and intent on staying there.


Thanks to the good graces of MLB Network (Great Network, or The Greatest Network?) I was able to watch a great deal of this game and what a performance it was indeed. As mentioned above, Sanchez wasn't even supposed to be starting that night or any night, but thanks to a bad back for Barry Zito, and its not hard to see why. Through 69 innings Sanchez had an ERA over five walking a pretty atrocious 45 over that span and gettting hit around even worse than Barry Zito. Relegated to the pen Sanchez showed flashes of what he finally got to together that fateful friday night and what a flash it was. Featuring a high 90s heater and a wicked slider, Sanchez, only 25 has been around and hasn't gotten it together, but at least for one night he was unbelievable. Pumping fastballs and nasty breaking stuff by the hapless Padres, it seemed clear early on these guys didn't stand a chance. Of course this is the padres we're talking about so they're not exactly murders row, but its hard to say that anyone would have a chance against him that night.


it will be interesting to see where Sanchez's career goes from here. A guy with all the talent in the world who could be as great as he wants to be can go many directions from here. Indeed, while many great pitchers have no-hitters to their resume, there are many many other pitchers who have thrown no-hitters who went on to do nothing, and that game being a blip on the radar on an otherwise unimpressive career. If you dont believe me, go to si.com and see the gallery of pitchers who threw no hitters for their teams, I'm a baseball nut and I didnt know a whole lot of them. Hopefully for the Giants and Sanchez that was only a signal of things to come because the guy is as talented as any pitcher out there, you get him pitching at a level similar to that of Cain and Lincecum, watch out, because theres a triumvirate to rival maddox, glavine and smoltz, at least talent-wise. Whether that dream will come to fruition is something only time will tell, but at least for this night the Giants showed just how deep they are in their staff, and are a team to be recokened with come October.