Not So Dirty Sanchez

The second Sanchez struck out Everth Cabrera to seal his no hitter last night, I called my buddy Greg Lee, the second biggest Giants fan I know (after my dad.)

I assumed he was somehow following the game. He wasn’t.

I said “How about Jonathan Sanchez?”

He said “Did he win?”

I said “He threw a no hitter.”

There was a pause.

Then Greg said “Shut… up.”

That pause said it all and illustrates the repercussions of Jonathan Sanchez’s no hitter.

As I wrote last night, Sanchez was the least likely Giants starter to do this.

But imagine this scenario Giants fans… what if this gives Sanchez confidence?

Derek Lowe threw a no no in 2002 and wiped away a horrific 2001 to have a Cy Young worthy season. And NOBODY’s confidence was lower than Lowe’s!

People have never doubted Sanchez’s stuff, it was always his head that seemed screwed up.

What if his head is now screwed on tight?

Can you imagine a pitcher with his stuff and thinking right in the #4 spot in a rotation?

Lincecum is probably winning the Cy Young again.
Cain is a legit All Star.
Zito has been up and down but pitching better recently.
Sadowski has pitched well since being recalled.

And then Sanchez (with Randy Johnson lurking on the DL.)

They already have a 2 game lead for the Wild Card and with that starting staff they are not going on any prolonged losing streak.

Now… Giants fans… allow yourself to imagine that rotation in a short playoff series.

If pitching wins series, who could beat San Francisco in a best of 5 series that has Tim Lincecum pitching twice?

And then has Matt Cain lined up with the other team’s #2 starter and either Sanchez, Zito, Johnson or Sadowski against another team’s #3 or #4 starter.

Will you allow yourself to imagine them not just being happy with the post season but actually having the arms to pitch into October?

I know Giants are tormented and underratedly so.

But let yourself imagine a long October in China Basin… and who knows? Maybe last night was the turning point.

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Unhittable Arroyo

Tonight was a great night for pitching.

Obviously you had Sanchez’s no hitter…
Jeff Niemann threw a complete game shutout for the Rays
Danny Haren threw a complete game shutout for Arizona.

Plus 8 shutout innings from Jon Lester in the Red Sox win (and 7 2/3 terrific innings from Bannister in the same game.)

Edwin Jackson threw a terrific game for Detroit.
Derek Lowe was solid for the Braves.
Brett Cecil was solid for Toronto.

And there was a fourth complete game shutout… and I am almost reluctant to bring it up.

I love Bronson Arroyo. He was a great 2004 Red Sox. He pitched well and stuck his hand out for A-Rod to slap it in the playoffs.

And he signed for less to stay with the Red Sox and the Sox repaid that loyalty by sending him to Cincy.

He stinks now. He may get some wins but his ERA would be a good credit score.

And he threw a complete game shutout tonight.
4 hits and no walks.

His ERA is 5.38 AFTER the shutout.

So why would I be reluctant to bring it up?

It was against the Mets.

Their lineups look like a split squad spring training line up.

The season is more than half over and they could be ten games under .500 before August 1.

How bad is their line up?

Bronson Arroyo throwing a complete game shutout against them is a pretty good barometer.article_url = location.href;article_title = document.title;var iap=new Image(1,1);iap.src=’http://www.rootzoo.com/news_pulse/auto_post/31537/be85873d3eb0bdd800228eb38e26a1ce?title=’+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+’&link=’+encodeURIComponent(location.href);

A suggestion to the Giants…

Bring Jonathan Sanchez’s dad to every game. 

Seriously… 100% the games he’s seen his son start in the bigs, he’s thrown a no hitter.

Now of all the pitchers on the Giants rotation, he’s the last you’d pick throw a no no.

Lincecum, Johnson and Zito all have Cy Youngs on their mantle and Cain is an All Star… and Sanchez can write “trade bait with potential” on his tax return.

I would have expected a no hitter from Jonathan Winters before Jonathan Sanchez.

His dad shows up… and suddenly he becomes another ace.

Seriously, put him on the payroll and have him show up to the rest of Sanchez’s starts.

Right now the percentages look pretty impressive. And the magic number for a Giants playoff spot is 75. (Zito’s number.)

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