By Dalton Del Don
Let’s be clear. Jonathan Sanchez didn’t throw a perfect game Friday. He was better than that, getting 28 outs while walking none, allowing zero hits and striking out 11. The Padres entered the night having scored the fewest runs and with the worst batting average (.234) in baseball, and that was before they traded Scott Hairston, who had the second best OPS on the team. Still, Sanchez was downright filthy Friday, and it was a special performance.
First off, Sanchez wouldn’t have even been starting if not for a Randy Johnson injury (and Eli Whiteside wouldn’t have been catching if not for Bengie Molina’s wife going into labor). Sanchez took his demotion to the bullpen in stride, looking dominant in two relief appearances (4:0 K:BB ratio over three innings), but this was certainly unexpected. While this hardly means future command problems won’t be in store, there was a tangible difference with his mechanics Friday, and this would hardly be the first time a trip to the pen resulted in a starter finally “getting it.”
Aaron Rowand’s catch in center field with one out in the ninth was fantastic, but that was the only non-routine defensive play of the night, and Juan Uribe’s error in the eighth inning was gut wrenching. I really hope he can’t sleep tonight, because he ruined history. And it should be noted Sanchez often struggles out of the stretch, and his first pitch after the error was a wild pitch, so it’s not like he proved he’s over his problems with runners on. Maybe his new strategy will just have to be not letting any baserunners reach.
The dude entered with a 5.94 BB/9 rate – easily the worst in baseball. He had never pitched into the ninth inning of any game professionally, and I loathe sentimental type stories, but Friday also happened to mark the first game his dad was ever at a big league game he started. And this article written today looks hilarious now: “The Giants apparently would be willing to move left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez, currently a reliever. He alone could not complete a deal for Freddy Sanchez, but the Giants’ system has plenty of pitching prospects.” Ha!! Will it take Tim Alderson or Madison Bumgarner as a throw in to get him? Freddy is a nice player, but the Pirates are actively trying to unload his contract, and Jonathan is a lefty starter with a fastball reaching 95 mph and an absolutely disgusting slider who effectively just tossed the 18th perfect game in major league baseball history.
On a side note, I have Jonathan Sanchez, Manny Parra and Homer Bailey on my NL LABR team. Talk about volatile.
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