11/17/24
July 11, 2009
Giants' Sanchez Throws No-Hitter vs. Padres: In his first start since a two-week banishment to the bullpen, Jonathan Sanchez threw a no-hitter for the San Francisco Giants against the San Diego Padres Friday night and was one error from a perfect game. He struck out 11 and walked none. The Giants won 8-0. It was the first no-hitter by the Giants in 33 years. Sanchez, 26, raises his record to 4-8. He had never pitched a complete game or a shutout before.
I heard this morning it was also the first time his father had been in attendance to see him start a game in the majors.
Now, who's the idiot who made the error?
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:35 AM on July 11, 2009
Now, who's the idiot who made the error?
Juan Uribe (who, incidentally, seems to have been shifted from 2B to 3B as a defensive replacement for Kung Fu Panda, as it certainly was not the case of a double switch).
posted by holden at 12:35 PM on July 11, 2009
What a day for his Dad. Can you imagine that?
Of course, he realizes now that he can't miss another game.
I think Uribe was trumped by Aaron Rowand, though. Now that's how you save a no-hitter.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:42 PM on July 11, 2009
I fell asleep with the TV on sleep timer and ESPN on. My black cat (who seems to think I'm sleeping in her bed) woke me up just in time to catch the last half inning. They say that animals have a way of sensing things. Rowand's catch was amazing; you need at least one of those to save a no-no. I thought the plate blue's strike zone got a little large at the end, but take nothing away from Sanchez for a really nice job.
posted by Howard_T at 03:39 PM on July 11, 2009
I just watched the video, and at first I felt bad for Uribe. But looking at it a couple more times, he played that in the worst possible fashion -- a hard short hop right in between his legs without bending down.
Block the ball with your chest if you have to or play it Graig Nettles-style off to the side, but man, that was awful.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:53 PM on July 11, 2009
Yeah, Uribe better be feeling pretty shitty today. That was a routine play, and while I'm sure Sanchez is absolutely thrilled to get a no-hitter and gain some small measure of immortality, pitching a perfect game is literally more than an order of magnitude more impressive- there've been about 262 no-hitters, so about 2-3 a year, while there have been only 15 perfect games post-1900.
And to lose the perfect game so late, not on a walk or a tough play ruled an error but on something A-ball players should make in his sleep... ugh. Nice job, Uribe.
posted by hincandenza at 04:28 PM on July 11, 2009
I'm in San Francisco on business. I got finished early last night and wandered down to the ball park, still undecided as to whether or not I'd go in. I got there just before the game started and as I wandered around the ground trying to make up my mind I discovered that they let you wander in at ground level just where you can look at the batter from the boundary through the gap between first and second. There's a chain-link fence in the way, and for the first couple of innings I was looking into the sun, but it's a nice idea. It's a pretty small area into which they only allow 24 people at a time, and then they clear you out after the 3rd and 6th innings (and you can't come back).
Presuming that California in July would be warm, I'd left the hotel without a jacket. After two innings, it was starting to get cold in the wind, plus, to my uneducated eye, the players were having trouble warming up too. I was faced with a choice: buy a ticket and a sweater, or walk back to the hotel and watch the rest of the game as God intended - on television. I plumped for the latter. The room service menu looked good and I really don't suit orange clothing.
Perhaps needless to say (I've a feeling that was a schoolboy error, roughly on a par with Uribe's), the game wasn't on the TV in my hotel room (do they not show the games in the city where they are being played to protect attendance levels?). The jet lag was kicking in and I couldn't face going out in search of a bar in which to watch the remainder of the game.
Just before I fell asleep, I was flicking through the channels and ESPN started screaming at me that Sanchez had thrown a no-hitter. As I said, I'm uneducated in the ways of baseball, but even I know enough to know that that would have been a hell of a thing to have seen in the flesh.
Damn this Californian climate.
I believe they're playing again tonight, but if it's only happened 262 times since 1900, I'm guessing lightning won't be striking twice.
posted by JJ at 05:52 PM on July 11, 2009
I'm sure it is amazing in the flesh- the closest I've come was watching Mike Mussina take a perfect game through 26 batters, a pinch-hitting Carl Everett who broke it up with a clean single with two outs in the 9th (Sox vs Yankees at Fenway). It was the ESPN game of the night on a Sunday I believe, and I happened to be watching it in a public place, a sports bar & grill with big screen TVs. The few people who were paying attention were fixated (Seattle's not a huge sports town), because... well, it was a hell of a game to watch. The tension grows immeasurably with every inning, every out, every pitch.
But man, to have seen something like that live, surrounded by hometown fans? The atmosphere must have been incredible- I guess the analogy for a guy like you would be standing right at the ropes watching some history golf performance, say Tiger beating the field by 12, or some multiple-hole sudden death in a Major. Wow, that must have been amazing to the people there. It's a damn shame you didn't choose to go in, JJ. You'd be able to tell that story to your grandkids.
posted by hincandenza at 11:25 PM on July 11, 2009
The rest of the team had to keep Uribe from holding his head under water in the jacuzzi right after the game, and when they finally got him out of it, the rest of the team had to keep Sanchez from shoving him right back in.
If Uribe is smart, he's out shopping for a Ferrari with Sanchez' name on it.
The best part for me was watching Sanchez with his dad. Now that is some quality fatherson time.
posted by irunfromclones at 04:29 PM on July 13, 2009
Who?
I saw the last inning and his slider was angry. Great play by Rowand at the wall, when the ball was hit I was sure it was gone.