Tag Archives: Gaby Sanchez

September 17, 2022

About Last Night

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Two things stand out for me about Friday night’s games. The first involves Gary Sanchez of the Twins. His inability to block pitches at the plate helped the Yankees decide to trade him. Last night, it bit the Twins, as the Guardians score the winning run from second base on a wild pitch. The video is here. Sanchez puts up a low target in the middle of the plate, so he should be expecting a ball in the dirt. The pitch is to Sanchez’s right, near the left handed batters feet. Sanchez kneels on his right leg, so he can’t move his body right; he has to try to backhand the ball with with his glove. The ball appears to hit the dirt, then I believe hits some part of Sanchez’s glove or arm, deflecting the ball to Sanchez’s left. Because the ball went so high in the air, Sanchez doesn’t know the path it took, and it takes him a while to find the ball, allowing Ernie Clement to score from second.

The pitch in the dirt can be an effective pitch, but the catcher needs to be able to keep the ball in front of him. The Guardians win the game 4-3.

The second thing is the continued invincibility of Justin Verlander. Returning from a right calf injury, Verlander simply posts five scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics in a 5-0 win. He did not allow a hit while walking one and striking out nine. (Dustin May of the Dodgers, who turned 25 just last week, also pitched five no-hit innings. I may need to come up with a category called short no-hitters.) Verlander could still wind up winning 20 games, and most likely will win the Cy Young award this season. Maybe he should adopt this as his motto:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-3cK3pU4ts
July 10, 2017

Sanchez Slams

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Gary Sanchez is a lot scarier than I thought. He hit 17 home runs, and they were monsters. At one point he hit the sculpture three times in a row. Most of his home runs were heading toward the back glass at stadium. Wow. Giancarlo Stanton has his work cut out for him.

Update: Stanton hits 15 in regulation, but it looked like the pitcher was throwing a bit too soon on some of those home runs. Stanton has 30 second bonus time to tie to win.

Update: Stanton hits one in bonus time, and Sanchez wins the round! My bracket is two for two so far!

Update: It was a very impressive round for Stanton. He hit a 496 ft home run. Very impressive shots, they went out fast and deep.

June 6, 2017

Games of the Day

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The top two teams in the AL East battle in New York as the Red Sox visit the Yankees. Drew Pomeranz takes on Masahiro Tanaka. Both won five games despite high ERAs. The real match-up might be the battle of youth, with Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, and Mookie Betts representing Boston, and Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez on the Yankees side. All five players do an excellent job of getting on base, but it would appear that Sanchez and Judge give the Yankees a slight edge in power. Both teams have done a great job developing and acquiring young talent, so 2017 may be the start of a whole new group of rivals that could be fighting each other for many years.

In interleague action, the second place Indians take on the first place Rockies in Colorado with Mike Clevinger facing Antonio Senzatela. Clevinger upped his strikeout rate a little, lowered his walk rate a little, and became very tough to hit in his sophomore season. Opponents hit just .188 against him, although nine of the 19 hits he allowed went for extra bases. Senzatela owns a 5-1 record at home this season with a 3.00 ERA. He gives up some power at Coors, but with just 10 walks in 39 innings, those hits don’t do too much damage.

The major league pitching career of Dinelson Lamet is off to a good start as he leads the Padres against the Diamondbacks and Robbie Ray. Lamet struck out 16 in two starts covering ten innings. He is also showing good control as he walked just three batters. Ray is blowing away batters, too, with 85 K in 69 innings. He does have trouble at home with opponents have six of seven home runs against Ray, helping lift his ERA to 6.75 in Phoenix, versus 0.64 on the road.

Finally, the Nationals continue their series with the Dodgers as Max Scherzer takes on Brandon McCarthy. Scherzer leads the NL in strikeouts with 100, and most of the top K pitchers in the majors are showing good control this year. McCarthy reeled off three good starts in a row, allowing three runs total for a 1.69 ERA.

Enjoy!

September 5, 2012

Gaby Gaby Hey

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Gaby Sanchez collected three hits driving in one as the Pirates downed the Astros 6-3. Sanchez is now hitting .288 since coming over from the Marlins, a big improvement over his numbers with Miami.

This was an important win for the Pirates with the Cardinals losing early this afternoon. They are now 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wild card slot. If the Dodgers lose this evening, the Pirates will tie them and just have the Cardinals ahead.

The Pirates are down to ten more wins for a winning season as well.

July 31, 2012

Pirates in the Mix

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If found the Pirates deals at the trade deadline interesting. This was the first year in a long time when the Pirates were trying to improve the team now, instead of selling off players to restock. They improved the starting rotation with Wandy Rodriguez, who is not a rental player. They can keep him under contract through 2014 if they so wish. Travis Snider gives them a player they can control for three years, just entering his prime. If they can get him to realize his potential, he’ll be a nice complement to Andrew McCutchen.

Gaby Sanchez is older, seasonal age 28, but still in his prime. If he can get his OBP back in the .340s, he can give the Pirates someone who might be able to get on base and a decent backup at first. Chad Qualls has a history of great control, and gives them a little more depth in the bullpen.

What I really like is each of these players has upside. In the case of Rodriguez, Snider and Sanchez, the Pirates have control of them beyond this year. The team managed to pull off trades that not only help this season, an unexpected year of contention, but down the road as well when the team in expected to improve. I’m impressed.

May 20, 2012

Marlins Lose Bonifacio

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The Marlins place Emilio Bonifacio on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained thumb. Bonifacio did a great job getting on base this season with a .351 BA, and while he showed little power, did a great job of getting himself into scoring position with 20 steals in 21 attempts. It shows how weak the Marlins were behind him that he scored just 19 runs in 39 games.

The Marlins also sent Gaby Sanchez to the minors after posting a .197/.244/.295 slash line.

May 6, 2012

Staying Off

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Does anyone else find it amazing that 62 players with at least 80 plate appearances this season own OBPs below .300? I’m not surprised Jeff Francoeur made the list, but there are some very good names making tons of outs. There are quite a few first basemen on the list; Ike Davis, Albert Pujols, Justin Smoak, Gaby Sanchez, Casey Kotchman, Mark Teixeira, Eric Hosmer, Adam Lind, James Loney. As position players whose primary responsibility is offense, they have no excuse.

Update: Maybe it’s not that unusual. There were about the same number of players last year.

May 8, 2011

The Florida Sanchezes

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Anibal Sanchez struck out 11 in seven innings of work as Florida shutout Washington 8-0. Sanchez allowed just two hits and Washington managed just four hits on the day. More importantly, Sanchez walked none. He same into the day with 17 walks in 34 2/3 innings, so seeing him under control is a good sign for the Marlins.

Gaby Sanchez continued his hot hitting with a four for four day, including two doubles and a home run. He didn’t show much power in his rookie year, but the big afternoon brings his slugging percentage above .500. He’s now a 3-4-5 hitter on the season with a .328/.414/.512 slash line.

May 2, 2011 September 21, 2010

Gaba Gaby Hey

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Gaby Sanchez hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Marlins a last at bat, 5-2 victory over the Mets. He would be having a good rookie season, if his seasonal age wasn’t 26. A 22-year old playing like this would have a lot of room to grow. Sanchez is close to his peak, however, so don’t expect much more from him as he gets a little more experience in the majors.

September 10, 2010

Burn Notice

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Edwin Rodriguez on why Gaby Sanchez decided to take his suspension during the Nationals series:

“I’d rather see him sitting down against Washington than against Philadelphia. His offense will be more needed against Philadelphia.”

He’s right, as the Marlinswin 3-1. The keystone combination of Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla combined for a five for eight night.

June 24, 2010

Bunting in the First

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After a leadoff double by the Marlins’ Chris Coghlan, manager Edwin Rodriguez has Gaby Sanchez bunt. Sanchez holds a .368 OBP and a .474 slugging percentage. Coghlan does score on a single by Hanley Ramirez, but for wasting an out so early, Rodriguez really deserves the interim title. The Marlins lead the Orioles 2-0 in the top of the second.

June 22, 2010

Good Night for Sanchezes

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Anibal Sanchez threw a quality start and Gaby Sanchez picked up a double and a single as the Marlins blew out the Orioles 10-4. Anibal wins his seventh game of the season and walked just one in his last two starts. Gaby extended his hit streak to six games, and he’s 11 for 28 over that stretch. Baltimore has lost 51 of their first 70 games.

May 11, 2010

Good Move for Gaby

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I really like what Fredi Gonzalez did with Gaby Sanchez. He wasn’t hitting for much power near the bottom of the lineup, but he was drawing walks and getting on base. So Gonzalez moved Gaby to number two in the order. He’s responded with a good OBP to help set the table for the heart of the order, and tonight he hit his third how run of the season, his second in 34 at bats in the number two slot. Most managers would not think of putting a first baseman that high in the order (unless he’s someone obvious like Nick Johnson). It’s working here, however, as Sanchez’s home run helped the Marlins to a 3-2 victory over the Cubs.

April 5, 2010