FUBAR

2011.12.31

findtheswagger:

thetenssf:

Most Giants fans, well, not most, but those who understand stats like WHIP, WAR, ZIBBAZABBA, etc., have a pretty low opinion of Jonathan Sanchez. Me, I don’t care. I’m still a little kid. I spent a summer living in Los Angeles in 2009 and couldn’t watch any Giants games. It was pretty much killing me. I had the radio subscription on the MLB website, but was only able to listen to a couple of games. The first week of July that year, I got an email saying I would get a free preview of the online TV subscription. The first game I watched was on July 10, 2009. I was waiting for the girl I was living with to get ready for a birthday dinner for somebody and watching the Giants play the San Diego Padres with Sanchez on the mound. He was mowing hitters down. Unbelievable. He’d always had good stuff, but tended to be wild. Not that night. I was sitting on the couch in Silver Lake, a stone’s throw from Dodger Stadium watching Sanchez absolutely dominate.
I was going crazy. I wouldn’t explain what was happening to my then girlfriend for fear of jinxing it, but I could hardly contain myself. I was rocking back and forth on the couch. It got to the eighth and he still had a perfect game. Uribe made an error on a tough play and a runner reached base, but the no hitter was still intact. Aaron Rowand made an amazing catch against the wall to save the no hitter in the ninth. Sanchez then struck out Everth Cabrera to end it. The first Giants no hitter since 1976, and the first no hitter I had ever watched start to finish. So amazing.
The best part of it was that Sanchez’s dad was in the stands watching it. He had never seen his son pitch in person in a major league game until that night. After the game, he couldn’t sleep and stayed up until the newspapers came out and bought every one he could. I know it’s corny, but I’m pretty sure that made me shed a tear.
Sanchez was traded to the Royals this off-season for Melky Cabrera. Some won’t miss him, but I will. This shot I took in April 2008, when Sanchez started against the Diamondbacks. God damn, I love baseball.

Stories like this are one of the zillions of reason why I love baseball.
And for the record, I’m one of the few that will miss Sanchez, too. I won’t miss the umpteen million walks so much (it’s okay, we’ve got Zito to fill that void!), but the Sanchez who threw the no-hitter in front of his dad and hit the triple off of Mat Latos in the division clinching game 162? That’s the guy I’ll miss.

I’ll always remember that triple. I was watching the game in the family room and started whooping it up. I yelled to my mom that Sanchez had just hit a triple. She yelled back some perfunctory “yes!”, so I clarified for her; Jonathan (not Freddy!) Sanchez had just hit a triple. Then she came running.
But…
I’ll also always remember the Phillies game I went to this summer with Audie where Sanchez had no control, we lost 9-2, and there was a(n AWESOME) bench-clearing brawl.
So, mixed emotions. But, blogs are a space for mixed emotions.

thetenssf:

Most Giants fans, well, not most, but those who understand stats like WHIP, WAR, ZIBBAZABBA, etc., have a pretty low opinion of Jonathan Sanchez. Me, I don’t care. I’m still a little kid. I spent a summer living in Los Angeles in 2009 and couldn’t watch any Giants games. It was pretty much killing me. I had the radio subscription on the MLB website, but was only able to listen to a couple of games. The first week of July that year, I got an email saying I would get a free preview of the online TV subscription. The first game I watched was on July 10, 2009. I was waiting for the girl I was living with to get ready for a birthday dinner for somebody and watching the Giants play the San Diego Padres with Sanchez on the mound. He was mowing hitters down. Unbelievable. He’d always had good stuff, but tended to be wild. Not that night. I was sitting on the couch in Silver Lake, a stone’s throw from Dodger Stadium watching Sanchez absolutely dominate.

I was going crazy. I wouldn’t explain what was happening to my then girlfriend for fear of jinxing it, but I could hardly contain myself. I was rocking back and forth on the couch. It got to the eighth and he still had a perfect game. Uribe made an error on a tough play and a runner reached base, but the no hitter was still intact. Aaron Rowand made an amazing catch against the wall to save the no hitter in the ninth. Sanchez then struck out Everth Cabrera to end it. The first Giants no hitter since 1976, and the first no hitter I had ever watched start to finish. So amazing.

The best part of it was that Sanchez’s dad was in the stands watching it. He had never seen his son pitch in person in a major league game until that night. After the game, he couldn’t sleep and stayed up until the newspapers came out and bought every one he could. I know it’s corny, but I’m pretty sure that made me shed a tear.

Sanchez was traded to the Royals this off-season for Melky Cabrera. Some won’t miss him, but I will. This shot I took in April 2008, when Sanchez started against the Diamondbacks. God damn, I love baseball.

Stories like this are one of the zillions of reason why I love baseball.

And for the record, I’m one of the few that will miss Sanchez, too. I won’t miss the umpteen million walks so much (it’s okay, we’ve got Zito to fill that void!), but the Sanchez who threw the no-hitter in front of his dad and hit the triple off of Mat Latos in the division clinching game 162? That’s the guy I’ll miss.

I’ll always remember that triple. I was watching the game in the family room and started whooping it up. I yelled to my mom that Sanchez had just hit a triple. She yelled back some perfunctory “yes!”, so I clarified for her; Jonathan (not Freddy!) Sanchez had just hit a triple. Then she came running.

But…

I’ll also always remember the Phillies game I went to this summer with Audie where Sanchez had no control, we lost 9-2, and there was a(n AWESOME) bench-clearing brawl.

So, mixed emotions. But, blogs are a space for mixed emotions.