Major League Baseball

Sanchez finds his best when things are worst

Published Oct. 12, 2010 10:16 p.m. ET

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Jonathan Sanchez stared into nowhere as he sat at his locker late Friday night, after watching the Giants' come-from-ahead playoff loss to the Braves. After several minutes of grim silence, he agreed to speak to some reporters about starting Game 3 today. Unlike the last time his team lost to Atlanta, he said little of consequence.

No guarantees. No pronouncements. He didn't need to generate any drama.

It was already there, right in front of him, just as it had been a week ago, when he took the hill for the regular-season finale and beat the Padres to give the Giants the division title. His team was unnerved that Sunday, too, after losing two straight to San Diego and letting a three-game lead wither to one.

He might be in his element today, facing dire circumstances. The consensus on Sanchez says that he has improved dramatically over the past six weeks, becoming a worthy follow-up act to Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain by gaining confidence and learning not to become unglued when things go wrong.

It's true that common glitches frequently have sent Sanchez into a nasty spiral. But full professional crises seem to have the opposite effect. Put him and the crisis on a big stage, and he tends to thrive.

Consider the lead-up to his no-hitter last July. Sanchez escaped exile from the bullpen that day only because Randy Johnson got hurt. His father happened to be in San Francisco for the first time, because he had flown from Puerto Rico to support his son through a difficult time. The trade deadline stood less than a month away, so Sanchez was working not only to regain his starting job, but also, quite possibly, to save his future with the Giants.

The division clincher played out against a similar background. The only other meaningful baseball game of the day had already ended in the East. Facing Mat Latos, who had won two 1-0 showdowns against him earlier in the year, Sanchez came through with five scoreless innings, a triple and the biggest win in the past seven years of Giants baseball.

When "the guy throws strikes, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball," teammate Aubrey Huff said. "When he's getting ahead, getting Strike 1, he's as good as it gets left-handed."

But he walked five Padres in the clincher and still allowed no runs. In fact, he had walked seven Padres in a five-inning stint a few weeks earlier and gotten away with it. He didn't win that day, but the Giants did, 1-0. His stats were classically, almost uniquely Jonathan Sanchez: one hit, seven walks, no runs.

Over his last six starts of the season, when he evolved into a deputy ace for the Giants, Sanchez walked 19 batters and gave up 18 hits, allowing just four earned runs and making a case for reassigning Lincecum's nickname, the Freak.

Through the end of August, Sanchez had set a clear pattern: good start, bad start, good start, bad start. Then he took a 1-0 shutout into the ninth inning against Colorado on Aug. 30, walked the leadoff batter after having him down 0-2 in the count and ended up leaving the game, which the Giants ultimately lost. He let out a mild complaint after manager Bruce Bochy yanked him, but he could gripe only so much. He hadn't earned the trust needed to leave him on the mound once signs of his wayward attention span appeared.

From there on, he became remarkably dependable. "The last, what, six, seven weeks, this guy has a great focus, concentration that you like from your starting pitcher out there," Bochy said Friday. "Johnny has that now. It goes with confidence. He realizes how good his stuff is, and how he can be his own worst enemy."

Sanchez's guarantee of a sweep of a weekend series against San Diego, after a dreadful August loss in Atlanta, reflected his difficulty harnessing emotion. It also suggested that he relishes extra pressure, if applied properly. When the tension of the playoff race heightened and his team really needed him, his performance and focus moved to a new level.

On Friday and again at a news conference Saturday, he kept describing today's start as "just another game" as if the words were a mantra. He did admit to one ambition: becoming a peer to Lincecum and Cain.

"I want to be as good as they are," Sanchez said. "They pitched pretty good games in the first two playoff games. ... I want to be in that role."

The grimness of Friday's loss, evident on his face as he sat in the clubhouse, seemed to have lifted somewhat Saturday. Asked whether the Braves had to fear his bat after the triple against San Diego, he said: "Yeah, I don't think they're going to pitch to me tomorrow."

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