Baltimore @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
It’s going to happen at some point. Jonathan Sanchez is going to get that elusive first winning season.
The San Francisco Giants’ left-hander has too good of stuff for it not to happen. The 27-year-old is in his third season in the rotation after a couple of years in the bullpen.
He has all the makings of a quality, dependable winning pitcher other than the victories themselves. He is 25-35 overall and 22-33 as a starter.
Sanchez has never pitched as well as he has in 2010 and he is still just 4-5 with an ERA of 2.83. It’s well below his previous best mark of 4.29 - set last season.
He has deserved better in 2010. In his five defeats, the Giants have scored a total of four runs and have been shut out three times.
Sanchez will try to even his record on Monday as the Giants host the dreadful Baltimore Orioles at AT&T Park as interleague play continues.
While Sanchez hasn’t had much run support in his defeats, the Giants have a new offensive threat to try and thwart that trend in rookie Buster Posey.
About a week before Stephen Strasburg burst on to the scene, the most impressive National League recall since the start of the season has been Posey.
The 23-year-old catcher/first baseman started his career 6-for-9 with four RBIs and has continued to rake, getting a hit in 12 of his 13 games. Posey is in his first mini-struggle, going 1-for-12 in his last three games.
He is still hitting .368 with a home run and seven RBIs to help the Giants stay in third place in the NL West at 35-27.
Some of the Giants’ key offensive players - Aaron Rowand and Benjie Molina, for example - are not having their traditional strong seasons, so Posey’s presence has been needed and helpful.
Baltimore, which has the worst record in the major leagues at 17-46, is in need of help as well.
They’ve turned to some of their prospects along with changing managers – Dave Trembley for Juan Samuel – in an attempt to kick some life into the season.
Samuel’s presence hasn’t had much of a difference thus far in the win/loss department as Baltimore is 2-7 since he took the helm.
One of those recalls is 23-year-old Chris Tillman, who is 0-2 with a 5.54 ERA while facing the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. This time out, he will be in a pitcher friendly park that doesn’t use a designated hitter against an offense struggling to score runs.
It sets up nicely for Tillman if the Orioles can back him with some offense against Sanchez.