MySports Today

John Smoltz and Brad Penny are shining in their new homes outside of the bright lights of Fenway Park in Boston.

In 3 starts with the Cardinals, Smoltz is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and miniscule 0.82 WHIP.  He suffered his 1st loss on Thursday when he gave up 4 ER on 6 hits over 6 innings.  In his previous 2 starts (both Cardinals wins), Smoltz gave up just 1 ER on 7 hits over 11 innings pitched.  He also struck out a combined 15 batters in those 2 games against the lowly Padres and Nationals.  The Cardinals have all but locked up the NL Central division, and Smoltz will be a welcome arm for the Cardinals in the post-season.  It will be interesting to see if Manager Tony LaRussa goes with Smoltz as a #3 (ahead of 14-gaem winner Joel Pineiro) or as a #4 in October.

In his 1st start with the Giants, Brad Penny earned the win with 8 scoreless innings against the Phillies, giving up just 5 hits and 1 walk.  Penny pounded the strike zone throughout the game, needing just 103 pitches to go the 8 innings.  As a point of reference, Penny pitched into the 7th inning only 2 times in 24 starts for the Red Sox in 2009 (7-8 record, 5.61 ERA & 1.53 WHIP).  The Giants are looking for Penny to serve as the team’s #4 behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.  With more starts like that, the Giants could have one of the deepest starting pitching staffs for the post-season if they can overcome the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead.

We’ll see if it holds up for the remainder of the season, but these guys are veteran major league pitchers and with prior success for each in the National League, it’s not surprising that both are thriving back in the light-hitting NL.

Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants threw the 1st no-hitter in MLB in 2009, when he defeated the San Diego Padres 8-0 in front of the home crowd on Friday night.  Sanchez threw a remarkable game – striking out 11 batters while issuing no walks.  He needed only 110 pitches and the only Padres player to reach base was Chase Headley who reached base on Juan Uribe’s fielding error on a ball hit to 3rd base.  That prevented Sanchez from throwing the 1st perfect game in the big leagues since Sanchez’s current teammate – Randy Johnson – did so with the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Atlanta Braves.

A couple of interesting notes surrounded the circumstances behind the no-hitter.  First of all, Sanchez had recently been demoted to the bullpen and had pitched out of the pen for the 3 weeks preceding last night’s start.  When randy Johnson went on the DL earlier this week, the Giants gave Sanchez the spot start to fill in for the iunjured Johnson.

Second, Bengie Molina was supposed to catch for Sanchez on Friday night, but his wife went into labor before the start of the game.  Back-up catcher Eli Whiteside got the nod instead and entered the history books by calling Sanchez’s no-hitter.

Third, Giants’ ace – and best pitcher – Tim Lincecum – took a no-hitter into the 7th inning the night before against the Padres, but couldn’t get the job done after Tony Gwynn, Jr. singled to lead off the 7th inning.  Sanchez had what it took on Friday night, throwing 77 of his 110 pitches for strikes.  Sanchez also had Rowand to thank, as he made a leaping catch of Edgar Gonzalez’s deep fly ball to center field for the 1nd out in the 9th inning.

The Giants gave Sanchez all the run support he would need with a 4-run 2nd inning.  The Giants tacked on 3 more runs in the 5th inning on a Pablo Sandoval 3-run HR.  The Giants final run of the game came home on Aaron Rowand’s RBI single in the 8th inning.  While Sanchez kept the Padres hitless, the Giants stroked 12 hits and scored 8 runs, 1 of their highest offensive outputs of the 2009 MLB schedule.

Sanchez’s dad was able to watch the no-hitter from the stands, and Jonathan had this to say about his accomplishment:  “Right now I’m just going to go home and hang out with my dad.  I was pumped that he was here watching the game.”

Congrats Jonathan – you deserve it!