SAN FRANCISCO — Sanchez doubles his fun
Freddy Sanchez atoned for getting doubled up by hitting more doubles.
Sanchez became the first player to double in his first three World Series at-bats, driving in three runs to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers 11-7 in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
Sanchez doubled to right field off Cliff Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) in the first inning only to get erased on the bases when he broke for third on Buster Posey’s shallow fly to right field. Second baseman Ian Kinsler made an impressive running grab and easily doubled up Sanchez to help the Rangers escape the inning.
Sanchez more than made up for that blunder when he hit an RBI double down the left-field line in the third inning to score San Francisco’s first run.
He followed that up with an RBI double to center field in the fifth inning to give the Giants a 3-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Sanchez became the 10th batter in World Series history with three doubles in one game and the first since Jacoby Ellsbury did it for Boston in Game 3 in 2007 against Colorado.
Sanchez added an RBI single in the eighth inning.
The play was briefly ruled a double, which would have tied Frank Isbell’s World Series record of four in a game for the White Sox in 1906, but was changed to a single and an error on right fielder Vladimir Guerrero.
Short wait
While some players have to wait years to make it to the World Series, San Francisco’s Buster Posey has gotten there as a rookie.
What makes it all the more noteworthy is that Posey is a catcher, with all the responsibilities of running a pitching staff as well as those of a middle-of the-lineup hitter.
Posey is the 11th rookie catcher to take a team to the World Series and the first since Yadier Molina went there with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, according to Chuck Rosciam of SABR.
Only four of the previous 10 rookie catchers came out on the winning side, most recently Baltimore’s Andy Etchebarren in 1966.
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco’s Game 4 starter, also has made it here as a rookie.
“We’re probably a little spoiled, but at the same time we understand the magnitude and how lucky we are to be here,” Posey said. “It’s something you don’t take for granted.”
Posey is also one of only seven rookies to regularly bat cleanup for a World Series-bound team. He hit an RBI single in the third inning or his 12th hit this postseason, extending his own rookie record.
On the other side are players like Texas’ Vladimir Guerrero, whose 2,002 games were the fourth most of any active player who had not been to the World Series. Rangers third baseman Michael Young, who made his debut in 2000, also finally made it.
“I knew it was just a matter of when, and Iwanted to make sure that I saw it through,” Young said. “Here I am, 10 years into my career, and I have an opportunity to be in the World Series. I knew it would happen. It was just when.”
Bochy and Ryan
Giants Manager Bruce Bochy and Rangers owner Nolan Ryan were teammates for one season, in 1980 wearing the rainbow tops of the Houston Astros.
Now they are on opposite sides of the World Series.
“It’s going to be good to see Nolan. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to say hello, where he’ll be,” Bochy said.
“This is certainly how you thought it would work out.
You didn’t think I would be owning a club and he would be managing. I was fortunate to have played with Nolan.”
Bochy and Ryan played on the same team but actually never played together.
Even though Bochy was a catcher, he never was behind the plate when Ryan was on the mound. Ryan started 35 games that season, and Bochy appeared in only six of those - all after Ryan had thrown his final pitch. In one of those games, Bochy pinch-hit for Ryan in the eighth inning.
Bochy’s third season in Houston was the first for Ryan there. While Ryan pitched 27 seasons in a Hall of Fame career, Bochy played 358 games in nine seasons for San Diego, Houston and the New York Mets.
“He was relentless with his workouts, and that was really at a time where the working out, the weights and conditioning, probably wasn’t as emphasized as it is now,” Bochy said.
Two teams again
Rangers catcher Bengie Molina, who was traded from San Francisco on July 1, joins Lonnie Smith as the only players to ever play for both World Series teams in the same season. Smith was traded by St. Louis to Kansas City on May 17, 1985, and won it all with the Royals.
Sports, Pages 21 on 10/28/2010