Dodgers v. Giants -- Game 2 tonight

Dodgers and Giants. Almost enough to make you forget the Sharks blew the big one last night. But the game tonight should be good. Two young pitchers, one of whom seems to be the next big thing, in Billingsley, and one of whom is on his way to being a very good starter, in Sanchez. All things point to a night of good starting pitching and a low scoring game. That means that instead there’ll probably be 10 runs scored between the teams.

The biggest thing that I would like to see tonight is consistent control from Sanchez. He’s got great stuff, but he needs to learn to control it every night. Fortunately, he’s got an amazing model to work from in Randy Johnson. Given that he’s struggled lately, Randy’s still proven to be remarkably consistent in not walking hitters and either striking them out, or forcing them to put the ball in play. Obviously, it helps to have a filthy fastball, slider combination. But, the upside with Sanchez is that he has fantastic stuff, he just needs to learn to control it. But, control can be taught. Stuff, not so much.

Pablo…..it’s obvious that you are an amazing talent and the only thing that’s standing between you and being an elite hitter is pitch selection. Take a page out of Pujols’ book and take a strike for God’s sake. That goes for everyone on the Giants. Nothing boosts a pitchers confidence like a 1-2-3 inning where he only threw 10 pitches. Working a count and making a pitcher throw more pitches not only runs up their pitch count and tires them out, but it also can get in their head. With Billingsley being a young pitcher, the deeper into counts we can work the better. That, combined with a few ball/strike calls going our way can lead to mistake pitches, which lead to good things.