Freddy had four hits against the White Sox, but it was the last one that finally did Chicago in. Sanchez, who is now the NL batting average leader at .363 (passing Nomar, .362), had what we call in the biz...a favorable matchup. After a perfect 8th inning, manager Ozzie Guillen left Cliff Politte in for the 9th with the game tied at 6-6. Politte, who had been activated from the 15-day DL earlier in the day, has struggled all season (7.48 ERA) and probably shouldn't have been asked to pitch more than a single frame in his first game back. The hot-hitting Sanchez took advantage, smacking a walk-off HR to lead off the the 9th.
I didn't know too much about Freddy Sanchez until Joe Randa went down, but it appears he's very capable of hitting well over .300 (career .318 Minor League AVG). My 2004 Baseball Prospectus (which I found this March in a Barnes & Noble clearance bin for $1...great buy) compared him to a young Mark Grudzielanek, capable of stealing 20 bases and making a run at the 2004 NL ROY. I'm not sure he's even a double digit SB guy, but he might chip in a few over the course of the season. Beware though, he's never hit more than 7 HR's in a season at any level. His homerun today was 5th on the season.
I didn't know too much about Freddy Sanchez until Joe Randa went down, but it appears he's very capable of hitting well over .300 (career .318 Minor League AVG). My 2004 Baseball Prospectus (which I found this March in a Barnes & Noble clearance bin for $1...great buy) compared him to a young Mark Grudzielanek, capable of stealing 20 bases and making a run at the 2004 NL ROY. I'm not sure he's even a double digit SB guy, but he might chip in a few over the course of the season. Beware though, he's never hit more than 7 HR's in a season at any level. His homerun today was 5th on the season.
