It has been my favorite Giants' regular season in years. They can pitch. They play young players. They win at least half the time. And tonight, Jonathan Sanchez threw the first no-hitter since 1976. The last Giant to throw a no-no was John "The Count" Montefusco in his second season, 1976. It was the high point of an otherwise nondescript decade in Major League Baseball for The Count - 90 wins, 83 losses and no postseason appearances.
According to this Henry Schulman article, merely 1,369 fans attended The Count's no-no in Atlanta, just days before the end of a miserable 1976 Giants season in Atlanta. That year, the Giants finished 71-91 and were last in the National League in attendance with just over 600,000 fans over 81 home dates (that's about 7,500 fans per game!). Bobby Murcer hit 23 homers to lead the team; Johnny LeMaster hit .210.
How times change! Looked like a near-capacity crowd at AT&T Park. The game had real meaning against division rivals, San Diego. And Sanchez only earned his way back to the rotation after Randy Johnson got hurt a week ago... what a story.
I can be such a baseball geek!
PS - I love the fact that ESPN calls Giants' 3B Pedro Sandoval by the nickname "Kung Fu Panda".
(Above: Kung Fu Panda; Below: Sanchez. Photos c/o mlb.com)
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