Six points separate Sanchez, Cabrera with six games to go
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If the National League batting race were boiled down to a simple matter of desire, the duel between the Pirates' Freddy Sanchez and the Florida Marlins' Miguel Cabrera probably would wind up in a dead heat.
With neither man going off at the gun.
"It's not what I'm shooting for," Sanchez continued to insist on the just-completed West Coast trip. "My goal is to help this team win some more games, so we can continue this good baseball we've been playing."
And Cabrera?
"I'm not thinking about that," he said over the weekend in Philadelphia.
OK, then, just for fun: What if the determining factor were which hitter admires the other more?
"He's unbelievable," Sanchez said of Cabrera. "He's the type of hitter where you feel he can get a hit at any time. And not just that, but hit it out of the ballpark, very far and to any field."
"I've always thought he was a great hitter," Cabrera said of Sanchez. "Everybody said he was a good hitter. He just never got the chance. He was in Boston and didn't get the chance. And early on with Pittsburgh, he didn't get the chance because there were other players in front of him. But now that he's gotten the chance, look what he's done. He's been consistent the whole year."
Sounds like a tie there, too.
Well, believe them or not, ready or not, here comes the home stretch of Sanchez vs. Cabrera, with Sanchez holding a .342 to .336 edge. The Colorado Rockies' Matt Holliday is lurking, too, at .332. But his chance at leapfrogging from the third spot is a long shot this late in the game, so he can remain out of the discussion for now.
That leaves two players who, for how close their averages are, have little in common.
The advantage
Start with their service time in Major League Baseball.
Sanchez is a late bloomer, a 28-year-old just now on the verge of finishing his second full year.
Cabrera is much younger at 23, but already has 3 1/2 seasons, including his wunderkind contribution to the Marlins' 2003 World Series champion.
Their styles differ, too.
Cabrera's swing is more methodical and much more powerful. He has 25 home runs to Sanchez's six, and his 50 doubles are a match for Sanchez's total that is second only to Paul Waner in Pirates history. Sanchez's swing is as flexible as any, making for an uncanny -- and often unorthodox -- approach to getting the head of the bat on the ball.
Sure, some similarities can be found: Each bats right-handed, plays a fine third base and works out of the No. 3 spot in the order with a left fielder batting cleanup behind him.
But, as Sanchez will attest, those are few.
"Miguel's really a powerful guy. I mean, he can do all kinds of things with the bat, including hit out of the park to all fields. He's amazing."
And yet, power numbers are immaterial in determining the batting champion. What will matter, obviously, is who gets the most hits in the final week. And there are variables aplenty there.
The biggest could be Sanchez's health.
He felt what he called a "tweak" in his left wrist Friday in San Diego, and he would go 0 for 9 in that series while hitting only three balls out of the infield. But the injury apparently is not serious, as the Pirates' medical staff did not perform any scans on the wrist. Sanchez expressed optimism that the team's day off yesterday would be enough for it to feel better.
Cabrera, too, has been bugged by injury. A strained left shoulder caused him to sit out two games late last week, and he indicated it might nag him the rest of the way.
What would be the next-largest factor is pitching.
Sanchez unquestionably has to face the tougher set of starters, beginning tonight with the Houston Astros' Andy Pettitte, Jason Hirsh and Roy Oswalt. Then, he gets the Cincinnati Reds' two best in Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, followed by Matt Belisle.
Cabrera's Marlins take on the Reds for three beginning tonight, but he misses Harang and Arroyo. Instead, he gets Belisle, Chris Michalak and Kyle Lohse. After that, he should see the Philadelphia Phillies' Jamie Moyer, Randy Wolf and Brett Myers.
A closer look, though, shows that Cabrera's advantage might be slight.
His cumulative career average against the six starters he will face is .333 -- 20 for 60 -- but almost half of that is the result of being 9 for 18 against Wolf. He never has faced Michalak or Lohse, and first-time matchups tend to benefit the pitcher.
Sanchez's career average against his six starters is .302 -- 19 for 63 -- and he has at least three at-bats against each. Perhaps most promising, his best numbers -- 6 for 15 -- have come against Oswalt, the most formidable pitcher of the group.
Each hitter will play the rest of the way on his home field, and that looks like a wash. Sanchez bats .388 at PNC Park, the best home average in the majors, and Cabrera bats .350 at Dolphin Stadium.
The general math is favorable for Sanchez, as well. So late in the season, with so many at-bats in the equation, an 0-for-4 game usually results in a loss of no more than two percentage points. Even one hit per night can keep his mark from sliding, especially if he finds other ways to avoid piling up empty at-bats, such as walks, bunts or sacrifice flies.
History? Now, that one swings heavily in Sanchez's favor. No Florida player has won a batting title, while the Pirates' 24 is the most of any team. The most recent was Bill Madlock in 1983.
The mind-set
Ask Sanchez if he might alter any aspect of his approach in the final days, and he responds with a laugh.
"I'm not changing a thing. If Jack Wilson's on second base, I'm giving myself up to move him over," he said. "That's the mentality I've had all year, so why would I change it now?"
Might he have allowed himself to imagine the feeling of winning the batting title?
"I'm really not doing that. It's just not there yet for me. I'm the type of person who doesn't really think about stuff unless it's there. I'm just not worried about it. And I'm sure Miguel's not, either. I'm sure he's more worried about the playoffs. Florida's having a phenomenal year, and I'm sure that's what's important to him. For me, too."
And how might Sanchez feel, then, if manager Jim Tracy benches him Sunday to preserve a sizable lead in the race.
"There's nothing I can do about that, but it won't be me asking. I want to win. I'm not one that wants to sit on the bench. I want to play."
So, he has absolutely no thoughts, no talks on the matter?
"Look, I'd be lying if I said my parents, family, friends weren't all really into it. And, you know, my teammates are, too. I appreciate that. I know they care. But I sometimes think that they want it for me more than I do."
The most persistent is his father, Fred Sanchez Sr., for who he recently purchased the MLB Extra Innings television package to watch all of the Pirates' games. He phones almost daily from California, and he apparently does not stray much from the topic at hand.
"I listen for a while. Then, I'm, like, 'OK, Dad, enough. I'm done talking about it.' "
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