Hector Sanchez Playoff Update

There is news on the Hector Sanchez front, most of which will make you pull your hair out, so I suggest wearing a hair net for your own good. From John Shea.

It appears Bochy is leaning toward playing Buster Posey at first base in playoff games started by pitchers Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito, both of whom usually work with rookie catcher Hector Sanchez. "It's worked so well the way we've been doing it," Bochy said. "Believe me, I've thought about this long and hard and discussed it with everybody what is the best way to go here, but I do like the way this has worked with Timmy coming around in the second half and Buster getting a rest at first base and Hector doing a great job.

There are a couple things to note here. One, is that Barry Zito looks to have a slight edge over Ryan Vogelsong for the 4th starter spot in the postseason. Give me a minute while I ship that sentence back to April 2012 me. I will also remind him not to take Charlie Culberson for granted.

The second and most important thing to note is that Hector Sanchez is going to start not just Lincecum games, but Zito games as well. It was all but made official. That means, Hector Sanchez will be on the baseball field playing competitively for the Giants in the post season for at least 1 game in the NLDS, and most likely 2 more if the team reaches the NLCS. This is going to happen. Mentally prepare yourself for this reality because it is both real and ity. A backup catcher that hits roughly the same as 2010 Eli Whiteside might catch 3 games in the playoffs. Hector Sanchez by the way, went 2 for 4 with a home run and double today. Yep, this is happening.

But it's not like the Giants are going to play Xavier Nady over Brandon Belt!  But it's not like the Giants are going to play Xavier Nady over Brandon Belt?

Bochy, who's in daily dialogue about postseason plans, suggested Gregor Blanco and Xavier Nady would continue to share left-field duties in Cabrera's absence but isn't ruling out Brandon Belt in left even though Belt has played the position just twice this season.

Our greatest fears have been realized. The decision now that Posey will surely be shifted to first to allow Sanchez to catch, comes down to left field, a spot I was sure would go to Brandon Belt. This is because I am ignorant and don't pay attention to sports. Judging by the quote, it sounds like Belt will get some starts in left, but Nady and Blanco will start some as well when Sanchez is catching. This came before Belt misjudged a fly ball in today's game in what seemed like a de facto one game try out for Belt in left field, which is completely fair. The fact that there is even a question in left field for Blanco/Nady vs. Belt is telling. After today's events, it appears likely that Xavier Nady or Gregor Blanco will play a baseball game instead of Brandon Belt in the playoffs. And because baseball is cruel, it will be Nady instead of Belt. Accepting it now will make the actual pain easier to handle. 

What would make this situation more bearable, would be if the Giants won the World Series. That'd be just the best.