The Giants continue to roll as they take this game 5-1 at Hohokam Park. Obviously, The Panda’s grand slam will be at the top of most of the headlines, but the real story today is Jonathan Sanchez.

Diamond Notes:

- Sanchy came back sharp in his second start of Spring Training going 3IP, 3H, and 5K’s. The fastball was popping, and the breaking stuff was locating. He also picked off a runner on 1B. This wasn’t some B squad the Cubs rolled out there. The lineup on the field could very well be the opening day card in the dugout, plus or minus a player, which makes me even happier that Jonathan did so well today.

I know there is a lot of debate over Sanchez, but I am very glad the Giants didn’t trade him. He has been very inconsistent in the past, but I think this year he’s going to fine tune everything and show that true potential. Plus he went to an NAIA school for college, which is the association of schools that my college competed in. If nothing else, he automatically gets an extra point in my book for that.

- The Bullpen was lights out today as well. Medders was the only one that had some struggles with his curve location, which got him behind in the count, but he still limited the damage to 1 run. Pucetas came in and built off of his great start on Saturday to pitch a scoreless inning in relief today. I’m not sure how he’ll be used for the rest of Spring Training, but I could see him in either role. Hacker and Edlefsen bounced back from their wild outings last Saturday against the Brewers. Steve “Stuff” Edlefsen can definitely punch it in there when he has to. He gave up a couple walks in his inning, which put the pressure on to either induce a ground ball or get some strikeouts, he chose the latter. Je kept drilling it on the inside corner to RH batters. The way the ball comes out of his hands it just locks you up. He’d get a couple strikes inside, go away to change up the sight line, and back to the inside corner for the punch out. Paint, straight paint. Whitaker came in and got the job done giving up a hit. Lastly, Waldis Jaoquin redeemed himself and shut it down to get Jonny the W.

- The Panda’s Slam was just perfection, but the rest of the guys on the bases need to get some credit too. Just stellar AB’s from Frandsen, Rowand, and Velez to load them up. Not trying to to do to much, just finding holes in the infield and fighting off pitches. You know if you got to pitch to Pablo he’s going to to do something, and that something was ripping a hole in the canopy over the visiting bullpen in RF. (It probably didn’t rip through it, but that’s where it hit. Poetic license.)

- Aubrey Huff was about a foot short of going back to back with Pablo that same inning. He also showed some aggression on the base paths as he legged out a double, capitalizing on the Cubs laziness.

- I don’t want this to go unnoticed either. Bengie Molina is hitting .545 this spring. He went 1-2 today, and as the numbers say, he gets a hit every other AB. I’m loving that. Bengie’s been solid.

- The Giants took infield practice today, so there are some shots of that mixed in with the game shots. If you ever get to the yard when they are doing infield definitely watch it. Throws to the plate from the outfield, snaps to third, around the horn, charging grounders, bare handers, and oh yeah, between the leg tosses every now and again. Great fun.

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