From sub to star
PITTSBURGH — Third baseman Freddy Sanchez, a utility infielder when the season began, will join outfielder Jason Bay in the All-Star game July 11 in Pittsburgh as the Pirates will have two representatives for the first time since 2000.
Bay, in a slump for three weeks, was swept into the NL starting lineup by an avalanche of votes generated by an intense campaign launched by the Pirates to make certain they had an All-Star starter in their home park.
Sanchez, hitting .363 after getting three hits Sunday in a 9-8 loss to Detroit, was chosen by NL manager Phil Garner despite starting the season as third baseman Joe Randa's backup. As a result, the last-place Pirates will have as many All-Star representatives as the Tigers, who have the major leagues' best record.
"When I was on the bench, all I wanted was a shot to play," said Sanchez, who didn't become a full-time starter until a month into the season. "I didn't doubt myself, but when your team puts you in a utility role, you hope teams don't start looking at you as just a utility player."
Sanchez, a former Red Sox farmhand, feels fortunate merely to have had an athletic career. He was born with a severely deformed left foot that required corrective surgery when he was one year old.
Even after that, Sanchez said, "They told me I might not be able to walk again. I had braces and everything. To going from not even being able to walk to being in the big leagues is something special."
The Pirates began mounting a get-out-the-vote drive for Bay after he hit 12 homers and batted .321 with 35 RBIs in May. He has only three homers and 11 RBIs in his last 30 games, and his average has dropped from .315 on June 8 to .281.
Still, Bay is the first Pirates player voted by the fans an NL starter since outfielder Andy Van Slyke in 1993 and will be the first to start in an All-Star game in Pittsburgh since third baseman Bob Elliott in 1944. The Pirates did not have an All-Star starter when the game was played in their home park in 1959, 1974 or 1994.
A year ago, Bay was the only NL position player not to play in the game in Detroit. Now, he will have made the team in two of his first three seasons as a regular. He also thinks he generated a lot of fan votes in his native Canada.
"It was great last year being chosen (as a reserve), but this is more of a national thing, to be voted in," Bay said. "That makes it a bigger deal. It's flattering. And I'm pumped because Freddy will be there, too."
