This One is On Righetti

July 11th, 2009

Not only is he a Cy Young winner, but Tim Lincecum apparently is also Nostradamus.  His quote on Chronicle Live last night before Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter:

Someone is going to throw a no-hitter and it might not be the ace of the squad.  It could be an unsung hero kind of guy. 

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“Unlikely”, as Henry Schulman and Andrew Baggarly write, is the word that has been used most frequently to describe Sanchez’s no-hitter.  While no one expected this piece of brilliance from a pitcher who has struggled so much this year, we can expect brilliance from pitching coach, Dave Righetti.

Sure, the Giants are fortunate to have a lot of pitchers with great stuff, but they still need a coach to help harness that stuff.  And, great stuff doesn’t always mean great results.  Righetti obviously worked hard with Sanchez since his demotion to the bullpen.  Just as he did when Barry Zito has demoted last year, and came back a better pitcher.  From Jeremy Affeldt to Sergio Romo to Ryan Sadowski to Justin Miller to Brandon Medders, and even Lincecum and Matt Cain, can you honestly say that Righetti can get any more production from their pitching staff than they have received to his point?  Sanchez has been the one underachiever, and the Giants pitching coach may have righted that ship.        

Righetti appeared to be in tears last night as he embraced Sanchez after the final out.  It confirmed how close Righetti is to these Giant pitchers and got me thinking about a great baseball book I read from Roger Kahn called The Head Game. 

In the book, Kahn spoke at length with former pitching stud, Johnny Sain.  Many baseball fans are unaware that Sain was, not only an excellent pitcher, but a very good pitching coach.  Jim Bouton once said of Sain, the coach:

Johnny Sain didn’t try to make you pitch like he did.  He put himself in your shoes.  He had allegiance to you.  He made you think.  He was the best pitching coach in baseball.   

Sain had a number of principles he lived by as a pitching coach, but two have stood out.  One, a coach “owes his primary loyalty to his pitchers”.  Sain explained that loyalty took precedence over other important loyalties to the boss and to the field manager.  Whether you agree with it or not, it helped Sain become closer with his pitching staff and develop trust.  One of Sain’s other quotes was, “It’s better for a pitching coach to be unemployed than to be dishonest”.    

I don’t know if Righetti follows these same principles or the exact relationship between Rags and the members of the Giants staff, but those tears confirmed that there is a bond that us fans may not completely grasp.  A bond that may be developed through loyalty and honesty.  Whatever his methods, Righetti is getting great results.  It’s time we give him his just due. 

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