MIAMI GARDENS - For young Anibal Sanchez, learning to drive was as simple as jumping into the cab of one of his father's 18-wheelers and steering the truck through the narrow streets of Maracay, Venezuela.

 

"I was 12 years old,'' the Marlins pitcher recalled with a sly grin. "Before I drove a car, I was driving trucks. The police stopped me a couple of times.'' Sanchez didn't follow the career of his older brother, who works as a mechanic on their father's fleet of trucks. But the Marlins right-hander is taking the same fearless approach to the start of his career - and passing some daunting tests as a 22-year-old rookie.

 

Sanchez won his debut by shutting down the Yankees for 5t innings on June 25 in New York. After a couple of mediocre outings, he outpitched Roger Clemens to beat Houston on July 14. Sanchez went on to set a Marlins rookie record by tossing 23 consecutive scoreless innings.

 

Not bad for a kid who nearly quit the game three years ago because of a sore right elbow.

 

"What kid? He looks like a veteran,'' Marlins catcher Matt Treanor said. "He's a very intelligent person, not just as a pitcher but as a human being.''

 

Sanchez, who takes a 4-1 record and 4.48 ERA to the mound tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers, credits his strong foundation to a close relationship with his family and his wife, Yeliceth, a medical student in Venezuela.

 

He was the key pitching prospect in the Thanksgiving Day trade that sent Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Sanchez couldn't replace Beckett's big-game experience, but Sanchez did bring a positive presence to the clubhouse. While Beckett, a former No. 1 pick, often put off teammates with a brash and arrogant style, Sanchez is gaining admirers.

 

Polite, humble, studious - those are the terms Marlins players and coaches most often use to describe Sanchez, who couldn't contain his youthful enthusiasm after beating the Astros. He had a ball autographed by Clemens.

 

"He's been doing a fantastic job for us and he definitely won't let you know it,'' outfielder Cody Ross said of Sanchez. "He does exactly what young guys are supposed to do when they get up here - not say anything, go about your business and work hard.''

 

Beckett and two other former Marlins pitchers, Brad Penny and A.J. Burnett, often clashed with coaches, who in between starts had to coax them into routine running and throwing drills. No need to prod Sanchez, who exemplifies the eagerness of Florida's latest promising stable of pitchers.

 

"I remember joking earlier in the year with (Marlins owner) Jeffrey Loria, 'If you're doing an IPO on your young starters, I want 2,000 shares in stock,' '' said Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton, who broadcasts Atlanta Braves games.

 

Sanchez was a top Red Sox prospect when he developed his elbow problem in 2002, a year after he signed as a free agent.

 

He had surgery to alleviate a pinched nerve that was causing the discomfort, but the procedure was as complicated as reconstructive elbow surgery and Sanchez missed the 2003 season.

 

"Sometimes I felt like I wanted to quit,'' he said. "I wanted to go home. I thought I might get released.''

 

Sanchez credits his comeback to Jim Young, the minor-league athletic coordinator for Boston.

 

While overseeing Sanchez's rehab at the Red Sox spring training complex in Fort Myers, "J.Y." - that's what Sanchez calls Young - often took Sanchez and Jesus Delgado, another injured pitcher, into his home.

 

"They didn't have a car. They didn't speak the language. They were kind of by themselves,'' Young said. "But they worked hard and were determined to get back.''

 

Sanchez started pitching again in 2004 for Class A Lowell (Mass.), where Red Sox coaches persuaded him to throw his pitches on more of a downhill plane. It was a challenge for Lowell, who at 6 feet is relatively short for a big-league pitcher.

 

"Our pitching guys worked with him on getting him to create leverage. ... That's when he really took off,'' said Rob Leary, Boston's minor-league field coordinator.

 

After finishing 3-4 with a 1.77 ERA at Lowell in 2005, Sanchez was 6-1 with Class A Wilmington (Del.) and 3-5 at Class AA Portland (Maine).

 

When the Marlins began negotiating with Boston on the Beckett-Lowell trade, left-handed pitching prospect Jon Lester was Florida's main target, along with shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Lester is 5-1 with a 3.49 ERA for the Red Sox, but the Marlins are more than happy with Sanchez.

 

The question is whether Sanchez can keep it up. Last season, the Marlins watched rookie left-hander Jason Vargas start 5-1 before finishing 5-5 with a 4.03 ERA.

 

"The landscape is littered with those guys who faded out of the picture. You won't know until three, four, five years down the road,'' Red Sox scout Murray Cook said. "Obviously, (Sanchez) is talented and he has a real knack for pitching at a young age.''

 

Away from the ballpark, Sanchez maintains a low profile, joking that he spends a sizable chunk of his salary - it's the prorated major-league minimum of $327,000 - on phone cards to stay in touch with his wife. They met as teenagers in Venezuela.

 

"He misses his wife more than any player I've ever played with,'' said relief pitcher Taylor Tankersley, another rookie who was Sanchez's teammate this season at Class AA Carolina. "I can tell in his personality from when she is not around to when she is here.''

 

On the field, Tankersley said, his friend "sets a high bar for himself.'' Sanchez, however, prefers to not talk about how good he can become.

 

"I'm just glad I'm making my next start,'' he said.

 

He's also glad that despite his father's success, he's not in the trucking business.

 

"I don't like trucks or anything with oil,'' Sanchez said while standing at his locker. "I like this. This is my office.''

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/conte...nchez_0804.html

And this one, from ESPNdeportes:

 

By Enrique Rojas

ESPNdeportes.com

 

MIAMI -- At least for now, rookie pitcher Anibal Sanchez is part of the Marlins' rotation. How he pitches in the near future will determine whether he stays there.

 

"I don't want to go back to the minors," Sanchez told ESPNdeportes.com. "I don't want to imagine going back to the minor leagues, nor do I want to be sent to the bullpen ? but that depends on how well I pitch."

 

Sanchez, 22, has had mixed results in his first year in the majors. In his debut, the right-hander shut out the powerful Yankees for 5 2/3 innings at Yankee Stadium. But then he was pounded by Boston and Washington for 12 runs in 9 1/3 innings combined. He then came back, and in three starts, limited Houston, Washington and Atlanta to one run in 21 frames. In his victory over the Astros, the Venezuelan native outdueled Roger Clemens.

 

In three starts from July 14 to July 25, Sanchez allowed just one earned run over 21 innings.But then in his last start Sunday in Philadelphia, Sanchez gave up eight hits and eight runs in 4 1/3 innings to raise his ERA from 3.00 to 4.46.

 

"Learning to pitch at the major league level is a process that takes some time, and I think I'm adapting," said Sanchez, who is 4-1 in seven starts with Florida.

 

At the same time Sanchez was having his ups and downs on the mound, the pitcher he replaced in the rotation, Brian Moehler, returned from a foot injury.

 

Now Marlins manager Joe Girardi has to decide between Sanchez and Moehler for the last spot in the rotation.

 

"Sanchez will take his regular turn in the rotation on Friday against the Dodgers," Girardi said Tuesday.

 

"The way he's pitching, I think it would be a mistake to take [sanchez] out of the starting rotation," Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo said. "The guy can throw all his pitches for strikes: two types of fastballs, a slider and changeup. And he's not afraid to use them."

 

Sanchez, originally signed by the Red Sox in 2001, was part of the trade that also sent Hanley Ramirez, Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia to the Marlins for Josh Beckett, Guillermo Mota and Mike Lowell.

 

He was called up from Double-A on June 25 for an emergency start against the Yankees, and earned a 5-0 win.

 

"Every start is special, but I'll never forget my debut," he said. "I'd like to have a lot more special games this year."

 

Enrique Rojas is a reporter and columnist for ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN.com.

good article and good kid

Let's hope he gets the job done tonight, I have confidence in him.