Freddy Sanchez

GLENDALE — The following are updates on area Major League Baseball players .   Freddy Sanchez (Glendale Community College, 1998) Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman: New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez may have nabbed more headlines for his five-for-five day at the plate against his former team, the Texas Rangers, on Monday, but the most impressive Memorial Day hitting display belonged to Sanchez. The former Vaquero went six for six in Pittsburgh’s 10-8 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field Monday, scoring four times, driving in three runs and falling a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Editor's Note: The following is a recap of the 2006 local sports scene from the summer and fall seasons. SUMMER ALL-STAR SALUTE Two former area baseball standouts competed in the 77th Major League Baseball All-Star game, which was held at Pittsburgh's PNC Park on July 11. Former St. Francis star Mark Loretta, who spent the 2006 season with the Boston Red Sox, started at second base for the American League. Ex-Glendale Community College star Freddy Sanchez, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, entered the game in the top of the fifth inning as a defensive replacement at shortstop for the National League.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan Freddy Sanchez (Glendale Community College, 1998), third baseman, Pittsburgh Pirates -- Entering the season, Sanchez was penciled in as a back-up shortstop. But the local star has impressed manager Lloyd McClendon to the point where the skipper moved the Pirates' "sparkplug" to the hot corner just to give him a starting spot. "As we speak right now, Freddy Sanchez will probably play third base most of the time," McClendon told Major League Baseball.

A breakout and stellar season for Freddy Sanchez ended with a well-deserved honor. Sanchez -- who graduated from Burbank High and attended Glendale Community College -- was named the Boston Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. His season began with 80 games at double-A Trenton, where he batted .328, hit three home runs and drove in 38 runs. Sanchez then moved up to triple-A Pawtucket and hit .301 with four home runs and had 28 runs batted in. The Burbank native and former Foothill League Player of the Year was promoted to Boston on Sept.

Dan Mahoney doesn't know Freddy Sanchez personally. Mahoney didn't go to school with the former Burbank High and Boston Red Sox standout infielder, and lives 2,979 miles away from where Sanchez grew up. However, although he lives in Rhode Island, Mahoney became a big Sanchez fan and has even started and maintained a Web site devoted to Sanchez -- www.freddysanchez.com. "It all started as a school project," said Mahoney, who attends Bryant College in Smithfield, R.I. "I had a humanities class and one of our projects was to create and maintain a Web site on a subject that interested us."

On the strength of a feet-first slide across homeplate by Freddy Sanchez, the San Francisco Giants are a victory away from advancing past the National League Division Series. Sanchez delivered a two-out single in the top of the ninth and, after the Giants tied the game, the former Glendale Community College prodigy came around on an error to score the game-winning run in San Francisco's 3-2 win over the host Atlanta Braves in the third game of the NLDS. With the win, the Giants take a 2-1 series lead into Monday's game at Atlanta.

Jeff Tully BURBANK -- Freddy Sanchez realizes he is living a dream, and he doesn't expect to wake up any time soon. Sanchez, a former baseball standout at Burbank High and Glendale Community College, is enjoying a prosperous minor league career and a meteoric climb through the Boston Red Sox organization. "I know a lot of guys who have always dreamed of playing baseball at a professional level," a 23-year-old Sanchez said. "But here I am getting the opportunity to play baseball every day. This is where I want to be and I am so happy to have this opportunity."

GLENDALE — Although it had to wait until his second career postseason game, San Francisco Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez achieved a couple of big postseason firsts on Friday night. The former Glendale Community College player notched his first playoff hit and scored his first run during Game Two of the National League Division Series at AT&T Park when he singled on a softly-hit ball to shallow left field in the first inning and crossed the plate later in the frame after Pat Burrell connected on a three-run home run. Burrell's blast wouldn't be enough to lift the Giants to a win, however, as the Atlanta Braves rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game and won it, 5-4, on an 11th-inning solo home run by Rick Ankiel.

GLENDALE — It wasn't the type of postseason debut that Freddy Sanchez had planned, but what the San Francisco Giants second baseman couldn't do at the plate, pitcher Tim Lincecum did with his arm. Sanchez, a former Burbank High and Glendale Community College standout, went hitless in four plate appearances in San Francisco's 1-0 home victory against the Atlanta Braves in the first game of the National League Division Series on Thursday night....

Freddy Sanchez is too modest to compare himself to other possible Major League Baseball all-stars. The Glendale Community College and Burbank High product shies away from the recognition that he has received while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, a ballclub that he has been a part of for two years. But Sanchez's teammates and manager won't hesitate to mention him in the same breath as some of the other elite players in the league. During his short stay in Pittsburgh, Sanchez has earned the respect of his teammates, coaches and fans, who have recognized his accomplishments and believe that he should be an all-star.