Gregg Zaun

GLENDALE — The following are updates on area Major League Baseball players .   Freddy Sanchez (Glendale Community College, 1998) Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman: Sanchez, a two-time All-Star selection and the 2006 National League batting champion, hit his second career grand slam Saturday to help Pittsburgh pick up a 9-3 home win against the Detroit Tigers. Sanchez homered in the fourth inning to give Pittsburgh an 8-2 lead after collecting a single in the third.

Chuck Benedict The Dempsey/Zaun family of Glendale and Burbank sports remarkable talent. Rick Dempsey, a major league catcher for 24 years, is Baltimore's first-base coach. Brother Pat played 11 years in the minors and now is a ranking member of National Long Range Driving, exploiting his world class distance off the golf tee. Rick's son, John, spent several years in minor league baseball. Rick's sister, Cherie Zaun, is a teaching and former touring pro golfer, startling some males at Oakmont Country Club who thought that a good round automatically beats a woman.

GLENDALE — The following are updates on the area’s Major League Baseball players. Freddy Sanchez (Glendale Community College, 1998) infielder, Pittsburgh Pirates: The former Vaqueros standout is displaying some unexpected power this season for the Pirates. He’s slugged seven home runs in 106 games, a career best. His previous best was last season when he hit six round-trippers. Sanchez, 29, has been able to steadily raise his batting average throughout the season after a slow start.

GLENDALE — The following are updates on area athletes in Major League Baseball . HIRSH HOMECOMING SPOILED Fresh from his triumph over Greg Maddux and the San Diego Padres in his Colorado Rockies debut on April 6, St. Francis High graduate Jason Hirsh made his first career appearance at Dodger Stadium Wednesday night in search of an encore. It was not to be, as one rough inning, combined with 6 1/3 scoreless innings pitched by Dodgers counterpart Brad Penny, was enough to send Hirsh to his first loss of the 2007 season, as the Rockies fell 3-0. "It was a thrill of a lifetime to be out there," Hirsh told the Associated Press of performing in front of his hometown crowd.

GLENDALE ? The following are updates on local athletes competing in Major League Baseball. Gregg Zaun (St. Francis, 1989) catcher, Toronto Blue Jays: In good health, Zaun has begun to see his batting average swell in recent weeks. Entering Monday's road game against the host Minnesota Twins, Zaun was batting .233 with two home runs and 17 runs batted in. The Glendale native missed most of the first two months of the season because of a broken right thumb. He returned in early June and has batted as high as second in Toronto's potentially explosive lineup.

GLENDALE — The following are updates on the area's Major League Baseball players . Gregg Zaun (St. Francis, 1989) catcher, Toronto Blue Jays : The runs just didn't seem to stop coming across home plate on Wednesday and Zaun was the main force behind the outburst. In the sixth inning, the Blue Jays exploded for a franchise-tying 11 runs, highlighted by two hits from Zaun, in a 13-1 win against the Minnesota Twins. The St. Francis product and Glendale native connected for a run-scoring double and capped it off with a three-run home run, as Toronto batted around in the frame.