Shawn Sanford walked off the mound Aug. 29 to a standing ovation in Greenville after taking a perfect game into the ninth inning.
As if the win, which put the Augusta GreenJackets into a tie for first place, wasn't enough to make him smile, he was told earlier in the day that he had been voted the South Atlantic League's Most Outstanding Pitcher.
But the 23-year-old right-hander had to fight back a tear or two and compose himself that night. His first full season of professional baseball had gone better than any other pitcher in the league, yet he knew the postgame phone call he had made so many times to his father in previous seasons wouldn't come.
"After a game he was always there to say the perfect thing on the phone - exactly what I needed to hear," Sanford said. "That's been the hard thing this season. I can't call him anymore."
Sanford's father, James Sanford, lost a long-fought battle with cancer just as his son was going through spring training earlier this year. The San Francisco Giants' 13th round draft pick could have walked away from the game to be with his mother. Instead, he refocused his efforts completely.
"I wanted to dedicate the season to him," he said. "So far it's been magical."
After posting the third-best ERA (2.55) in the Giants organization this season, Sanford will take the mound tonight in Savannah as Augusta's top starter with the chance to lead the GreenJackets to the South Atlantic League Championship Series.
"He has a lot of confidence," catcher Jeff Arnold said. "He has three quality pitches and when he's spotting them down in the zone, he's going to be effective."
Before Sanford toes the rubber tonight, he'll once again carry out the tradition he's repeated hundreds of times this season. On the back of the mound, at an angle usually cut off to the views of cameras and fans, Sanford will use his finger to write "D-A-D" in the dirt. It's a ritual he does before every inning he pitches.
Sanford said it's a tribute to his late father and a reminder of whom he's representing.
"Every pitch I make, every rep in the gym, every stranger I talk to on the street, I want to do right by him," Sanford said. "The way my father raised me is that bad things are going to happen. It's what you do from there on forward that makes you a man."
So Sanford's not worried about his start tonight against Savannah, the one and only team in the league that has seemed to consistently beat him. He'll enter tonight's game with an 0-4 record and 3.90 ERA against the Sand Gnats.
The numbers don't scare the 6-foot, 200-pound South Florida product. They motivate him even more.
"Savannah's had my number this year, and they're the only team in the league that's had my number," he said. "And I want nothing more than to get a win, not only for the GreenJackets and the Giants, but against Savannah. I want it more than anything I've ever wanted in my life."
The GreenJackets hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series after Wednesday's 4-1 win at Lake Olmstead Stadium. With the remainder of the series set in Savannah, Augusta must win just one of a possible two games to advance.
"We're still taking this one game at a time. We want to win this next one," manager Lipso Nava said. "They play really well down there, so we know we've got to be careful."
The Sand Gnats posted a league-leading 48 wins at home in the regular season and will have help from New York Mets two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, who will start Game 2 as part of his ongoing minor league rehab assignment.
For Sanford, Santana's presence will give the GreenJackets ace just one more opportunity to overcome another immense challenge and another accomplishment achieved in the memory of his father.
"There's a time to grieve, and there's a time to use this as motivation," he said. "I'm trying every single day of my entire life to make him proud."
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