Giants: Sandoval hits grand slam; A's: Sheets roughed up

<p>Pablo Sandoval now has bragging rights over Carlos Zambrano, the pitcher he grew up idolizing back home in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. Still, the Giants third baseman isn’t ready to boast just yet.</p><p>“I’m not going to tell him anything,” Sandoval said Wednesday after his grand slam off Zambrano led the Giants to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Mesa, Ariz. “I don’t want to remember that. That’s spring training.”</p><p>Sandoval said if he homers off Zambrano during the season, “I’m going to call him and say, ‘I got you!”’</p><p>He said Zambrano was talking trash when the two recently had dinner together, but there wasn’t much Sandoval could say back. In their only matchup last season, Sandoval went hitless in four at-bats.</p><p>“It’s different in the season,” Sandoval said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the National League.”</p><p>With three All-Star Game appearances, Zambrano used to be just that, but he won only nine games last season. So he worked out hard over the winter and arrived to camp in top shape.</p><p>He said he wasn’t the least bit discouraged after giving up five third-inning runs on three soft singles, a hit batter and Sandoval’s homer.</p><p>“They got lucky with bloopers, and their big man ... obviously, he’s a good hitter. I have to give him credit,” Zambrano said.</p><p>“This is spring training. Just get my work in and build my arm. My fastball is running good and all my pitches are good.”</p><p>While Zambrano struggled in 2009, the 23-year-old Sandoval was a revelation in his first full big-league season, batting .330 with 25 homers and 90 RBIs. He already has driven in eight runs this spring.</p><p>“I’ve been watching him since he was 7, 8 years old; I knew that guy had something special,” said Zambrano, who is five years older than Sandoval. “He’s going to be one of the best hitters in the National League, and he proved it last year.”</p><p>Jonathan Sanchez allowed three singles, walked none and struck out five in three shutout innings for the Giants, who are 7-1.</p><p>“My fastball was jumping out of my hand, I had a good split and my curveball was working,” said Sanchez, who pitched a no-hitter last July 10 and finished the season with 177 strikeouts in 163 1-3 innings. “I’m not ready, but I’m close.”</p><p>WHITE SOX 9, ATHLETICS 5</p><p>At Phoenix, Ben Sheets considered his short outing in a loss to the Chicago White Sox a step in the right direction. He regularly threw his change-up.</p><p>Sheets, who missed all of 2009 recovering from elbow surgery, allowed six runs — five earned — on five hits with a walk in 2» innings of his second spring start.</p><p>“I’m trying to mow them down. It just don’t go down,” Sheets said. “I’m not trying to give up five or six runs. It’s March 10 and you have bad days. I don’t think it’s outside the ordinary. I think this is a normal spring training for me. I haven’t had much success down here. I just try and get better every time out. I’m definitely not result-oriented.”</p><p>The Athletics got a big lift from their other comeback kid: Eric Chavez.</p><p>He hit his first two home runs of the spring, including a two-run shot in the first off winning pitcher Daniel Hudson and then a sixth-inning solo drive.</p><p>Chavez, a converted first baseman and six-time Gold Glover at third, was forced to switch positions following five operations since Sept. 5, 2007. Two of those were microdiscectomy surgeries in different spots in his back, and he also has undergone three shoulder surgeries.</p><p>So, his powerful swings were a positive sign to say the least.</p><p>Even if they don’t really count. For Chavez, he knows he still has it in him.</p><p>He is still in pain and fears what might happen next, the setback that could derail his career for good.</p><p>“I’m completely confident,” he said. “I just never know what’s in store for tomorrow. I’m just at peace with waking up every day coming to the field and enjoying myself, and I’m in no position to start predicting what’s going to happen tomorrow.”</p><p>Chavez appeared in only eight games in 2009. He had one hit in his last 22 at-bats and was in an 0-for-15 stretch. He hit .100 with one RBI. That’s after he played in only 23 games in 2008, and 90 in ’07.</p><p>Manager Bob Geren said Chavez looked loose and strong during perhaps his best batting practice yet since the team arrived in the desert last month.</p>