Jonathan Sanchez's bold guarantee in early August might have been premature, immature or just plain foolish.
But as of this moment, it isn't wholly inaccurate.
Sanchez promised the Giants would wrest first place from the San Diego Padres, and after he struck out a career-high 12 batters in a convincing, 10-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night, that's exactly what they've done.
Combined with the Padres' loss at St. Louis, the Giants' victory gave them a half-game advantage in the NL West -- the first time they claimed sole possession of first place in September since 2003.
The rowdy crowd of 38,434 cheered while watching one final show -- the rearranging of the flags atop the right-field arcade, showing the current standings in the division.
Sanchez predicted the Giants' black banner would fly atop the pole a few weeks earlier, but the Padres beat him Aug. 13 and wrecked his crystal-ball visions of a sweep.
Sanchez isn't playing the fool now, though. He became the first Giants left-hander to strike out at least 12 without a walk since Atlee Hammaker in 1983. Since then, Jason Schmidt (once) and Tim Lincecum (three times) are the only other Giants to have an outing meeting those standards.
The Giants are 11-4 in Sanchez's starts since early July. And the left-hander is rolling with confidence.
"I've never been in the postseason. I've never celebrated," Sanchez said. "That's what I want. Postseason, too. We're better than just getting to the playoffs. We get there, I think we're going to be tough to beat." Giants manager Bruce Bochy waited until the top of the eighth to take Sanchez out of the game, ensuring the pitcher would receive a sustained, standing ovation. One outing after he pitched ultra carefully against the Padres while issuing seven walks, Sanchez knew he had the stuff to dominate the listless Dodgers. "Anything I threw today was going to be good," he said. New papa Aubrey Huff cracked a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the third inning, Buster Posey made it back-to-back shots, and Jose Guillen added a two-run drive deep into the left-field bleachers in the fifth as the Giants won their fifth consecutive series. They also beat the Dodgers for the 10th time in 18 games, capturing the first season series from their archrivals since 2005. It was an impressive accomplishment, considering the Giants lost five of six to the Dodgers before the All-Star break. "You've got to keep winning series," said Huff, whose wife gave birth to a son, Jagger, on Wednesday. "I haven't slept for two days. I didn't know how much I had in the tank, to be honest. Goes to show you sleep is overrated." Sanchez, the object of so many offseason trade rumors, is looking untouchable in more ways than one. Despite making his career-high 30th start, Sanchez has a 0.52 ERA in his past three outings -- all Giants victories. The opening moments weren't as promising. Rafael Furcal hit a leadoff double and scored when third baseman Juan Uribe fielded a sacrifice bunt and threw it into the stands. But Sanchez retained his composure, and then some. He retired the next 12 hitters in order, striking out six as the Dodgers kept expanding the zone. Sanchez didn't make it easy to lay off, mixing his splitter, slider and emerging changeup with a live-wire fastball that hitters always have a problem seeing out of his hand. The Giants wiped out Sanchez's unearned run in the bottom of the first on Huff's triple and Posey's double. New leadoff man Edgar Renteria surprised the Dodgers with a bunt single to set up the big third inning as Huff and Posey cut their drives through fog that crept below the light standards. The fog lifted in the late innings -- making those flags easy to see.
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