Yesterday
Here are the top 5 August 16 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1968 at Philadelphia, we're 15 out, tied at 5 with an out in the 9th, Ron Hunt doubles home 2 off of Gary Wagner, we win it 7-5. Hunt came over from the Dodgers for Haller in the offseason, this was the first of 7 consecutive seasons in which he led the league in being hit by pitches. In '71, with the Expos, he got hit 50 times. That's the most since the 19th century and second most is 15 fewer. No one is ever getting hit 50 times in a season again, even if a team filled with Stricklands pitches to a team filled with Harpers.
Walk off 1987 home vs. Dodgers, on the 5th we were 5 out, but guess what's happening now - we are tied for first place in mid August and hosting LA on a Sunday afternoon (Dravecky beat Fernando with a 4 hitter the day before, which is also pretty good). Mike LaCoss goes 10 innings like he's Marichal, gives up just 3 hits - it's scoreless (Welch was on the other side) with 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, Eddie Milner singles home the winning run off of Tim Leary. The Reds drafted LaCoss in the third round in '74 out of high school in Visalia (Pete Vukovich and Rance Mulliniks were the best players from the round, we took Alan Wirth out of a Phoenix high school, he pitched 23 games for the A's in the late 70s). The Reds call up LaCoss 4 years later, and at age 22 he's in their rotation. They let him go after four seasons, and after stops in Houston and Kansas City, LaCoss signs with the Giants before the '86 season, he's with us 6 basically replacement level seasons (this is his best, with an ERA+ of 106) and ends his career with us in '91.
2001 home vs. Marlins, a game back in the west but we're up 1 in the wild card, we're looking for our 5th straight win, down 3-2 in the 8th, maybe you heard of him - Barry Bonds hits a 3 run bomb off of Vic Darensbourg and we win it 5-3. It's a 259 OPS+ for the 36 year old Bonds in the year he breaks the single season home run record. He homered off AJ Burnett earlier in the game, numbers 52-3 on the season and 546-47 for his career.
2004 home vs. Expos, a month ago we were half a game out, 5 days ago it was 8.5, but we've won 4 straight and are 6.5 out of first in the west (and tied for the wild card) about to open 4 at home against Montreal. 5-5 in the 8th, Ricky Ledee pinch singles home the go ahead run off of Chad Cordero, we're gonna win this one 8-5. We got Ledee at the deadline from the Phillies for Felix Rodriguez; he played 34 games for the Giants, and was, to put it politely, as bad as a baseball player could be in those games, 6 hits in 53 at bats, an OPS+ of -7. He'll be a Dodger next season and finish up with the Mets in '07.
2006 at San Diego, on July 22 we were in first place, we aren't anymore, we're 7.5 back (five out in the wild card) and needing to go on a run. We beat the Padres the night before, this one is a near 4 and a half hour Wednesday night, at 5-5 with 2 out in the 13th, Eliezer Alfonzo singles home the go ahead run off of Alan Embree. Alfonzo was a 27 year old rookie who got most of the starts behind the plate in '06 as the end came for Mike Matheny. We got Bengie Molina in '07 and that pushed Alfonzo to the bench, Alfonzo signs with the Padres after the '08 season and finishes his career in Colorado in 2011.
See you tomorrow. I'll be at the park today. Go Giants!
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