What is this all about?
Here are are the September 26 games that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.
1959 at St Louis we come in 2.5 out with 3 left, in St Louis for the final series of the season and Sam Jones no hits the Cards, kind of. Jones was the first African-American to throw a no hitter (with the Cubs in '55). Rain stopped this game in the 8th - at the time, Jones was credited with a no-hitter, subsequently an interpretation change required a no-hitter to go at least 9 innings and Jones lost that designation for this game. McCovey hit a 2 run homer in the 7th off Ernie Broglio to give us the 4-0 final. So - how about that as an all time great Giants pitching performance, Sam Jones in a must win game gives up no hits (walks just two). The Dodgers lose - and we move to 1.5 out with 2 left.
1962 home vs. Cards, we come in 2 out with 5 left, once again, playing the Cards but chasing the Dodgers. Once again we win, up 4-3 in the 8th, Tom Haller hits a 2 run homer off of Bob Duliba, we win 6-3. LA wins too. 4 games left - still down 2.
1964-off day, 3.5 out, 8 left
1965-we lose to the Braves, the Dodgers win - so they catch us with 6 games left. We had runners on the corners with 1 out in the 9th, trailing by a run, but couldn't score it.
1966 at Atlanta, better result against the Braves a year later - we're 4 out with 7 left and win 8-2, Marichal throws a complete game, because of course he does, striking out 11, we get it going early with a 2 run McCovey homer in the first. Unfortunately, just like '62 and '65, we're trailing the Dodgers and as in those years they win. We're still 4 back now with 6 games to play.
1969 at Los Angeles, we aren't chasing LA in '69, but we are in second, 1.5 behind the Braves with 6 to play. Gaylord throws a complete game 4 hitter, we win 2-1, getting both runs on a first inning Bobby Bonds single off of Don Sutton. The Braves win. 5 left, still 1.5 back.
1971 at Cincinnati, this time the Dodgers are stalking us, they've made up 7 games in 3 weeks and come in 1 back with 4 left. Juan Marichal throws a complete game, BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES, we get 17 hits and a dozen runs, the big shot a Dick Dietz grand slam off of Wayne Granger to give us a 7-2 lead in the 5th. 12-5 is the final. LA wins. We're 1 up with 3 left.
1982 at Los Angeles, we've cut 11 games off the lead in a dramatic late season push (even more dramatic as we hadn't seen the postseason in 11 years). We're 2 back with 8 left and trying to sweep the first place Dodgers in LA...and we do. We do! We scored all of our runs in the 5th - Jack Clark broke a scoreless tie with a double off Burt Hooten - and then Darrell Evans hit a two run homer. We win this one 3-2. We are tied with the Braves, both of us 1 game back with 7 left. 1982!!!!!!!
1987-we lose to the Braves, but the Reds lose, we stay up 7 games now with 8 to play.
1989-we lose to the Dodgers, the Padres win, we're 4 up with 4 to play.
1990-we beat the Padres 7-6 but are eliminated anyway when the Reds win. Matt Williams had 10 total bases in this one.
1993 home vs. Padres, we've won 8 of 9 and are 1.5 behind the Braves with 8 left, Bill Swift goes 8, gives up just 3 hits, we're down 1-0 in the 4th and Barry Bonds hits a 2 run homer off of Doug Brocail. We win our 9th in 10 games, 5-2. The Braves win again, with 7 left the deficit is still 1.5
So, just before this winning streak, of course, was when we lost the season, we dropped 8 straight at home and gave up 7 games to the Braves during the stretch (3.5 up to 3.5 down).
9-7 lost to Pirates, up 3-2 with 2 out in the 8th, Michael Jackson gave up a 2 run homer to Don Slaught.
9-9 lost to Cards, Jim DeShaies started, didn't get out of the second, the Cards then got 6 in the the 6th and beat us 9-4
9-10 lost to Cards, this was the day they caught us, we had been alone in first every day for four months, we were up 2-1 with 2 out in the 7th, Tom Pagnozzi hit a 2 run double off Salomon Torres and we lose 6-2.
9-11 lost to Cards, we got 12 hits and only gave up 6 - but still lost 3-1.
9-12 lost to Cards, a 4 game series sweep at the Stick that dropped us to second place, we were down 4-2 in the 7th, one on, nobody out, Todd Burns got Mark Carreon to line into a double play and our best chance was done.
9-13 lost to Cubs, we were down 6-2, but got one in each of the last 3 innings to cut it to 6-5, but Carreon was left at second as Randy Myers struck out Steve Hosey.
9-14 lost to the Cubs, Jose Bautista five hit us. So, there's that.
9-15, it ended here, the Cubs swept us at home, we got 4 hits.
We were then down 3.5 but that was 11 days ago. It's 1.5 now with 7 left.
1997 home vs. Padres, it's one of those years where the Dodgers are chasing us, we're 2 up with 3 left and we murder the Padres 17-4. We get 18 hits, Bonds homers, Kent homers and doubles, Darryl Hamilton and Jose Vizcaino each get 3 hits. Kent's 3 run first inning homer got it going. LA wins - so with 2 games to play we have a 2 game lead.
1998 at Colorado, we're in a 3 way tie for the WC spot with 2 to play, we get 15 hits and 8 runs at Coors and take care of business. Bonds, Kent and Javier each get 3 hits, a 2 run Charlie Hayes homer gave us a 5-1 lead in the 4th. We win 8-4 - the Cubs also win, so with 1 day left in the season we remain in a WC tie.
2000- NL West Champs (clinched 9-21)
2001 at Los Angeles, playing the Dodgers but chasing Arizona, 1.5 out with 10 to go, we were down 3-2 in the 8th, but JT Snow tied it with a run scoring single, that lead was short lived, we were down 4-3 going to the 9th - an Aurilia double/Santiago sac fly tied the score - and we won the game on a 2 out, 2 run John Vander Wal base hit off of Jesse Orosco. We win 6-4, Arizona wins, we remain 1.5 out with 9 to play.
2002 off day, 3 up in WC with 3 left.
2003- NL West Champs (clinched 9-17)
2004 we lose to the Dodgers, fall 2.5 out in the West, remain half a game out in the WC, 6 games left - this run from '97-'04 is our best baseball since the '60s, those two stretches stand alone in San Francisco history for sustained regular season excellence.
2005 at San Diego, we're under .500 but on a good roll and have pulled to 4 behind the first place Padres with 7 to play. We're down 2-1 with 2 out in the 9th, Trevor Hoffman looking to put a nail in our 2005 coffin, but Randy Winn triples home the tying run and then JT Snow singles home the go ahead. Brad Hennessey and 4 relievers combine on a 3 hitter and we're now 3 games out of first with 6 to go.
2009 - the Cubs beat us at home, we're 5 out of the WC with 7 left.
2010 at Colorado, we've spent the past 10 days moving in and out of first place - we're a half game out coming into this one with 7 to go. Main Cain goes into Coors and throws a 3 hit complete game (he had a no hitter into the 8th) strikes out 8, walks just one. Up 4-2 in the 9th, with Troy Tulowitzki the tying run at the plate, Cain got him to pop up and then struck out Jason Giambi to finish it off. San Diego lost - so with 6 games to play we moved back into first place in the West by a half game.
2012 - NL West Champs (clinched 9-22)
2014 - NL Wild Card (clinched 9-25)
2015 at Oakland - we beat the A's 14-10 to stay alive in the West, 7 out with 8 to play. We were down 10-7 through 6, got 2 in the 7th - caught the A's in the 8th, and then put them away with a 2 out Jarrett Parker grand slam off Ryan Dull that gave us the 14-10 final margin of victory. Parker hit 3 homers, had 7 RBI on the day. Tim Hudson started against Barry Zito in a battle of two old Oakland arms.
2016 - off day, the Cards lose so we're 1 up for the last WC spot with 6 left.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
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