Yesterday
Here are the top 5 September 4 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
Walk off 1981 home vs. Cubs, we're 9.5 out with 29 games left in strike shortened '81, Tom Griffin went 7, it was 2-2 with 2 out in the 10th when - that man again - Jack Clark homered off Dick Tidrow to send everyone home. We signed 31 year old Griffin at the beginning of the '79 season, he spent two years in our pen and then joined the rotation this season. His best year was '80, with a 129 ERA+ and his career Giants totals were solid, 101 ERA+ in 331 IP. Next year Griffin was in Pittsburgh for the last six games of his career.
Walk off 1982 home vs. Cardinals, less than 3 weeks before we were 4 back, now it's 9 here at game 135, we walked off the Cards the night before and do it again here, down 4-2 with 2 out in the 9th inning, 2 men on, Bruce Sutter on the mound...and Jack Freaking Clark hits a 3 run homer to win the game. Of Clark's 8 career walk off home runs, this is the only one which came when his team was trailing. Clark hit his first 163 homers as a Giant, we deal him at 29 years old to the Cards, he goes on to hit 9 homers against us. 2 off Vida in '85, he walked us off in '87 with a homer off Lefferts. He's a Padre in '89 and gets us 3 times against Reuschel and (in both ends of a doubleheader) Garrelts and Downs. In '90 he gets us 3 times, all within a 9 day span in April - against Quisenberry, Reuschel, and Hammaker.
Walk off 1985 home vs. Phillies, this is a hundred loss club, so we're 25.5 out here, it's another big 9th inning comeback homer, we trail 3-1 with 2 out, 2 on, and Rob Deer, who hasn't gotten a mention yet, hits a 3 run homer off Freddie Tolliver for the 4-3 win. We drafted Deer in the 4th round as a 17 year old in '78 (the Angels got Mike Witt 7 spots later). He played in 91 games in San Francisco, had only 34 hits (a .183 BA) and struck out 81 times, but hit 11 homers and had a 97 OPS+. We gave him to Milwaukee at the end of the season and that basically became his career - his career BA was .220, he led MLB in strikeouts 4 times but hit 230 career home runs for an OPS+ of 109. A really remarkable feast or famine offensive player. Deer finished his career as a Padre in '96.
Walk off 1987 home vs. Phillies, we moved into a first place tie on August 15 and are now 4.5 up in the West with 28 games to go. Still only 16,000 paid on a Friday night at the Stick, Atlee goes 7, gives up 5 hits, 2-2 with an out in the 10th, Will Clark homers off of Wally Ritchie to send them all home happy. Clark was 23 in '87, finished 5th in the MVP race. The best two years of his Giants career are the subsequent two. Will hit 176 Giants homers before leaving for Texas when he was 30, he hit two homers against us, both in '98, on back to back days in June, against John Johnstone and Kirk Rueter. Less than a week prior, Will and Jeff Leonard fought in the clubhouse
2010 at Los Angeles, we were 6 back a week before but that number has been cut in half, we're also 3 out in the WC, so with 27 games left we are right there as we head down the stretch. Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, we trail 4-0 through 6, but have cut that to 4-3 with one on and one out in the 9th - Juan Uribe hits a 2 run homer off Jonathan Broxton and we're gonna win this thing 5-4. Uribe was a utilityman in '09, the starting shortstop in 10, solid with the bat, a Giants career OPS+ of 107 in just over 1000 PA. He hit 9 career homers against us, three when he was with the Rockies (Rueter, Jensen, Foppert) then fast forward a decade, as a Dodger he got us 4 times (Kickham, Bumgarner, 2 off Lincecum) and then with the Braves, on consecutive days in May of 2015 (Machi and Bumgarner).
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
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