May 1
What is this all about?
Here are the top 5 May 1 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1959 at Milwaukee, it's year two for the San Francisco Giants; scoreless in the 5th, Bob Schmidt hits a three run homer off Carl Willey, the Giants beat the Braves 6-4. Schmidt had been in the organization since '51 but didn't make the club until the move west; he was the primary starting catcher on that first San Francisco club and got a thousand plate appearances until being moved with Don Blasingame to the Reds for Ed Bailey.
Walk off 1973 home vs Pittsburgh, the Giants came in 18-6 but were down 7-1 headed to the bottom of the 9th. We batted around. Batted around in the bottom of the 9th, how about that? We got a 2 out grand slam from Chris Arnold (one of only 4 career homers) - but still that only cut the score to 7-5, and with 2 out, nobody on and a 2 run deficit how good do you feel about winning the game (you shouldn't feel good, you're gonna lose 99% of the time). We loaded the bases a second time - and Dave Giusti gave up a 3 run double to Bobby Bonds and the Giants had as improbable a comeback as you're likely to see.
2004 home vs Marlins, 7th inning, down 3-2, 2 out, bases loaded, perhaps the least likeable player in San Francisco history, AJ Pierzynski singled home 2 off of Carl Pavano. We won 6-3. You know how they say "he's the type of player who you hate when he's on the other team but you love when he's on your team"? That's not Pierzynski. You just hate that guy. He hit into a league leading 27 double plays in his one season in San Francisco.
2013 at Arizona, down 6-4 in the 8th, 2 on, 2 out, Brandon Belt hits a two strike 3 run homer off David Hernandez and the Giants win 9-6. Through 2016, this was Belt's best year with the bat, an OPS+ of 139.
Walk off 2015 home vs Angels, 2-2 in the 9th, bases loaded, 2 out, Joe Panik breaks the tie with a pinch hit off Joe Smith to score Gregor Blanco and the Giants win it 3-2. Through 2016, this was Panik's best season, the 32nd best season for a second baseman in organizational history.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
