What is this all about?
Yesterday
Here are the top 5 August 28 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1964 at Braves, 8 games out of first on game 129 of the season, we get 5 hits, but one of them comes in the 9th inning, 2-2, Del Crandall singles home what turns out to be the winning run off of Wade Blasingame (aided by a Lee Maye throwing error). Crandall was a Brave lifer - finished second in the Rookie of the Year in '49 when he was 19 and the Braves were still in Boston (Newcombe won). He came back from Korea in '53, the team was in Milwaukee and he started a near decade long run as their starting catcher. We got him in the offseason in the Felipe Alou trade and Crandall played in 69 games as a Giant. We sent him to Pittsburgh before the '65 season and he finished as an Indian the following year.
Walk off 1968 home vs. Astros, 11 games out of first, only 4700 at the Stick on a Wednesday afternoon, 3-3 in the 9th, Bobby Bonds gets us a win with a literal walk off, forcing a bases loaded walk off of John Buzhardt to win the game. Here's the OPS+, PA of every starting RF in San Francisco history. Going backward with this one.
Pence 114, 2727
Schierholtz 98, 1316
Winn 100, 2799
Tucker 91, 833
Cruz 104, 650
Sanders 107, 571
Rios 123, 809 (Rios is our best post-Burks RF bat)
Burks 151, 1104 (Burks was a wrecking machine)
Javier 97, 1677
Hill 109, 1388
McGee 107, 1748
Bass 98, 923
Maldonado 109, 1862
Davis 113, 3564
Clark 134, 4300
Murcer 125, 1256
Bonds 131, 4610
Jesus Alou 84, 2347
Ollie Brown 84, 942
Felipe Alou 116, 2478
Kirkland 112, 1548
2000 at Pittsburgh, we're 73-55 with a 2.5 game lead in the West, it's 4-4 in the 9th, Russ Davis hits a leadoff homer off Scott Sauerbeck and we win this one 5-4. Davis finished up his career in San Francisco in '00 and '01 after a half dozen seasons in the AL. He was solid as our backup third baseman with a 100 OPS+. Davis had 84 career homers, the last 16 with the Giants, this was his 6th.
2005 home vs. Mets, 7 games out of first, so while it's unlikely, it's not impossible we go on a September run. Noah Lowry goes 8, gives up just 5 hits, the big shot is Pedro Feliz's, he hits a 2 run homer off Kris Benson in the 6th to break a 1-1 tie. We win it 4-1. Lowry's career was short, five seasons, all of which in San Francisco, almost all of which in the rotation. Lowry has a career ERA+ of 109 in 618 innings pitched.
2012 at Houston, it's game 128 and we're 2.5 games up and starting a series in Houston, Matt Cain goes 7 and a third, gives up 6 hits, we trailed 2-1 in the 9th when Joaquin Arias singled home Brandon Belt off Wilton Lopez to tie and Hector Sanchez singled home Arias off Lopez for the win. Arias spent the last four years of his career as a utilityman in San Francisco, he had an 80 OPS+ in 843 plate appearances.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
