What is this all about?
Yesterday
Here are the top 5 September 3 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1969 home vs. Expos on July 3 we were 6.5 back - on August 3 we were tied for first, we come into game 135 with a half game lead, fewer than 4,000 paid on a Wednesday afternoon at the Stick (hey, folks, maybe we would have won a title before 2010 if you bothered to come to the yard, not for nothing) Marichal throws a complete game cause of course he did, but in the 7th we still trailed 1-0, Jim Davenport hit a 2 run single off of Mike Wegener, and we somehow win a game in which we only got 2 hits, 2-1.
Walk off 1977 home vs. Cardinals, the season's over, 5600 paid get 4 hours of baseball on a Saturday night, Bill Madlock hits a couple of homers, it's 5-5 with 2 out in the 14th, Tim Foli singles home the winning run off of Pete Falcone. This was Foli's season as our starting shorstop - you can get a look at every starting shortstop in San Francisco history a little below.
1978 home vs. Phillies, we're 2.5 out, that's as far as we've been out of first place since the end of April. We lost in extras the night before and host a Sunday doubleheader against the Phillies. The total game time for the entire day is less than 4 hours. Bob Knepper throws a complete game in the opener, we win 4-1; it's Montefusco in game 2, he goes 8, gives up 6 baserunners, we still trail 2-1 with 2 out in the 8th when Hector Cruz (brother of Jose, uncle of future Giant Jose) hits a 2 run single off Warren Brusstar. We hold on to that lead, win 3-2, and move 1 game out of first place with 25 left. There should definitely be a 40th anniversary ceremony in 2018 for the '78 club.
Walk off 1982 home vs. Cardinals on July 31 we were 13 back, on August 15 we were 4 back, this is game 134 and we split it down the middle, 9 games out of first place and seemingly out of the race, Atlee Hammaker goes 7, gives up just 4 hits, it's 2-2 in the 10th, Chili Davis leads off with a triple off Bruce Sutter and then scores on a Darrell Evans sac fly. Atlee's 24, in his first year with the Giants after coming over from the Royals in the Vida Blue deal. His great season is '83, he leads MLB in ERA+ with 159; over his 8 seasons with the Giants he's solid, a 101 career ERA+ in 1008 IP. We let him go during the 1990 season, he finishes his career with the White Sox in '95.
Walk off 2012 home vs. Diamondbacks, we're 4.5 games up, that's good shape at game 135 in the season, 13 pitchers and 30 hits for both teams in a nearly 4 hour game. 8-8 with 2 out in the 9th, Marco Scutaro singles home Brandon Crawford off of Bryan Shaw with the winning run. This was a 3 hit day for Crawford, we've looked at the history of every other position, plus aces and closers - here's San Francisco shortstop history, by OPS+ and PA.
58-Spencer 85, 2846
59-60 Bressoud 81, 1377
61-4 Pagan 69, 2242
65 Schofield 43, 439 (good god, the bats, from Pagan to Schofield)
66 Fuentes 80, 4183
67-70 Lanier 50, 3743 (the bats - I need someone to hear me, please, the bats)
71-6 Speier 93, 4284
77 Foli 53, 387
78-84 LeMaster 62, 3404 (it's just shocking how many bad bats we've had at short)
85-91 Uribe 76, 3283
92-5 Clayton 76, 1966
96, 98-03 Aurilia 98, 4879
97 Vizcaino 73, 766
04 - Deivi Cruz 88, 652 (one of the best San Francisco shortstop bats, so just sit with that)
05-8 Vizquel 75, 2185
09- Renteria 76, 777
10- Juan Uribe 107, 1007 (thank you Juan Uribe)
11-7 Crawford 96, 3465
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
