What is this all about?
Hey, it's my birthday. Let's see how we've played on every 9-25.
'58-off day, eliminated
'59-off day, 2.5 out, 3 to play
'60-at Los Angeles, the first Giants game on 9-25 was a decade before I was born, we were long since eliminated, but beat the Dodgers 13-9 at the Coliseum (1-0)
'61-at Philadelphia, again, this game doesn't matter as we're eliminated, we get 18 hits, Mike McCormick throws a complete game, we win 10-2 (2-0)
1962 home vs. Cards, this team, of course, is in a season long by gawd pennant race with LA, we come in 3 out with 6 left, only 10,000 paid at the Stick on a Thursday night, Jack Sanford throws a complete game, Orlando Cepeda breaks a 1-1 tie in the 6th with a base hit off of Ernie Broglio, we win 4-2. The Dodgers lose - we cut the deficit to 2 with 5 games remaining. (3-0)
'63-we lose 6-4 to the Phillies in a game that didn't matter. (3-1)
1964 at Chicago, we come in 4.5 out with 9 to play and slice a game off the deficit, barely over 1000 paid at Wrigley on a Friday afternoon, only 7 combined hits in this one, almost as many errors (5) as hits, Gaylord throws a complete game, Tom Haller broke a scoreless tie with a 7th inning homer off Bob Buhl. We win 3-1. Meanwhile - the Phillies lose, we're 3.5 out with 8 to go. (4-1)
1965 home vs. Braves, we come in 1 up with 8 left and beat Milwaukee 7-5, a Len Gabrielson two run single gave us a 4-1 second inning lead. LA also wins. Our lead stays at 1, 7 to go. (5-1)
'66-we lose to Houston 5-4, LA also loses, we stay 4 back with 7 games left. (5-2)
'67 at New York, we're out of the race but walk off the Mets in this one, Jim Ray Hart singles home the winning run in the 10th. (6-2)
'68-we lose to Houston in a meaningless game (6-3)
'69-off day, we're 1.5 back with 6 to go.
'70-hey, look here, the day I was born, thanks 1970, we lost a meaningless game to the Padres (6-4)
'71-we lose to the Reds, the Dodgers win - our lead is down to 1 game with 4 to play (6-5)
'72-off day
'74-we lose a meaningless game to the Padres (6-7)
'75-we lose a meaningless game to the Padres (6-8)
'76-home vs. Astros, it's my 6th birthday and we finally get one, it doesn't matter, but we beat Houston 10-0 in front of an intimate 2400 person Saturday afternoon crowd at the Stick, Jim Barr throws a complete game and hits a triple. (7-8)
'77-we lose a meaningless game to San Diego (7-9)
'78-off day
'79-the Dodgers just crush us in a meaningless game (7-10). Not for nothing, we had six wins before I was born and since - just the one and I'm now 9.
'80-at LA, we get another one, the game doesn't matter but we beat the Dodgers 3-2, Joe Pettini has 3 hits. (8-10)
'81-we were eliminated the day before, but we go to San Diego and shut out the Padres 3-0, Al Holland goes 8, gives up 5 hits. (9-10)
1982 at Los Angeles, it took 11 years, but we play a September 25 game that matters, this '82 team has climbed from the grave, down 13 in early August but we come into this one just 3 off the lead and playing the first place Dodgers. Saturday afternoon, sold out Dodger Stadium for my 12th birthday. It's just great - we're down 3-2 in the 7th when Joe Morgan triples home the tying run off of Fernando. They come back immediately and we're down again, 4-3 in the 8th - and we come back again, Chili ties it with a single off of Fernando and it's 4-4. Morgan's next - and he drives home the go ahead run off of Terry Forster. 5-4 is your final - your San Francisco Giants are now only 2 games out of first place with 8 games left. 2 games! 1982! Happy birthday! (10-10).
'83-we shut out the Astros in a meaningless game, Scott Garrelts throws a complete game 5 hitter and beats Nolan Ryan (Knepper and LaCoss both in relief for Houston). (11-10)
'84-we win again, it's five years straight, this one is a meaningless game against the Padres, 4-3 (12-10)
'85-we're 30 games out, which is fantastic, and we lose to the Padres (12-11)
'86-on my 16th birthday we got no hit by Mike Scott. (12-12)
1987 at Atlanta, we come in 7 games up with 10 left and beat the Braves, Mike Krukow goes 8 and wins the game with a tiebreaking base hit in the 6th inning off Rick Mahler. We win 9-2. The Reds win, we're 7 up with 9 to play. (13-12)
'88-we shut out the Dodgers 2-0, Dennis Cook throws a complete game 2 hitter. (14-12)
'89-we lose to the Dodgers, the Padres also lose, we stay 5 games up with 5 left to play. (14-13)
1990 home vs. Padres, we're on our last breaths but still drawing them, we were up 3-1 in the 8th, Mark Dewey put two on with nobody out, but then got Jack Clark to pop up and a Joe Carter double play to end the inning. We win 3-1 and move 7.5 out with 7 left (the Reds have 8 left). (15-13)
'91-we beat Houston 2-1 on my 21st birthday, up 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Houston had the winning run at the plate, but Jeff Brantley got Andujar Cedeno to fly to center to end the game. (16-13)
'92-we lose to the Reds (16-14)
1993 home vs. Padres, we've won 7 of 8 and come in 1.5 behind the Braves with 9 left, we keep the run going as I turn 23. Salomon Torres goes 8, gives up just 3 hits - Barry hits 2 homers, we win 3-1. Atlanta wins - with 8 games to go, our deficit remains 1.5 (17-14).
'94-season ended awhile ago
'95-the Padres beat us in a meaningless game (17-15).
'96-the Dodgers beat us in a meaningless game (17-16)
'97-off day, we're 2 up with 3 left
1998 at Colorado we've won 7 of 8 and are 1 game out of the WC with 3 to play, pretty big game on my 28th birthday, we play nearly 4 hours at Coors, we came into the 6th down 5-3, but tied the score - and on a Joe Carter bases on balls we took a 6-5 lead and won 8-6. Rich Aurilia had 4 hits. We moved into a 3 way tie for the WC with 2 games left on the season. Happy Birthday! (18-16)
'99-we lose a meaningless game to Arizona (18-17)
'00-off day, we clinched the West on 9-21
'01-we lose to the Dodgers, but Arizona also loses, so with 10 left we're still 1.5 out (18-18)
2002 home vs. Padres, we're 3 down in the West - but 3 up in the WC with only 4 games to go, on my 32nd birthday Livan Hernandez throws a complete game 2 hit shutout, we cruise 6-0. Reggie Sanders hits 2 homers. We stay 3 up in the WC with just 3 games left (and only 2 back in the West). (19-18)
'03-off day, we clinched the West on 9-17
2004 home vs. Dodgers, we come in 2.5 behind LA in the West, 1.5 out in the WC - 8 games left, sold out Pac Bell on Saturday afternoon on my 34th birthday, it's 5-5 in the 8th inning, 2 outs, bases loaded - and of all people, Pedro Feliz hits, of all things, a grand slam off of Yhency Brazoban - we win this one 9-5. We're now 1.5 out in the West, half a game out in the WC - 7 games left (20-18).
2005 at Colorado, we're under .500 but still alive, 5 out with 8 left coming in and then Matt Cain and 4 relievers 5 hit the Rockies. At 2-2 in the 9th, Julio Ramirez (who was an outfielder tha I do not remember) pinch singles the go ahead run off of Brian Fuentes. We win 6-2. Ramirez was a Giant for a dozen games, got just 4 plate appearances and this was his only hit. In fact, in a 5 year big league career Ramirez only got 16 hits and this was the last one. We're 4 out with 7 left (21-18).
'06-we lose a meaningless game to the Diamondbacks (21-19)
'07-we lose a meaningless game to the Padres (21-20)
'08-we lose a meaningless game to the Rockies (21-21)
'09-the Cubs shut us out, we're now 5 out of the WC with 8 to play. (21-22)
'10-the Rockies walk us off, a Tulowitzki double in the bottom of the 10th off Brian Wilson beats us, the Padres win so that's a big loss as we fall out of first place, we're now a half game out in the West (and tied in the WC) with 7 games left in the season (21-23). That's a tough run of birthdays for the now 40 year old Jividen.
'11-we lose again, a meaningless game to Arizona (21-24)
'12-another loss to Arizona, fortunately we clinched the West 3 days prior (21-25)
'13- hey, we win one, it doesn't matter, but we beat the Dodgers on my 43rd birthday 6-4. Tony Abreu had 4 RBI. (22-25)
2014 home vs. Padres it took until my 44th birthday, but look what happens here - we come in 4 up in the WC with 4 to go - and we beat the Padres to clinch the spot (we actually clinched earlier in the day when Milwaukee lost). We had to come back, we blew a 6 run lead, went down 8-6, then scored 3 in the 7th. 8 Giants pitchers in this one, including a relief appearance by Tim Lincecum. 8-8 in the 7th, Matt Duffy bunts home the go ahead run off Nick Vincent. We win 9-8 and clinch a Wild Card spot. (23-25)
2015 we lose to Oakland, we're 8 back with 9 left (23-26)
2016 lost to Padres, we're half up for the last WC spot with 6 to play (23-27)
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
