August 26 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 26 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1970 home vs. Cardinals, we're 18 games out, trying to get to the end of the year, 7-7 in the bottom of the 9th, Jim Ray Hart singles home the winning run off of Frank Linzy.  It took a 2 run homer from McCovey in the 7th to get us to that 9th inning tie.  McCovey was the cleanup hitter for the '70 Giants.  Here's every cleanup hitter in San Francisco history (majority of games at clean up for the season).

58-Ray Jablonski/Hank Sauer
59, 62, 64 -Cepeda
60, 65-66, 68-73,77-79 McCovey
61, 63 Mays
67 -Hart
74-75 Matthews
76-Murcer
80-81 Evans
82- Smith
83-Jack Clark
84-86 Leonard
87-88 Maldonado
89-91 Mitchell
92 -Snyder
93-96 Williams
97-02 Kent (like McCovey, 6 straight years hitting cleanup)
03-04, 06-07 Bonds
05-Moises Alou
08-09 Molina
10, 12-13,15-16 Posey
11-Huff
14-Sandoval


While we're here - what's the most commonly used lineup in Giants history?  Exact order, 1-8?

In 2000, we had this lineup 22 times, by far the most ever in the 21st century:

Benard
Mueller
Bonds
Kent
Snow
Burks
Aurilia
Estalella

1993 came close, with 20 games for this lineup:

Lewis
Thompson
Clark
Williams
Bonds
McGee
Clayton
Manwaring

But if you go back to 1973, you get this lineup - it appeared 23 times. And this is your winner:

Bonds
Fuentes
Maddox
McCovey
Goodson
Matthews
Speier
Rader

1978 home vs. Expos, what has been a three way race every day of the season hits game 129, we are a game out of first, hosting the Expos on a Saturday afternoon (plenty of good seats available, unfortunately). Jim Barr throws a complete game six hitter, the big blow comes in the second - when Johnnie LeMaster doubles home the first run of the game off of Woody Fryman. We win this game 4-1 to stay in the race.  Johnnie LeMaster is an all time bad Giant, maybe the worst San Francisco Giant ever, he had a -5.8 WAR in 11 seasons, he got 3404 plate appearances to post a 62 OPS+.  LeMaster had his best offensive season here, with a 79 OPS+

1987 at Philadelphia, looky here, 3 weeks ago we were in 3rd place, 5 games out of first - but coming into this one, the 126th game of the season, we now hold a 1.5 game lead.  We only get four hits, 2 of them coming in the 9th inning, a 2 out single by Chris Speier and a 2 run homer by Bob Brenly off of Shane Rawley.  Those are the only runs of the game, Dave Dravecky went 7 2/3 giving up 5 hits and striking out 7 and Don Robinson went the rest of the way for the shutout.  The Pirates drafted Dravecky in the 21st round in '78 out of Youngstown St. (10 picks prior, we took Mark Calvert from Tulsa, he pitched in 28 games for us in 83-4 and that was his entire career). Dravecky broke into the majors at age 26 with the Padres in '82; we got him in the middle of the '87 season in just an enormous deal that brought he, Kevin Mitchell, and Craig Lefferts to the good guys for Chris Brown, Mark Davis, Mark Grant and Keith Comstock. Dravecky pitched in only 27 regular season games for the Giants (one fewer than Calvert) and had a 116 ERA+ before cancer ended his career in 1989.  This game was Dravecky's 11th as a Giant.

2002 at Colorado, we're 11.5 out, our biggest deficit of the season, but only half a game behind in the WC, 3-3 with 2 out in the 8th, David Bell homers off Todd Jones and we're gonna win this thing 4-3. Three generations of Bells.
  
Gus Bell WAR 10.6, OPS+ 103, PA 7070
Buddy Bell WAR 61.45 OPS+ 109 PA 10009
David Bell WAR 17.35 OPS+ 85 PA 5380

2009 home vs. Diamondbacks, 6 games out of first place, 4 out of the WC, down 3-1 with 2 out in the 8th, Bengie Molina hits a 3 run homer off Chad Qualls, 4-3 is gonna be the final score.  Bengie Molina was the 15,000th player in MLB history when he debuted with the Angels in '98. We signed him just before the '07 season and he was our starting catcher until Posey took his job during the '10 season. We sent him to Texas in July and he played against us in the World Series.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 25 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 25 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1979 home vs. Cubs, we're 14.5 out of first, John Curtis goes 7, striking out 9, the big shot is a Mike Ivie three run double off Dick Tidrow to break a 2-2 tie in the 7th.  We win 5-2. We got Curtis from the Cardinals in a six man trade right after the '76 season. He was mainly in the pen the first two seasons, but got 18 starts in '79.  He had a Giants career ERA+ of 82.

1984 at New York, we're 23.5 out, Randy Lerch goes 6, striking out 6, the big blow is Bob Brenly's, a three run homer off of Bruce Berenyi to break a 2-2 tie in the 6th.  B on B violence at Shea.  We win 5-4. We got Lerch from the scrap heap for the last two months of the '83 season and he was in our pen in '84, this was one of his 4 Giants starts.  He leaves after this season and only pitches in 4 games the rest of his career.

1999 at Chicago, 8 games out, mid week doubleheader at Wrigley, we took the first game, we're up 6-5 in the 9th, 2 on, 2 out, Robb Nen gets Henry Rodriguez to ground to second to end the game and get us the sweep.  Through 2016 Nen is the 26th greatest player in San Francisco history.

2004 at Florida, 5 out in the west, only one down in the WC, 5-5 with 2 out in the 10th, AJ Pierzynski draws a bases loaded walk off Rudy Seanez to score Ray Durham with what turns out to be the winning run.  Durham led off for the Giants in this game and in 114 other games this season.  Here's every leadoff hitter in San Francisco history (meaning, most common leadoff hitter for each season, I'll go backward).

16-Span
15-Aoki
14-12 Pagan
11-10 Torres
9-Velez
8-F.Lewis
7-Roberts
6-Winn
5-Ellison
4-3 Durham
2-Bell
1-99, 96 Benard
98-97 Hamilton
95-92 D.Lewis
91-Felder
90-88 Butler
87- Milner
86-84 Gladden
83-LeMaster
82-Davis
81-Morgan
80-79 North
78-Madlock
77-Thomas
76-Herndon
75-Joshua
74-69 Bonds
68-Hunt
67-J.Alou
66-Fuentes
65-Schofield
64-62 Kuenn
61-Amalfitano
60-Blasingame
59-58 Davenport



2009 home vs. Arizona, 7 out after losing 3 straight at Coors, only 4 out of the WC, so there's still a possibility we're playing in October.  2-2 in the 8th, Travis Ishikawa hits a 3 run homer off of Jon Rauch, we hold on and win 5-4.  23 career regular season home runs for Ishikawa, all but 6 of which were with the Giants (see how I said "regular season"?)  This was the 12th.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 24 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 24 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1963 home vs. Reds, we're 6.5 out, so still have a chance of making a run in September, 3-3, bases loaded, 2 out in the bottom of the 12th, Chuck Hiller singles home the winning run off of Al Worthington. Let's take a look at the career Giants OPS+ and PA of every starting second baseman.

O'Connell 82, 839
Spencer 85, 2846
Blasingame 71, 586
Amalfitano 76, 976
Hiller 70, 1650
Lanier 50, 3743 (you cannot, just, it is malpractice to give 3700 PA to someone with a 50 OPS+)
Fuentes 80, 4183
Hunt 103, 1661
Thomas 91, 1492
Perez 81, 375
Andrews 74, 873
Madlock 120, 1364 (it took us 20 years, but we finally got a second baseman who could hit)
Strain 71, 492
Stennett 64, 517
Morgan 128, 932 (he's 37-38 years old, and the best bat at second we had to that point)
Wellman 59, 706
Trillo 74, 942
Thompson 105, 5235
Patterson 58, 452
Scarsone 88, 810
Kent 136, 3903 (Kent mashed)
Durham 105, 2958
Burriss 57, 801
Sanchez 98, 847
Theriot 83, 384
Scutaro 119, 828
Panik 102, 1687

1968 at Los Angeles, 13 games out of first, so playing out the string, Ray Sadecki throws a complete game, striking out 11.  The big shot comes in the 5th, down 3-2, Ty Cline hits a 3 run homer off Don Drysdale, we're gonna win this one 9-7. We bought Cline from the Braves during the '67 season, he hit okay, enough that this year we made him our starting left fielder and he was an unmitigated disaster, with a 58 OPS+ in 310 PA.  The Expos took him (thanks, Expos) in the expansion draft following the season, and he finished his career in Cincinnati in '71.

Walk off 1983 home vs. Phillies, we're 15.5 out, Steve Carlton throws a complete game here, it's 3-3 in the 9th and Joel Youngblood hits a 2 run homer and we win this 5-3.  Lefty Carlton is a Hall of Famer and Joel Youngblood was a guy with 80 career homers - but he hit 5 against Steve Carlton. Youngblood was 27 of 82 (.329) career against Lefty with an .887 OPS.

1984 at New York, we're 24.5 out headed to a Friday doubleheader at Shea, down 6-4 in the 8th Bob Brenly hit s 3 run homer off Jesse Orosco, we win this one 7-6. This was Brenly's second homer of the game, he hit a 2 run shot in the 6th off Ron Darling. These were the 27th-28th homers of his career.  This was a hot month for Brenly, he hit 8 (and only had 91 in his career, so this was a big month).  In fact, forget the whole month - Brenly hit 6 homers in 9 days.  Against John Denny on the 20th, these two against the Mets, the next day he hits another against the Mets, off of Bruce Berenyi, then two against the Expos on the 28th and 29th.

1995 at Montreal, we're 8.5 out and still, maybe, just maybe in the race, down 3-2 in the 8th, Glenallen Hill hits a three run double off of Mel Rojas, we win this one 5-3. 3 seasons as a Giant for Hill, a 109 OPS+.  You know who Hill would rake?  Denny Naegle.  7 career homers in 32 AB, a near 1.500 OPS. He was less prolific against Chuck Finley, 4 hits in 29 at bats.     

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 23 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 August 23 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1964 home vs. Cards, we're 7.5 out, so it's not impossible we make a run, 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th, 2 out - a Dal Maxvill error on a Harvey Kuenn ground ball scores Jesus Alou with the winning run.  5 years and a 101 career OPS+ for Kuenn in San Francisco. He goes to the Cubs in the middle of the next season.

Walk off 1970 home vs. Cubs, we're 19.5 back, Ken Holtzman 1 hit us the day before, I'm a month from birth, Marichal throws a complete game 5 hitter, but we're down 3-2 with 2 out in the 9th, Frank Johnson pinch hits a two run single off of Phil Regan to send everyone home. Frank was bad, so of course he was a Pureblood, six big league seasons, all with the Giants.  Career -2.6 WAR, OPS+ 52 as a backup OF. His last season is '71 when he has 4 hits in 49 at bats.

1978 at New York, half a game out on game 127 of this great, great, great 1978 season, 1-1 with 2 out in the 9th, Marc Hill doubles home the go ahead run off of Dale Murray, and 2-1 is the final score. We got Hill as a 22 year old from the Cards after the '74 season for Elias Sosa and Ken Rudolph; he backed up in '75-6 and became the starting catcher in '77.  You can't say a guy with 2 and a half WAR in 14 years really had "career seasons" but both offensively and defensively '77 and '78 were the height of his career or at least his Giants run. He spent 6 seasons in San Francisco (OPS+ 74) and we sold him to the Mariners during the '80 season.  Let's look at the career Giants OPS+ and PA for each of our starting catchers.

Schmidt 89, 1009
Landrith 84, 641
Bailey 114, 1096
Haller 114, 2744
Dietz 130, 1983 (Dietz could hit him some baseball)
Rader 89, 2011
Hill 74, 1370
Littlejohn 55, 540
May 99, 1384
Brenly 108, 2903
Melvin 74, 842
Kennedy 88, 918
Decker 66, 506
Manwaring 75, 2384 (that's a lot of PA for so little bat)
Lampkin 90, 290
Wilkins 88, 393
Johnson 101, 547
Mayne 103, 691
Estalella 105, 466
Santiago 92, 1466
Pierzynski 86, 510
Matheny 75, 662
Alfonzo 84, 387
Molina 89, 1827
Posey 136, 4142

1983 home vs. Phillies, 16.5 out, 1-1 with 2 out in the 8th, Darrell Evans hits a 2 run homer off of Al Holland and 3-1 is the final score.  Evans had 414 career homers, which is a ton, this is 258, he only has four more as a Giant.  The last two will come against Mike Scott and Orel Hershiser.



2001 at Montreal, a month ago we were 6 and a half out, that's now down to 1.5 (and up 1 in the WC) it's 5-5 in the 9th...but here comes that bad man...Barry Bonds pinch homers off Graeme Lloyd and we're gonna go on to win 10-5. This is number 55 of 73 on the year, Barry hit a dozen homers in August.  It's 549 out of 762 on his career.  Barry hit 4 pinch homers in his career, this is the third - the first two were against the Giants, off Joe Price in '88 and Bedrosian in '89.  His last pinch homer is in 2006 against Billy Wagner.  Bobby passes away 2 years from this game to the day.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 22 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 22 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1968 at New York, we're 14 out, but that doesn't bother Gaylord Perry, who had a complete game win here, the big blow coming on a Dick Dietz two run 9th inning single off of Don Sutton to give the Giants a 3-1 lead, the final margin of victory. Gaylord's career Giants ERA was 119, his IP 2294. Let's take a look at the career Giants marks for all the Giants aces.

Antonelli 124, 1600
McCormick 98, 1822
O'Dell 101, 921
Marichal 125, 3443
Perry 119, 2294
Bryant 95, 908
Barr 109, 1800
Montefusco 105, 1182
Halicki 103, 1027
Knepper 96, 970
Blue 99, 1131
Alexander 119, 152
Laskey 92, 686
Breining 106, 430
LaPoint 97, 206
Krukow 92, 1154
Downs 98, 762
Reuschel 104, 601
Burkett 96, 997
Black 91, 539
Swift 138, 506 (look at the ERA+ on Swift, we got him right in the heart of his career)
Leiter 92, 331
Watson 88, 185
Estes 98, 990
Gardner 88, 951
Ortiz 101, 973
Hernandez 92, 746
Schmidt 126, 1069 (Schmidt in 2003, ERA+ 180, 207 IP)
Lowry 109, 618 (Pureblood Giant)
Cain 109, 2074 (his last stretch gets him over 2000 IP)
Lincecum 107, 1643
Bumgarner 123, 1470

Walk off 1976 home vs. Expos, we're 25.5 back, we walked off the Expos the day before and do it again in front of just a little more than 5000 paid on a Sunday afternoon at the Stick. 3-3 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Gary Matthews singles home the winning run off of Chuck Taylor.  Sarge never had a season with an OPS+ below 100 until his last year, 1987. This was his last Giants season and he was off to the Braves.

1980 at Philadelphia, only 7.5 out, so if we can go on a run we can make it a race, Steve Carlton goes the distance, strikes out 13, but at 3-3 with 2 out in the 10th, Mike Ivie singled home Billy North with what turned out to be the winning run.  We got the last 3 years of North's career, signing him as a free agent in '79 after he spent a year with the Dodgers.  He spent two seasons as our starting CF, had a career Giants OPS+ of 98, led MLB in caught stealing in '79, and finished his career after the '81 season.

1988 home vs. Expos, we're 5.5 out having won 5 straight, we get a complete game from Rick Reuschel but trail 2-0 in the 7th when Ernie Riles hits a 3 run homer off Bryn Smith. That 3-2 score is the final.  How'd we get Earnie Riles?  It starts with Tito Fuentes.

In '74 we traded Fuentes to the Padres for Derrel Thomas
In '78 we traded Thomas back to the Padres for Mike Ivie
In '81 we traded Ivie to the Astros for Jeffrey Leonard
And in '88, we traded Leonard to the Brewers for Earnie Riles.

In doesn't end there, in '90 we traded Riles to the A's for Darren Lewis.  It basically stops there, Lewis is part of the larger deal that gets us Deion Sanders, but there are a ton of players in that trade.

Walk off 1993 home vs. Marlins, a month before we had a 10 game lead in the west, it's down to 7.5 now, but that's still fine, it's August 22 after all, game 124, we're 41 games over .500 for Chrissakes.  But...we're down 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th (and that's after scoring 3 in the 8th) down to our last strike, Bryan Harvey has a 1-2 count on Robby Thompson ---- who hits a 2 run walk off homer off a split finger fasball to left to beat the Marlins and maintain our lead.  The Braves, who seemingly haven't lost a game in two months, come to the Stick tomorrow for a 3 game series and we're clearly in good shape....right?  11 big league seasons for Thompson, all of them in San Francisco.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!