What is this all about?
Yesterday
Here are the top 5 August 30 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1962 home vs. Braves, it's game 133, we're 3.5 games out of first place despite an 83-49 record. The last time we saw first place was July 7 as the Dodgers are playing .650 ball. We come into this one having won 5 of 6 and not gaining a game on the lead in that stretch. We're up 3-2 in the 9th, the Braves have the bases loaded, 1 out, and Aaron at the plate (okay, it's Tommie, but still). Don Larsen gets him to line back to the mound - a toss to first for the double play ends the game. How about this, we get to talk about Don Larsen. Larsen was 17 when he signed with the Browns in '47, six years later he debuted, then moved with the club to Baltimore and in '54 he lost 21 games. After the season he was part of a 16 player trade that sent him to the Yankees. The perfect game was '56, Larsen was named World Series MVP. After the '59 season he went to the A's in a 7 player deal, part of the return to the Yankees being Roger Maris. 2 years with the A's, a season with the White Sox, and before this season we got him at age 32 and Billy Pierce, the main piece going back being Eddie Fisher, who had some nice years in the Sox pen. Larsen spent two plus seasons in our pen, and was okay, 158 innings, a 93 ERA+. We sell him to Houston during the '64 season, where he goes on the best run of his career, 108 innings and a 144 ERA+. Larsen winds up with the Cubs at the end, pitching 4 innings in '67.
1964 at Milwaukee, 7.5 games out so it's going to take a helluva September if we're going to make a run, this is a pretty good start, 10-10 in the 8th, Jim Davenport had replaced Jim Ray Hart at third, he hits a 2 run single off Hank Fischer, we go on to win 13-10. Here's every starting third baseman in San Francisco history, with Giants career OPS+ and PA. Start at the beginning.
58-63,69 Davenport 90, 4981
64-68 Hart 130, 3836 (2 starting third basemen all the way until 1970, we had corner continuity)
70-2 Gallagher 91, 1081
73 Goodson 94, 1068
74-5 Ontiveros 97, 910
76 Reitz 76, 614
77 Madlock 120, 1364
78-81 Evans 119, 4406
82-3 O'Malley 93, 827
84 Youngblood 106, 1647
85-6 Brown 120, 1184 (very similar to Madlock with the bat)
87-8 Mitchell 152, 2516 (Mitch, obviously, is a step up offensively)
89-Riles 109, 722
90-6 Williams 122, 4497 (Matt and Evans had very similar Giants offensive careers)
97-00 Mueller 102, 2440
01 Ramon Martinez 94, 1045
02 Bell 104, 628
03-5 Alfonzo 88, 1564
06-7 Feliz 84, 3027 (3000 plate appearances to Pedro Feliz, goddamn)
08- Jose Castillo 73, 420 (quite the run of batsmen at our hot corner)
09-14 Sandoval 122, 3614
15-16 Duffy 98, 962
1984 at Philadelphia, playing out the string, 22.5 back, front half of a doubleheader, down 5-4 in the ninth, Jeffrey Leonard hits a 2 run homer off Al Holland, we win it 6-5. 10 days before we traded Al Oliver to the Phillies for Kelly Downs. Holland had a nice Giants career, 138 ERA+ in 319 IP. We sent him to Philly after the '82 season with Joe Morgan for Mike Krukow and Mark Davis. Who won that trade? Here's WAR, PA/IP with their new teams.
We get: Krukow 9.8, 1154
Davis 2.9, 555
They get: Morgan 3.35, 504
Holland 6.65, 194
So - we win, and that doesn't include that Davis was part of the package that gets us Mitchell.
1989 home vs. Phillies, the last time we were in second place was June 11 - we're now 4 up, still only 19,000 paid at the Stick on a Wednesday afternoon, up 3-2 in the 9th, nobody out, one on, Von Hayes at the plate, Steve Bedrosian gets him to go 3-6-3 and we hold on to the 3-2 win. Bedrosian won the Cy Young for these Phillies just 2 years prior; we got him six weeks prior along with Rick Parker for Mulholland, Hayes, and Cook. He was good in '89 (128 ERA+, 17 saves) but not in '90 and we gave him to the Twins after the season. Bedrosian finished back where he started, Atlanta, and he was unbelievable for that great '93 team that edged us out, a 248 ERA+ in 49 innings. His last season was '95.
2009 home vs. Rockies - we're 6 out in the west but only a game back in the WC - and we've just taken 2 from the team we're chasing, the Rockies, and are going for the sweep. Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, Edgar Renteria had a 5 RBI day, the biggest coming with 2 out in the 7th in a game we trailed 5-2, he hit a grand slam off of Rafael Betancourt. We win this one 9-5. Renteria was 15 when he signed with the Marlins, 19 when he finished second in the Rookie of the Year in '96 (to Todd Hollandsworth) 32 when we signed him before this season. He was awful as our starting shortstop in '09, a 67 OPS+ in 510 PA. He was better as a backup in '10 and finished his Giants career with a 76 OPS+. He finished his career in Cincinnati in '11.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
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