What is this all about?
Yesterday
Here are the top 5 September 16 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
Walk off 1978 home vs. Reds, aw, the poor '78 club, 13 days before we took a doubleheader from the Phillies to pull a game out of first place and since then we've only one one game. Like the opposite of the '65 September run. So, now we're 9 back (9 back! we've dropped 8 games off the lead in less than two weeks!) but we get one here. 2-2 with 2 out in the 9th - Terry Whitfield singles home the winning run off of Doug Bair. It's too late, obviously, we're still 9 back with 13 games left and the super fun '78 ride was over. Let's check out this losing streak.
9-4 we go to LA for two, we're 23 over .500, a game out of first place, it's a Labor Day game, sold out Dodger Stadium on a Monday afternoon. Second place Giants-First place Dodgers, we had a 4-0 lead headed to the bottom of the fifth and they score 5, all earned off Halicki. We had the tying run on third with 1 out in the 8th, but Terry Forster got both Ivie and Herndon
9-6, now we're 2 back, Jim Barr gives up 5 earned in 3 innings, then Minton gives up 3 of his own in relief and it's never a game
9-7, now it's 3 back and we go to Atlanta for 2. They break a 5-5 tie in the 8th, we have the tying run on third with one out in the 9th, but Gene Garber gets Ivie and Hector Cruz
9-9, we won on the 8th to get back to 3 out, we go to Cincinnati for two, we're up 3-2 going to the bottom of the 7th, Knepper gives up 4 consecutive hits to open the inning, he winds up allowing 3 runs.
9-10 we're still just 3 out, things are fine despite these losses, it's really still okay - we're down 3-1 heading to the bottom of the 8th, John Curtis comes on in relief and gives up 4 earned and only gets one out.
9-11, so now it's 4 out, but we're going back home to host the first place Dodgers for two, giving us a chance to get right back into it - it's a Monday night and the fans turn out, I've been tough on Giants fans but we get 36,000 paid. The Dodgers hit Vida, he gives up 4 in 4 innings, we cut it to 4-2, but then they get 3 more in the 9th to put it away.
9-12, so, now it's 5 and we're fully desperate, we're down 1-0 through 7 innings, they get 2 in the 8th and then Lavelle is left out there to soak it up in the 9th, they get 5 earned off of him.
Now it's 6, I won't do the next 3, but we lose those too and get to 9 and that's what happened.
1998 at Arizona, we've been eliminated in the west but are 4.5 out of the WC with 11 to go, Orel Hershiser goes 6, strikes out 6, gives up 3 earned, it's 4-4 in the 10th when Barry Bonds triples home the go ahead run off Gregg Olson. We win it 6-5. A 39 year old Hershiser spent one season in San Francisco, he was okay, a 91 ERA+ in 202 IP (thats a lot of innings for an old guy). He was a Met in '99 and finished his career back in LA in '00. Hershiser started 34 games for the Giants, this was the 32nd - he wins the final two.
2000 at San Diego - we're 7.5 up with 16 left, so we're in good shape headed to October. Almost 5 hours for this one, 15 combined pitches, Jeff Kent breaks a 3-3 tie in the 13th with a run scoring single off of Carlos Almanzar. We win it 4-3. Calvin Murray led off for us here, went 3-3. We drafted Murray 7th overall in '92 (who was picked 6th? Derek Jeter). It never happened for Calvin, it took him seven years to get called up and then he was never able to crack the lineup. He had a Giants career 78 OPS+ in 627 PA. We sold him to the Rangers early in the '02 season and his big league career ended as a Cub in 2004.
Walk off 2005 home vs. Dodgers, we're 6.5 out with 16 left, the WC is not in play as we're under .500 - it's not over, but we'd probably need to run the table. 4-4 in the bottom of the 9th, Todd Linden singles home the winning run off of Duaner Sanchez. Bonds hit his first homer of the season in this one, off Brad Penny. Linden was a fifth OF, his Giants career OPS+ was dreadful, 59 in 415 PA despite our picking him 41st overall in 2001 (we took Brad Hennessey 21st and Noah Lowry 30th, considering the Mets got David Wright at 38, we could have spent those resources more wisely). We let Linden go early in the 2007 season and he finished his big league career with the Marlins that season. 6 years later he was back in our system - in these recaps I discuss when a big league career ends, but often a professional career extends years following.
2014 at Arizona - only a dozen games left, we're 4 out in the West, but 4.5 clear in the WC, so we're in good position to get one of those last spots despite dropping 3 straight. Jake Peavy comes up big here, 7 2/3, gives up just one earned, 5 hits, we've got a 2-1 lead with 2 out in the 8th when Sergio Romo gets AJ Pollock to fly to right to end the inning. We win 2-1, move to 3 back in the West and maintain that 4.5 game WC cushion. It's the worst ERA+ of Romo's Giants career in 2014 at 93, in 430 Giants innings his career mark was 146.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
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