Yesterday
Here are the top 5 June 5 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1964 at Philadelphia, 8 games over, one and a half back, the second place Giants taking on the first place Phillies, 3-3 in the 11th, Harvey Kuenn singles home Tom Haller with 2 out off of Jack Baldschun, we go up 4-3 and win it 5-3 to move half a game out of first place. This was Kuenn's aged 33 season, his plate appearances slipped below 400 as the Giants 4th OF. He was moved to the Cubs in a five player Memorial Day deal the following season.
1966 at Philadelphia, although we had dropped the first two to the Phillies we were still 14 over, 1.5 up for this one, tied at 6, 2 outs in the 10th, Hal Lanier homered off Bo Belinsky for what turned out to be the winning run. Lanier was not good, replacement level in 3700 plate appearances in 8 Giants seasons as the Giants starter at both second and short. He never had an OPS+ above 75 in his career, in '66, a year where he got nearly 500 plate appearances, it was 49. The Giants put so many terrible players around their legends in the 60s, it's the story of why it took us until 2010 to win a World Series.
1981 at Pittsburgh, 9 games out of first in the west, the Giants take their June 5 trip to Pennsylvania, 3-3 with an out in the 9th, Enos Cabell hits a 2 run homer off of Enrique Romo and we win it 5-3. This is Cabell's only season in San Francisco, he replaced McCovey as the starter at first. We got him from the Astros in the offseason for Bob Knepper, he was sub replacement, had an OPS+ of 72. We moved him the following spring to Detroit for Champ Summers.
2000 at Anaheim, 4th place, 7.5 out, how about a 4 hour game on a Monday night in Anaheim? 4-4 with 2 out in the 9th, Shigetoshi Hasegawa facing....Barry Bonds....he homers and we go on to take it 5-4. 49 homers, a 188 OPS+, and 8 WAR for Bonds in 2000, it's his 11th best Giants campaign making it the 11th best season any Giants left fielder ever had in the history of the franchise. This was career home run #469.
2002 at San Diego, 9 games over, one and a half out of first, down 1-0 in the third, 2 out, bases loaded, Dennis Tankersley facing...Barry Bonds...he hits a grand slam on the first pitch, we go up 4-1 and win it 12-2. Career homer #587 for Bonds, his 11th career grand slam. Other than San Francisco and Pittsburgh, Barry hit most of his career homers in San Diego. This is Barry's second best season, 11 and a half WAR, career highs in BA and OPS+.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
