Yesterday
Here are the top 5 July 1 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1962 home vs. Phillies, 23 games over .500 but still neck and neck in the NL, only a half game lead, every game important, we trail 4-3 in the 8th, bases loaded, 2 out - Willie Mays singles home the tying and go ahead runs off of Art Mahaffey. We win this one 5-4. 10 WAR for Mays in '62, the 4th best season of his career.
1986 at Atlanta, a half game out of first place in the West, 6-6 in the 10th, 2 out, bases loaded - Candy Maldonado clears the bases with a single off Joe Johnson and we win the game 9-6 to move into first. Maldonado was our 4th OF in '86, coming over in the deal with the Dodgers in the offseason, his career season would come in '87.
2002 at Colorado, we're 10 over .500 but 4.5 out of the West lead, down 6-5 in the 9th, we put the first two on in the inning and then Jeff Kent hits a 3 run homer off of Jose Jimenez, we win the game 8-6. Kent's second best year with the bat, a 147 OPS+, he's an 8 WAR player in '02. He won the MVP two years prior, but this season was every bit as good as that. It's his 230th career home run.
2011 at Detroit, 10 games over .500 and with a 2 game lead in the West, we're up 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth but the Tigers have the bases loaded with 1 out, Brian Wilson is removed for Jeremy Affeldt, who gets Brennan Boesch to line to Brandon Crawford, he steps on the bag at second for the double play to end the game. Affeldt signed with the Giants for the '09 season after a year in Cincinnati, that was his career year, he had a 246 ERA+ in 62 innings as a lefty specialist - he finishes his career as a Giant after the 2015 season.
Walk off 2012 home vs. Reds, 9 over .500 and a game up in the West, 3-3 with 2 out in the 9th, Angel Pagan doubles home Buster Posey off of Jose Arredondo to win the game (Jay Bruce misplayed the ball in RF) We got Pagan in the offseason from the Mets for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez, he's worth 5 WAR in '12, his best season as a Giant.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
