What is this all about?
Yesterday
Top 5 July 12 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1958 home vs. Braves, 2 games out of first and hosting the first place Braves on a Saturday afternoon in mid July of our first ever San Francisco campaign, we jump all over Spahn, he doesn't get out of the 5th inning, the big blow coming here, up 2-1 in that 5th, Orlando Cepeda hits a 3 run shot off Spahn to put us up 5-1 in a game we'd win 5-3. We move to 1 game out of first, it is the closest we've been to the lead in a month. Cepeda killed Spahn - had a lifetime .344 BA with 10 homers. Along with the 10 he hit against Drysdale these are the most homers Cepeda ever hit against anyone.
1962 at Philadelphia, 26 games over .500 but still half a game out of first place, we start a 3 game series against the Phillies, we're up 5-3 in the bottom of the 9th, but the Phillies have a man on and the tying run at the plate - Stu Miller gets Jacke Davis to go 5-4-3. Miller had been a Phillie in '56, he came to the Giants in '57 for Jim Hearn. Miller was 28, he hadn't had a good year since his rookie season in '52 - but was instantly good with the Giants, he moved west with the club in '58 and led the league in ERA+ (155). Miller was a swingman in '58 but came out of the pen almost exclusively in the rest of his Giants career - that career ended after this (not particularly good) season, We sent him and Mike McCormick to Baltimore where he had several very good seasons closing for the Orioles.
1968 at Cincinnati, we're 11 out, tied at 2 with 2 out in the 5th, Jim Ray Hart hits a 3 run homer off Clay Carroll and we go on to win 11-4. Hart hits another homer later in the game, the 133-134th of his career. Hart was 7-24 lifetime against Carroll, this was his only homer.
1997 at Los Angeles, our 6 game lead in the west had been cut to four after losing the first two games of the series, sold out Dodger Stadium on a Saturday night, down 2-1 with one out in the 9th Mark Lewis and Rick Wilkins go back to back off Todd Worrell to give us a 3-2 lead in a game we'd win 8-5. Lewis was a bust, the Indians took him 2nd overall in the '88 draft (Andy Benes was first, Robin Ventura 10th) but had a negative career WAR. This is his one season as a Giant, backing up in the infield, getting some starts in at third. Wilkins did parts of two seasons in San Francisco as our part time catcher, we got him at the deadline from Houston for Kurt Manwaring the year before and we released him less than 3 weeks after this home run.
2002 home vs. Rockies, we're 88 games in and after walking Colorado off the night before are 2.5 out of first place, Livan Hernandez throws a complete game 4 hitter, the big moment a 2 run Damon Minor homer in the second that broke a scoreless tie. Minor played in 136 big league games, all as a Giant. He got a couple hundred plate appearances this season at first base, he was replacement level and never got on a big league field after '04.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
