Yesterday
Here are the top 5 August 8 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
Walk off 1970 vs. Astros, we're 21 out of first, the season's done, we're down 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded with 1 out --- Willie Mays singles home the tying and winning run off of Jim Ray. Skip Pitlock went for the Giants and hit an inside the park homer in the 5th. It's Pitlock's rookie (and only) season in San Francisco. We spent the next 3 years in the minors and then sent him to the White Sox. Mays is 39 years old, he's got a 140 ERA+, Mays is worth 4 and a half WAR in 1970, its the 24th best season for a Giants center fielder in franchise history.
Walk off 1982 vs. Astros, on July 30 we were 13.5 games out - but we've won 5 straight and have sliced that deficit to 8 games. Sunday doubleheader against Houston, this is game 1, we came into the bottom of the 9th down 2-1 and facing former (and future) Giant Bob Knepper. Kuiper drew a walk, Chili singled him to second, Joe Morgan singled home the tying run, and then Jack Clark won the game with a base hit off of Frank LaCorte. We also took the second game and moved to 6.5 games back, gaining 7 games in the standings in a little over a week. Knepper was a high draft pick, we took him in the 2nd round in '72 out of Calistoga High. The Royals took Dennis Leonard the pick before, the Pirates got John Candelaria 4 picks later. Knepper was 22 when we brought him up in '76 and he joined our rotation the following season. He's there through 1980, picking up an ERA+ of 96 (Kneppers career year is '78, a 131 ERA+ in 260 innings pitched) we send him to Houston for Enos Cabell prior to the '81 season, he's in the Astros rotation until they release him in the middle of the '89 season - we pick him up for the stretch and he ends his career as a Giant in 1990.
1990 at Houston - on July 24 we were 11 out, we got as close as 3.5 just 4 days before but have lost 3 straight and are back down to 6 out. 4-4 with an out in the 8th, Greg Litton hits a 2 run double off Juan Agosto and we win this one 8-4. Litton was 19 when we took him in the winter draft in '84. He came up in '89 and spent 4 seasons as a utilityman. He had a career 76 OPS+ as a Giant. He left for the Mariners in '93, and finished his career in Boston in '94.
1996 at St Louis, remember mid June? We were a game and a half out and life was filled with promise? We're a dozen games out now, near the bottom of the league, but with the score 3-3 in the 10th, Dave McCarty hit a two run homer off of Dennis Eckersley. We win it 5-3. McCarty was a backup first baseman/outfielder for the duration of his 11 year career. We got him from the Reds in the Deion Sanders deadline deal in 1995.
Deion Sanders
Dave McCarty
John Roper
Scott Service
Ricky Pickett
for
Darren Lewis
Mark Portugal
Dave Burba
Who won the Deion Sanders trade? Let's go to the videotape.
Deion played in 52 games with the Giants, hit the ball okay, had a 112 OPS+ which was the second best mark of his career. 1.3 WAR
McCarty was sub replacement in 2 Giants seasons, -.7 WAR.
Service gave us 31 innings and then went back to the Reds the next season, .65 WAR
Roper pitched in 1 inning for the Giants, gave up 3 earned runs. -.1 WAR
Pickett - never played with the Giants
1.15 WAR total.
DLew played in 58 games for the Reds, was terrible with the bat a 59 OPS+, had a .25 WAR
Burba was in Cincinnati two and a half seasons as a starter, had a 104 ERA+, had a 5.5 WAR
Portugal did a year and a half in the Reds rotation, ERA+ of 107, and a 3.35 WAR
So, the answer is the Reds and pretty easily so.
2016 at Miami. we were 8 up on June 26, that lead is cut to 1 here, we spend 5 and a half hours on a Monday night in Miami, Brandon Crawford ties an NL record with 7 hits the last one coming in the 14th, 7-7, 2 out, 2 on, Crawford singles home Brandon Belt off of Andrew Cashner and we win this one 8-7. Through 2017, Crawford is a lifelong Giant - drafted in '08, up in '11, starter since '12. Through 2016 Crawford was the 28th greatest San Francisco Giant of all time. He cratered offensively in '17, a 70 OPS+ at the time of this writing.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
