Yesterday
Here are the top 5 September 5 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1982 home vs. Cards, 26 games left, we've walked the Cards off two straight games and are 8 games out of first in the West - who throws a complete game for us? Fred Breining does. We're 1-1 in the 8th, 2 outs, Champ Summers comes through with a pinch single off John Stuper to score the go ahead run and we win it 5-1. Breining's a native, born in San Francisco, went to college in San Mateo, he pitched all but 4 games in his big league career for us, he was fine - 106 ERA+ in 430 IP. We got him out of the Pirates system in the Madlock deal in mid '79 and sent him to the Expos in the Al Oliver deal just before the '84 season.
1983 home vs. Reds, there's no pennant race here, we're out of the fight, like the year before, Fred Breining is really good, he goes 8, giving up just runs, we're down 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, Jeff Russell is throwing a no hitter against us, that gets broken up by a Joel Youngblood leadoff double, and that's followed by a Dave Bergman pinch hits a two run homer. We win it 3-2. We got Bergman in '81 in the deal that sent Ivie to Houston for Leonard. He was our main bench bat for three years and hit the ball, had a 121 OPS+ in 474 PA. We sent him to the Phillies just before the '84 season, but they moved him right to the Tigers, and that's where he spent the last 9 years of his career, finishing up in '92.
1997 home vs. Astros, 22 games left in the season, we're two off the lead in the West and a game up in the WC. Small Friday night crowd at the Stick, it's 1-1 with 1 out in the 7th, Brian Johnson homers off Shane Reynolds, we go up 2-1 and will win it 4-1. Johnson's from Oakland, went to Stanford, the Yankees drafted him in the 16th round in '89 (the spot before we took an Arizona St OF named Dan Rumey). We got him at the deadline this season from Detroit for Marcus Jensen and he got most of our at bats at catcher for the next year and a half. He was fine, particularly in '97 - solid at the plate and good with the glove. He left for the Reds in '99. This was his 9th homer in about a month and a half as a Giant.
2004 home vs. Diamondbacks, 23 games left in the season, we're 4.5 out of the lead in the West, but just half a game out of the WC. We're trying for the series sweep of the Snakes - and Brett Tomko beats Randy Johnson. Tomko goes 7, gives up 1 - the big blow comes in the 6th, we're down 1-0, Edgardo Alfonzo hits a two run homer off the Unit, we're gonna win this one 4-1. The Reds drafted Tomko in the 2nd round in '95 (the Royals took Beltran five spots prior, 3 spots before that we took a Vermont high school pitcher named Jason Brester). We're Tomko's 5th team when he signs with us as a 31 year old prior to this season, he was fine in 2 Giants seasons, a 102 ERA+ in 384 innings. He left for the Dodgers in 2006 and finishes his career in Texas in 2011.
2010 at Los Angeles, 26 games left, we're 2 back in the West (behind the Padres, who had lost 9 straight) 2 back in the WC, Jonathan Sanchez goes 7, strikes out 9 and gives up just 4 baserunners, we shut the Dodgers out 3-0 and move to a game out of first place on a Sunday night. The big shot was Uribe's, we were up 1-0 in the 7th and Uribe hit a 2 run homer for the final 3-0 score. We drafted Sanchez out of Ohio Dominican in the 27th round in 2004, he was up in '06 and joined the rotation in '08. This was his career year, a 129 ERA+, but he was gone after 2011, finishing his Giants career with a 97 ERA+ in 700 IP. Other than '09 and '10, he never got close to a 100 ERA+ season again, we sent him to the Royals for Melky Cabrera and his last big league work was 2013 with the Pirates.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
