What is this all about?
Yesterday
Here are the top 5 September 15 moments in San Francisco Giants history.
1965 at Houston, we've won a dozen straight and have a 3.5 game lead with 17 left, 38 year old Robin Roberts goes for Houston, giving up just 4 hits in 7 innings - but he's gone at 2-2 in the 9th when Willie McCovey singles home the go ahead run off Dave Giusti. We win 3-2. 13 straight for the Giants and a 3.5 game lead with 16 games to go. One more in Houston and then a weekend series in Milwaukee. Less than a month before was Marichal/Roseboro.
Walk off 1981 home vs. Braves, we're 11.5 out, the season's done, we've already scored 2 in the 9th to tie the score and then win the game on a Dave Bergman squeeze, he bunts home Joe Pettini off of Gene Garber to cap the comeback 6-5. Pettini was on base as a pinch runner, it sure wasn't because of his bat - in 4 seasons as a utilityman Pettini had a 46 OPS+. In '81 Pettini had 2 hits in 29 at bats. He had a -16 OPS+ and then we brought him back for two more seasons. Surprisingly, no one else ever gave Joe Pettini any big league at bats. Nice work, Giants.
1982 home vs. Reds, we're 6 back, which is a lot with just 18 left, but we've gained 3 in less than two weeks, so you like the trend. Fewer than 4000 paid on a Wednesday night at the Stick because the fans are an under the radar cause for the Giants failure to win a World Series for over half a century in San Francisco. We're down 4-3 with 1 out in the 8th - Chili Davis hits a 2 run homer off future Giant Joe Price and we're going to win this one 5-4. We move 5.5 out of first with 17 games to go, come on out to the ballpark, 1982. This is Chili's 17th career home run, he'll hit two more in his rookie year.
2004 at Milwaukee, we're 4.5 out but half a game up in the WC, 17 to go, Brett Tomko goes the whole way with a complete game 4 hitter, walking only one and striking out 7. It's scoreless in the 6th, JT Snow hits a 3 run homer off Wes Obermueller and that opens it up, we win 8-1. It's Snow's 184th career homer and he only hits 5 more. We move to 3.5 out in the West and up half a game in the WC; it's our 4th straight win and there are 16 to go.
2010 home vs. Dodgers, we're 1.5 out with 17 left after getting shut out by Kershaw in the series opener - and we're one out of the WC, so we are in the absolute nail biting thick of it for this one. Matt Cain goes 7, gives up just 3 baserunners, it's scoreless with 2 out in the 7th when Mike Fontenot drives home the game's first run with a single off of Chad Billingsley. We win the game 2-1 and move half a game out of first with 16 games left to play. Fontenot was a Giants utilityman for parts of two seasons, this and 2011, he wasnt super productive with an 89 OPS+ in 328 PA and he finished his big league career with the Phillies the following season. The Cubs sent us Fontenot about a month before, this was his 15th Giants game.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
