What is this all about?
Here are all the October 1 games that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.
1962 Game One, NL Playoff Series home vs. Dodgers, we finished the regular season tied with LA, that meant a 3 game playoff series to determine who would win the National League pennant. Game One was at the Stick, Billy Pierce threw a complete game 3 hit shutout - and who he beat was Sandy Koufax, who gave up 3 in the first and didn't go any further. Willie Mays hit a 2 run first inning homer to open the scoring and then added another homer off of Larry Sherry in the 6th. We won 8-0 to move one game from our first San Francisco pennant.
1964 home vs. Houston, we're chasing the Cardinals (and the Reds and Phillies) we sweep Houston to cut the deficit to 3 with 3 to go. Juan Marichal throws a complete game, because of course he does, we were down 2-1 in the third when Willie Mays hit a 2 run single off Chris Zachary. We win 6-3.
1965 the Reds beat us 17-2 and end our season.
1966 we sweep a doubleheader from the Pirates but are still eliminated.
1971 NL West Champs (clinched 9-30, postseason starts 10-2)
1982 argh, we've got a sold out Candlestick to see us start a 3 game series against the Dodgers, with whom we're tied for second place, 1 behind the Braves - and we get shut out, Jerry Reuss throws a 3 hitter, Fred Breining nearly kept up with him - it was scoreless through 7 - and then Rick Monday hit a grand slam and we lost 4-0. Braves won. We're two out with two left.
1987 NL West Champs (clinched 9-28, postseason starts 10-6)
1989 NL West Champs (clinched 9-27, postseason starts 10-4)
1993 at Los Angeles, 3 days left, we're tied with the Braves - and they win, so we need to beat LA again to keep pace - and we do. The Dodgers get 4 in the first two innings off Burkett, we get them all back in the third, at 4-1 Barry Bonds hit a 3 run homer off Ramon Martinez to tie the score. Two innings later, he did it again. Barry hit a second 3 run homer, this time off Omar Daal, and we went up 7-4. In the guts of one of the great pennant races of all time, Barry stands in Dodger Stadium and hits two 3 run homers. And then in the 7th, he hits a run scoring double off Steve Wilson. We go up 8-4 and hold on for the 8-7 win. Two left - still tied.
1997 Game Two NLDS at Florida, we got walked off the night before - I'm there again for this one - and it happens again. Unlike Game 1, the runs come early and often, we're down 5-4 after 4 innings (all charged to Estes). We're down 6-5 in the 9th, 2 on and 1 out, Barry drove in the tying run off Robb Nen on a force play. And then Roberto Hernandez didn't get an out in the bottom of the 9th, Moises Alou drove home the winning run and we were a game from elimination. Yes, I never saw a Giants postseason game in person until 1997 and yes, both games I saw resulted in walk off losses. Yes. This is what I'm saying.
2000 NL West Champs (clinched 9-27, postseason starts 10-4)
2001 off day, we stay 2 out with 6 left
2002 NL Wild Card (clinched 9-28, postseason starts 10-2)
2003 Game 2 NLDS home vs. Marlins we won yesterday, if we can take this one that leaves us one win away from the NLCS, and we had a 4-1 lead through 4, but Sidney Ponson gave that lead back in the 5th, and then not yet all time great closer Joe Nathan got blown up in the 6th and we trailed 7-5 in a game we went on to lose 9-5. It's 1-1 and we're headed to Miami for Game 3.
2004 at Los Angeles, we're tied with the Astros for the WC with 3 to go - first place Dodgers in our way (we're also 3 games out of first, so that's still in play here) Kirk Rueter goes 7, gives up 3 hits, we were up 3-2 in the 8th when a JT Snow homer off of Mike Venafro gave us the final margin of our 4-2 win. Houston wins - so we remain tied for the WC with two to play (and are 2 out of the West).
2010 we're 3 up with 3 left and playing second place San Diego, so all it takes is a win -- we don't get it and our lead is cut to 2 with 2 to go.
2012 NL West Champs (clinched 9-22, postseason starts 10-6)
2014 NL Wild Card Game at Pittsburgh, there are two Wild Card teams now, unlike a dozen years previous, and they play a knockout game for the right to advance to the NLDS. Madison Bumgarner just leveled the Pirates here, complete game 4 hit shutout, 10 strikeouts, only one walk. The big blow was a 4th inning Brandon Crawford grand slam that broke a scoreless tie, it was the first grand slam by a shortstop in postseason history. We win 8-0 and advance to the NLDS.
2016 home vs. Dodgers, LA has already won the division, we're trying to secure that second WC spot, we're a game up on the Cards with 2 left and we get this one. Ty Blach beats Clayton Kershaw, giving up 3 hits in 8 innings, and we shut LA out 3-0. Angel Pagan got us going with a 5th inning homer that broke a scoreless tie. The Cards win too - so with one day remaining in the season, we have a one game lead for that last spot.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
