What is this all about?
Here are all the October 4 games in San Francisco Giants history that mattered.
1962 World Series - Game One home vs. Yankees - look what's happened here, there's a World Series game at the Stick on a Thursday afternoon. Whitey Ford goes for the Yankees and throws a complete game, gives up just 2 earned - and New York got 2 in the first alone off of Billy O'Dell on a Roger Maris double. We got them both back in the second and third (Mays scored the first and drove home the second) and that's where it stayed until a Clete Boyer 7th inning homer gave the Yanks the lead the final time. They added 3 more and won 6-2.
1971 NLCS is 1-1, we go to Pittsburgh tomorrow
1987 NL West Champs - still two days to go until the NLCS.
1989 Game One NLCS at Chicago NLCS is a best of 7 and opens at Wrigley - Greg Maddux is an inner circle Hall of Famer and we jumped all over him with 3 in the first, a run scoring double by Clark and a two run double by Williams. The Cubs came back in their half with a 2 run Mark Grace homer over Scott Garrelts. Clark and Sandberg traded 3rd inning homers, so we had a 4-2 lead headed to the 4th when Will Clark hit a grand slam that effectively ended the game. We win 11-3, Clark goes 4-4 with 11 total bases. Game 2 is tomorrow.
2000 NLDS Game One home vs. Mets we open the best of 5 NLDS at Pac Bell (first year with the new stadium) and Livan Hernandez goes 7 and a third, giving up 5 hits and 1 earned. It was 1-1 going to the bottom of the third when we scored the last 4 runs of the game, Bonds made it 2-1 with a run scoring triple off of Mike Hampton and then Ellis Burks hit a 3 run homer. We went up 5-1 and that's the score that held up. Game 2 is tomorrow night.
2001 at Houston two down, 4 left, we sweep the Astros, Barry hits #70 off Wilfredo Rodriguez, tying Mark McGwire for the all time single season home run record. We cruised 10-2. Arizona won again - we're still 2 back with 3 to play (we're also 2 out of the WC).
2002 NLDS is 1-1, we go home tomorrow.
2003 NLDS Game 4 at Marlins, we're down 2-1, they walked us off the night before like they walked us off in both games in Miami in the '97 NLDS - and, with, yes, me in the park once again, for the 4th (and to date, the last) Giants postseason game I've seen in person, they get us in an even more excruciating way. 65,000+ paid see the Marlins take a 5-1 lead through 5 (both Jerome Williams and Jim Brower got hit). In the 6th we get them all back. Aurilia and Alfonzo each have run scoring doubles off Dontrelle Willis, and with 2 out and an 0-2 count, JT Snow singles home the tying run off Brad Penny. It sayed there until the bottom of the 8th, the Marlins put two men on with 2 out off of Felix Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera hit a 2 run single putting them up 7-5 going to the 9th. Two batters later we had cut the lead to one, Neifi Perez doubled, JT Snow singled him home, both off Ugeth Urbina. Urbina gets both Feliz and Santiago - but then hits Ray Durham, 2 on, 2 out, Jeffrey Hammonds at the plate. He singles to left - and Jeff Conine throws out Snow at the plate to end our season. No, I should not attend Giants playoff games, no.
2010 NL West Champs (postseason starts 10-7)
2012 NL West Champs (postseason starts 10-6)
2014 NLDS Game Two at Washington, we're up 1-0, it takes almost 6 and a half hours and 18 innings, but in the longest postseason game in MLB history we go up 2-0 and are a game away from the NLCS. 17 combined pitchers. The leadoff hitters (Blanco and Span) went a combined 0-13. With 2 out and nobody on in the 9th, trailing 1-0, we had a 3% chance to win. Joe Panik worked a walk, that led to Nats Manager Matt Williams removing Jordan Zimmerman in favor of Drew Storen - he gave up a Posey single - and then a Pablo Sandoval double which scored the tying run (the potential go ahead, Posey, was thrown out at the plate). We threatened in the 11th, go ahead run at second with 1 out, but Matt Thornton got Panik and Pablo. We threatened in the 12th, Hunter Pence led off with a double and was on third with one out - but Jerry Blevins got Crawford and Susac. Yusmeiro Petit came on for us in the 12th and gave us a half dozen innings in relief. We won it, 2-1, as you know, in the top of the 18th on a leadoff Brandon Belt homer off of Tanner Roark. We go up 2-0 and are 1 game from the NLCS.
2016 NL Wild Card (postseason starts tomorrow)
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
