Yesterday
Here are all the October 16 games that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.
1962 World Series. 38 years ago the New York team lost a Game 7 in extra innings to the Senators, it was the only winner take all World Series game the New York Giants ever played. And now here we are, it's a Tuesday afternoon at the Stick, Jack Sanford against Ralph Terry. We're still hitless in the fifth when the Yankees load the bases with nobody out. Sanford gets Kubek 6-4-3, scoring the game's first run, but that's all the damage. Our first baserunner is Sanford, he singles with 2 out in the 6th, but it's the bottom of the 7th where we have our first real chance to score - with 2 out McCovey triples, but Terry strikes out Cepeda and we still trail 1-0. In the 8th, Sanford loads the bases with nobody out again, O'Dell comes on in relief and gets out of it to keep us in the game, Maris grounds into the force play at home and then Elston Howard hits into the inning ending double play. We're down in order in our half, the Yanks down in order in the 9th. Bottom of the 9th, down 1-0, Matty Alou leads off with a pinch infield single. But then Felipe strikes out and so does Hiller. Down to our last out. It's Mays. But Mays doubles to right - and now the tying and winning runs are both on base with McCovey coming to the plate. But he lines to Richardson. And our season ends.
1989 World Series Game 3 isn't until 10-27.
2002 World Series starts 10-19
2010 NLCS Game 1 at Philadelphia, it took nearly half a century, but we played another game on October 16. I guess that's enough time. Tim Lincecum against Roy Halladay in the opener of the NLCS on a Saturday night in Philadelphia. We trade homers in the third - Cody Ross for us, Carlos Ruiz for them. 1-1 in the 5th - Ross strikes again - another homer off Halladay to give us a 2-1 advantage. We stretch that in the 6th, scoring two runs, the big hit from longtime Phillie Pat Burrell who doubled home Buster Posey. The 4-1 lead was immediately cut to 4-3 when Jayson Werth homered in the 6th. We left the bases loaded in the 9th and Brian Wilson put the tying man on with one out in the bottom, but he struck out Ross Gload and Shane Victorino to end the game and give us a 1-0 series lead.
2012 NLCS Game 3 is tomorrow
2014 NLCS Game 5 home vs. Cards, I don't know of any "this guy was in the park for Game 7 in '62 and then Game 5 of the NLCS in 2014 exactly 62 years later" stories, but it's close to the extremes of the October baseball experience. We're up 3 games to 1, a game from the pennant. Three homers in the 3rd/4th left us down 3-2 (Panik for us, Matt Adams and Tony Cruz for them). Bumgarner and Adam Wainwright settled down, neither allowing a baserunner in the 5th, 6th, 7th, or, in Bumgarner's case, the 8th. The Cards brought on Pat Neshek in our half of the 8th - we're still down 3-2 - but Michael Morse led off with a pinch homer to tie the score. Santiago Casilla comes on in the 9th and gets in trouble, loading the bases with 2 out, Jeremy Affeldt came on to face Oscar Tavares - who bounces back to the mound to end the inning. Michael Wacha is the Cards pitcher in the bottom of the 9th, 2 on, 1 out, Travis Ishikawa hits a 3 run walk off homer to right to give the Giants the pennant. Charles Schultz is long gone, but someone needed to do a Charlie Brown strip the next day about this October 16.
See you tomorrow. Go Giants!
