May 30 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Top 5 May 30 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1960 home vs. Cubs the Giants are 25-15, a half game out of first, we lost the first half of the doubleheader and were tied 4-4 in the 9th, Willie McCovey singled home the winning run off of Seth Morehead.  This was McCovey's first ever walk off base hit and the 18th walk off hit in San Francisco history.

Walk off 1965 home vs. Cardinals, how about this matchup, it's 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th, 2 out, bases loaded, Bob Gibson (because of course he's still in the game) facing Willie Mays.  Bob Skinner drops a fly ball and Frank Linzy comes home with the winning run.  '65 was Mays first MVP in 11 years, he was an 11 WAR player, it was his career best season.   Gibson killed Mays, struck him out 30 times in 108 plate appearances.

1971 home vs Expos, the Giants are 34-10, playing two at the Stick on a Sunday, down 4-3 in the 7th, Willie Mays hits a 2 run homer to put us up 5-4 and that's going to be the final score. This was Mays' 1950th run scored, passing Stan Musial for the all time NL lead.  You know how Willie Mays is held up as an example of a guy who hung on too long?  This is his aged 40 season, he led the league with a .425 OBP and had a 158 OPS+. 40 year old Willie Mays was a 6 WAR player.  This is home run #638 for Mays, he only has 8 Giants homers left to hit.

Walk off 1971 home vs Expos, your first place Giants are 35-10 after winning the first half of the doubleheader, we trail 7-6 in the bottom of the 9th, 2 out, bases loaded - Tito Fuentes singles off of Mike Marshall to score the tying and winning run.  We win 8-7 and take a 10.5 game lead.  Fuentes signed as 18, was 3rd in NL Rookie of the Year at 22, and was with us through his aged 30 season in '74 after which we moved him to the Padres for Derrel Thomas.

Walk off 2010 home vs. Arizona, 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, 5-5, Andres Torres singles home the winning run off of Carlos Rosa.  The second best season for a San Francisco center fielder not named Mays? This one by Andres Torres.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

The 50 Greatest Wrestlers in Ring of Honor History

It's the 15th anniversary of Ring of Honor, there's been some "hey, let's rank the top 50 wrestlers in ROH history" stuff.  So, I'll do it too.  Only ROH work included.

1. Bryan Danielson
2. Samoa Joe
3. Briscoes
4. CM Punk
5. Low Ki
6. Nigel McGuinness
7. Austin Aries
8. Kevin Steen
9. El Generico
10. Kenta
11. Davey Richards
12. Roderick Strong
13. Young Bucks
14. Homicide
15. AJ Styles
16. Tyler Black
17. Claudio Castagnoli
18. Chris Hero
19. Alex Shelley
20. Kyle O’Riley
21. Christopher Daniels
22. Takeshi Morishima
23. Matt Sydal
24. Paul London
25. Adam Cole
26. Jay Lethal
27. Eddie Edwards
28. Jimmy Jacobs
29. Michael Elgin
30. Chris Sabin
31. Red
32. Jack Evans
33. Colt Cabana
34. James Gibson
35. Rocky Romero
36. CIMA
37. Naomichi Marufuji
38. Shingo Takagi
39. Jimmy Rave
40. BJ Whitmer
41. Bobby Fish
42. Cedric Alexander
43. Necro Butcher
44. Steve Corino
45. ACH
46. Brian Kendrick
47. Doug Williams
48. Tommaso Ciampa
49. Kushida
50. Kenta Kobashi

May 29 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 29 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1965 home vs. Reds, 4-4 in the 7th, Willie McCovey hits a 2 out 2 run homer off of Billy McCool, those are the last runs of our 6-4 win.  Through 2016 this was the 23rd best season a first baseman ever had in the history of the Giants organization.  This was the 136th homer of McCovey's career.  McCool made the NL All Star team in '66, he didn't play in the game; Mays led off, McCovey hit clean up, both Marichal and Perry wound up pitching - Gaylord got the win.

1982 at Pittsburgh, Giants down 4-3 in the 5th, Jack Clark hits a grand slam off of future Giant Don Robinson.  We'll win the game 9-5.  It was Clark's first homer of the game, he came back a couple innings later to hit a 2 run shot off of the Caveman.  In fact - Clark hit 7 career homers off Don Robinson, more than any other pitcher.

1983 at Dodgers, the Dodgers were 30-13 when they hosted us in front of 45,000 on a Sunday afternoon, but we got them late - with the game tied at 4 Max Venable hit a two out single off Dave Stewart to score Evans and Clark and 6-4 would be the final score.  This was Venable's fifth and final year as a 4th outfielder/pinch hitter for the Giants - prior to the next season we moved Venable, Fred Breining, and Andy McGaffigan to Montreal for Al Oliver.

1994 home vs Marlins, Giants were a game under .500, tied at 1 in the 8th, Matt Williams doubled home John Patterson off of Richie Lewis, we went up 2-1 and won it 3-1.  This was the season that ended early by the labor stoppage, Matt had 43 homers in 112 games back when the single season record was still 62.

2014 at St Louis, 20 years later the Giants were 35-19, a half dozen games up in the West, tied at 4 in the 7th, 2 on, 2 out, Michael Morse, who had homered earlier, doubled home Pagan and Sandoval off of Trevor Rosenthal, we'd hold on and win it 6-5.  Morse signed as a free agent in the offseason and hit the ball, he had a 130 OPS+ in 480 plate appearances as our left fielder, he left at the end of the year to sign with the Marlins, but would return as a pinch hitter in 2017.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 28 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 28 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1958 at Phillies, the inaugural San Francisco Giants were 26-14 and in first place in front of 10,000 paid on a Wednesday night at Connie Mack, 5-5 with 2 out in the 9th, Willie Kirkland hit a 2 run homer off of Turk Farrell, we held on to win 7-6.  Kirkland is our original right fielder, hit cleanup on opening day in between Mays and Cepeda.  We moved him to Cleveland after the 1960 season with Johnny Antonelli for Harvey Kuenn.

1964 at St Louis, the first place Giants were 23-15, we trailed 1-0 with 2 out and a man on in the bottom of the 8th, Willie Mays hit a 2 run homer off of Curt Simmons and we won 2-1.  Mays hit 47 homers in '64, had a 172 OPS+, Mays had 11 WAR in '64 it is his second best season.

Walk off 1970 home vs Dodgers, yes, a walk off against the Dodgers, 3-3. Dick Dietz leads off the 9th with a walk off homer off of Jim Brewer.  We signed Dietz when he was 18, this is a decade later, he's the Giants starting catcher and he hit the hell out of the ball, Dick Dietz had a 153 OPS+ in 1970, The best season for a San Francisco catcher not named Buster Posey? Dick Dietz, 1970.

1978 home vs Dodgers, at 27-15 the Giants were in first place, down 3-1 in the 6th Mike Ivie hits a pinch grand slam off of Don Sutton.  We'd win the game 6-5.  We got Ivie in February from the Padres for Derrel Thomas and he had the two best seasons of his career in '78 and '79.  This was Ivie's 28th career homer and his third grand slam.  There were 56,000 paid at the Stick - a record at the time.

Walk off 2004 home vs Colorado, 2-2 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Barry Bonds hits a 2 run game winning homer off of Tim Harikkala. It was our 7th straight win. It's Barry's 671st career homer and the 10th and final walk off homer of his career.  It's his last superhuman year, Barry had an OPS+ of 263 and was 11 wins above replacement.  It's his 4th best Giants season meaning its the 4th best season for any left fielder in organizational history.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 27 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 27 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1977 home vs Braves, 3-3 with 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, Tim Foli singles home Larry Herndon off of Buzz Capra for the game winner.  It's Foli's only season in San Francisco, we got him from the Expos for Speier and we'll sell him to the Mets.

1994 home vs Marlins, down 1-0 with 2 out in the 5th, John Patterson hits a grand slam off of David Weathers.  That's all the runs we'd score, we hold on 4-3.  Patterson's a pureblood, we're the only team he ever played for in his 4 big league seasons.  He hit 5 career homers, this was his second and only grand slam.



Walk off 2003 home vs. Diamondbacks, at 30-20, the Giants came in to this one in first place, it took nearly 4 hours, but we stayed there - down 3-2 with 2 out in the bottom of the 13th, Marquis Grissom hits a walk off triple off of Matt Mantei, scoring 2 to win the game.  This was the game were Ruben Rivera got lost running the bases in the 9th inning.  Grissom finished his 17 year big league career with three years in San Francisco.  He was good enough here, in his first season, worth two wins as a 36 year old starting center fielder.

Walk off 2004 home vs. Diamondbacks, we weren't as good the following year but nonethless got the Snakes again.  This time it was 4-4 in the 10th, Damon Minor singled home Barry off of Jose Valverde to win the game.  Just like Patterson, the Giants were Minor's only big league club in a four year career.  We called him back up to the big club the day before - less than a month later he'd play his last ever major league game.



2011 at Milwaukee, the Giants came into this one in first place, we were down 3-1 in the 7th when Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam off of Shaun Marcum.  We won 5-4.  This was the first game of Crawford's big league career and his first hit.  Crawford's the six player in history to hit a grand slam in his big league debut.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!