August 30 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 30 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1962 home vs. Braves, it's game 133, we're 3.5 games out of first place despite an 83-49 record. The last time we saw first place was July 7 as the Dodgers are playing .650 ball.  We come into this one having won 5 of 6 and not gaining a game on the lead in that stretch.  We're up 3-2 in the 9th, the Braves have the bases loaded, 1 out, and Aaron at the plate (okay, it's Tommie, but still).  Don Larsen gets him to line back to the mound - a toss to first for the double play ends the game.  How about this, we get to talk about Don Larsen.  Larsen was 17 when he signed with the Browns in '47, six years later he debuted, then moved with the club to Baltimore and in '54 he lost 21 games.  After the season he was part of a 16 player trade that sent him to the Yankees.  The perfect game was '56, Larsen was named World Series MVP.  After the '59 season he went to the A's in a 7 player deal, part of the return to the Yankees being Roger Maris.  2 years with the A's, a season with the White Sox, and before this season we got him at age 32 and Billy Pierce, the main piece going back being Eddie Fisher, who had some nice years in the Sox pen.  Larsen spent two plus seasons in our pen, and was okay, 158 innings, a 93 ERA+.  We sell him to Houston during the '64 season, where he goes on the best run of his career, 108 innings and a 144 ERA+.  Larsen winds up with the Cubs at the end, pitching 4 innings in '67.

1964 at Milwaukee, 7.5 games out so it's going to take a helluva September if we're going to make a run, this is a pretty good start, 10-10 in the 8th, Jim Davenport had replaced Jim Ray Hart at third, he hits a 2 run single off Hank Fischer, we go on to win 13-10. Here's every starting third baseman in San Francisco history, with Giants career OPS+ and PA.  Start at the beginning.

58-63,69 Davenport 90, 4981
64-68 Hart 130, 3836 (2 starting third basemen all the way until 1970, we had corner continuity)
70-2 Gallagher 91, 1081
73 Goodson 94, 1068
74-5 Ontiveros 97, 910
76 Reitz 76, 614
77 Madlock 120, 1364
78-81  Evans 119, 4406
82-3 O'Malley 93, 827
84 Youngblood 106, 1647
85-6 Brown 120, 1184 (very similar to Madlock with the bat)
87-8 Mitchell 152, 2516 (Mitch, obviously, is a step up offensively)
89-Riles 109, 722
90-6 Williams 122, 4497 (Matt and Evans had very similar Giants offensive careers)
97-00 Mueller 102, 2440
01 Ramon Martinez 94, 1045
02 Bell 104, 628
03-5 Alfonzo 88, 1564
06-7 Feliz 84, 3027 (3000 plate appearances to Pedro Feliz, goddamn)
08- Jose Castillo 73, 420 (quite the run of batsmen at our hot corner)
09-14 Sandoval 122, 3614
15-16 Duffy 98, 962

1984 at Philadelphia, playing out the string, 22.5 back, front half of a doubleheader, down 5-4 in the ninth, Jeffrey Leonard hits a 2 run homer off Al Holland, we win it 6-5.  10 days before we traded Al Oliver to the Phillies for Kelly Downs. Holland had a nice Giants career, 138 ERA+ in 319 IP.  We sent him to Philly after the '82 season with Joe Morgan for Mike Krukow and Mark Davis.  Who won that trade?  Here's WAR, PA/IP with their new teams.

We get: Krukow 9.8, 1154
             Davis 2.9, 555

They get: Morgan 3.35, 504
                Holland 6.65, 194

So - we win, and that doesn't include that Davis was part of the package that gets us Mitchell.

1989 home vs. Phillies, the last time we were in second place was June 11 - we're now 4 up, still only 19,000 paid at the Stick on a Wednesday afternoon, up 3-2 in the 9th, nobody out, one on, Von Hayes at the plate, Steve Bedrosian gets him to go 3-6-3 and we hold on to the 3-2 win.  Bedrosian won the Cy Young for these Phillies just 2 years prior; we got him six weeks prior along with Rick Parker for Mulholland, Hayes, and Cook.  He was good in '89 (128 ERA+, 17 saves) but not in '90 and we gave him to the Twins after the season. Bedrosian finished back where he started, Atlanta, and he was unbelievable for that great '93 team that edged us out, a 248 ERA+ in 49 innings.  His last season was '95.



2009 home vs. Rockies - we're 6 out in the west but only a game back in the WC - and we've just taken 2 from the team we're chasing, the Rockies, and are going for the sweep.  Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, Edgar Renteria had a 5 RBI day, the biggest coming with 2 out in the 7th in a game we trailed 5-2, he hit a grand slam off of Rafael Betancourt.  We win this one 9-5.  Renteria was 15 when he signed with the Marlins, 19 when he finished second in the Rookie of the Year in '96 (to Todd Hollandsworth) 32 when we signed him before this season. He was awful as our starting shortstop in '09, a 67 OPS+ in 510 PA.  He was better as a backup in '10 and finished his Giants career with a 76 OPS+.  He finished his career in Cincinnati in '11.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 29 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

Walk off 1970 home vs. Pirates, 17 games out of first, everyone just waiting for their tee times, Bobby Bonds hit a three run homer in the 8th to tie it, and then, with the score 9-9 in the 9th, singled home the winning run off of Bruce Dal Canton. Bonds never won an MVP award, but he had two top five finishes.  In '71 he finished 4th.  That year Bonds had a 6.05 WAR (his second best season) Joe Torre won, he had a 5.2 WAR.  Ferguson Jenkins was 10.5, so while Bonds was better than Torre, he still didn't deserve the award.  Bobby's best finish was in '73, when he finished third.  That was also his best season, 7.75 WAR, the best season a Giants RF had who isn't Mel Ott.  Rose won, his WAR was also 7.75.  Joe Morgan was 9.55, so you wouldn't have gone Bonds this year either.

1984 at Montreal, 22.5 games out of first, 3-3 in the top of the 11th, Bob Brenly homers off Rick Grapenthin and that's gonna be the final.  Brenly hit two extra inning homers in his entire career, this one and a walk off 3 years later to beat the Braves in the 10th.

Walk off 1985 home vs. Mets, 24.5 out, so things haven't gotten better a year later, with the score 3-3 in the 10th, Chili Davis hits a 3 run homer off Terry Leach and we win 6-3. Chili had 5 career walk off homers, this was his only one as a Giant.  He got two with the Angels 8 years later in '93, and then 2 with the Royals way out in '97.

1990 at Montreal, we're 8.5 out, 5-5 in the 9th inning, 2 out, Robby Thompson homers off of Bill Sampen, we're going to win 6-5.  This was Robby's 50th career homer.  His 5th was off Doyle Alexander His 14th was off Bob Knepper.  His 23rd/25th off Ed Whitson. His 51st off Dennis Cook.  His 61st off Rich Rodriguez. His 65th off Terry Mulholland. His 98th and 102nd off Robb Nen. His 106th off Kirk Rueter. His 113th off Jeff Juden. And his 116th off of Jason Schmidt.

2010 home vs. Diamondbacks, we were a game back on the 6th - but now that deficit is 6 games, we're 1.5 out of the WC, so here, on game 131 of the season as we try to avoid a series sweep by Arizona, a win would be a good thing.  Down 6-5 in the 7th, Jose Guillen singles home the tying and go ahead runs off of Esmerling Vasquez, we go on to win 9-7.  Guillen spent the last 34 games of his big league career in San Francisco, We got him 16 days before from the Royals. He played a lot of RF, had an 89 OPS+ in 139 PA.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August, 2017 Athlete of the Month

August is here.

Giancarlo Stanton.  Runners-up: Terence Crawford, Floyd Mayweather, Rhys Hoskins

2017 is 2/3 of the way gone.  Who will be named Athlete of the Year?


January - Deshaun Watson
February - Tom Brady
March - Russell Westbrook
April - A'ja Wilson
May - Stephen Curry
June- Kevin Durant
July - Roger Federer
August - Giancarlo Stanton

August 28 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

1964 at Braves, 8 games out of first on game 129 of the season, we get 5 hits, but one of them comes in the 9th inning, 2-2, Del Crandall singles home what turns out to be the winning run off of Wade Blasingame (aided by a Lee Maye throwing error). Crandall was a Brave lifer - finished second in the Rookie of the Year in '49 when he was 19 and the Braves were still in Boston (Newcombe won). He came back from Korea in '53, the team was in Milwaukee and he started a near decade long run as their starting catcher.  We got him in the offseason in the Felipe Alou trade and Crandall played in 69 games as a Giant.  We sent him to Pittsburgh before the '65 season and he finished as an Indian the following year.

Walk off 1968 home vs. Astros, 11 games out of first, only 4700 at the Stick on a Wednesday afternoon, 3-3 in the 9th, Bobby Bonds gets us a win with a literal walk off, forcing a bases loaded walk off of John Buzhardt to win the game.  Here's the OPS+, PA of every starting RF in San Francisco history.  Going backward with this one.

Pence 114, 2727
Schierholtz 98, 1316
Winn 100, 2799
Tucker 91, 833
Cruz 104, 650
Sanders 107, 571
Rios 123, 809 (Rios is our best post-Burks RF bat)
Burks 151, 1104 (Burks was a wrecking machine)
Javier 97, 1677
Hill 109, 1388
McGee 107, 1748
Bass 98, 923
Maldonado 109, 1862
Davis 113, 3564
Clark 134, 4300
Murcer 125, 1256
Bonds 131, 4610
Jesus Alou 84, 2347
Ollie Brown 84, 942
Felipe Alou 116, 2478
Kirkland 112, 1548

2000 at Pittsburgh, we're 73-55 with a 2.5 game lead in the West, it's 4-4 in the 9th, Russ Davis hits a leadoff homer off Scott Sauerbeck and we win this one 5-4. Davis finished up his career in San Francisco in '00 and '01 after a half dozen seasons in the AL. He was solid as our backup third baseman with a 100 OPS+.  Davis had 84 career homers, the last 16 with the Giants, this was his 6th.

2005 home vs. Mets, 7 games out of first, so while it's unlikely, it's not impossible we go on a September run. Noah Lowry goes 8, gives up just 5 hits, the big shot is Pedro Feliz's, he hits a 2 run homer off Kris Benson in the 6th to break a 1-1 tie. We win it 4-1.  Lowry's career was short, five seasons, all of which in San Francisco, almost all of which in the rotation. Lowry has a career ERA+ of 109 in 618 innings pitched.

2012 at Houston, it's game 128 and we're 2.5 games up and starting a series in Houston, Matt Cain goes 7 and a third, gives up 6 hits, we trailed 2-1 in the 9th when Joaquin Arias singled home Brandon Belt off Wilton Lopez to tie and Hector Sanchez singled home Arias off Lopez for the win.  Arias spent the last four years of his career as a utilityman in San Francisco, he had an 80 OPS+ in 843 plate appearances.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 27 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday


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

Walk off 1958 home vs. Braves, we were in first place on July 29, less than a month later the inaugural San Francisco Giants are 9.5 out the fight's all but done.  2-2 in the 12th, bases loaded, Orlando Cepeda draws a walk off of Bob Trowbridge to send everyone home.  We'd have one more walk off win that season.

Walk off 1981 home vs. Pirates, a dozen games out, 4 hours on a Thursday night at the Stick, score tied at 4 in the 13th, Jack Clark homers off of Don Robinson to get one for the good guys.  Jack hit 7 homers off of Caveman Robinson, more than any other pitcher.  The first two were in 1980, within 9 days of each other in May.  That second homer was also in a tie game in the 13th inning.  This is the third homer.  4 and 5 come next May in the same game.  Six comes later that season, in August.  The last one is five years later when Jack's a Cardinal.

2001 at New York, it's game 130 and we're 3.5 out in the West and in a flat tie for the Wild Card, 4-4 with 2 out in the top of the 9th, JT Snow hits a 2 run homer off of Rick White, we win this one 6-5.  Snow spent most of a decade as our starting first baseman, here's the OPS+ and PA of every 1B in San Francisco history.

Cepeda 140, 4531
McCovey 149, 8523
Kingman 112, 1403 (From 58-73 we had two starting first basemen, Kong breaks that run)
Montanez 112, 826
Evans 119, 4406
Ivie 126, 1131
Cabell 72, 413
Smith 134, 398
Oliver 101, 360
Green 85, 321
Clark 145, 4878 (Clark and Cepeda similar hitting numbers for Giants)
Benzinger 96, 559
Carreon 117, 1025
Snow 112, 4497
Hillenbrand 74, 247
Klesko 92, 411
Bowker 76, 513
Ishikawa 92, 752
Huff 116, 1342
Belt 126, 3149

Walk off 2011 home vs. Astros, game 132, we're 3 out in the West, 3 out in the Wild Card, 1-1 with 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, Jeff Keppinger lines a 2-2 pitch into right center off of Fernando Rodriguez to drive home the winning run. Keppinger played in 56 games for the Giants, we got him from the Astros at midseason. He played a lot of second base down the stretch and didn't hit, had a 76 OPS+. He left for Tampa after the season and finished with the White Sox in 2013.



Walk off 2014 home vs. Rockies, we're 4.5 out in the West, but now there are 2 wild cards per league and we're 2 games up for that final slot. Tim Hudson goes 8, gives up just 4 hits, it's 2-2 in the bottom of the 9th, 2 out, Buster Posey hits a 2 run homer off Juan Nicasio to send everyone home. 17 big league seasons for Hudson, Oakland took him out of Auburn in the 6th round in '97. We took Kevin Joseph out of Rice seven slots earlier, he never played for us, we sent him to the Cards for Jason Christiansen. Joseph threw 11 total big league innings.  Hudson did better, 6 years in Oakland, 9 in Atlanta, we signed him as a 38 year old this year for two seasons to finish his career.  He was just okay for us, 92 ERA+ in 313 innings.  Through 2016 I have Hudson as the 50th best pitcher in MLB history.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!