September 13 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday

Here are the top 5 September 13 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1973 at San Diego, we're 8 out on game 145, that's too many out, 6-6 in the 9th, Steve Ontiveros hits a 2 run homer off of Gary Ross, we win this one 8-6. So, there were two guys named Steve Ontiveros.  We drafted this one in '69 in the 6th round out of Bakersfield High (the Phillies got Bob Boone a dozen picks prior). He was a utilityman for four seasons and was just fine, a 96 OPS+ in 910 PA.  We sent him to the Cubs before the '77 season in the Murcer for Madlock deal.  That's where he finished his career, as a 28 year old in 1980. The other Steve Ontiveros was a pitcher whose career began in '85 (you know those people who assume new identities and keep going to high school until they're in their 30s - this is a poorly formed version of that).

Walk off 1989 home vs. Reds, we've got a 5 game lead, it's game 146 so we are closing in on our second division title in three years. We came into the bottom of the 13th down 7-5, Greg Litton tied the score with a 2 run double and Brett Butler won it with a single off of Rosario Rodriguez. The Braves drafted Butler in the 23rd round in '79 out of Southeastern Oklahoma St (we drafted Jim Wilson, a high school catcher who didn't make it). Butler came up in '81 and after 3 years in Atlanta they sent him to Cleveland with Brook Jacoby for Len Barker.  He established himself as a solid starting center fielder in four years with the Indians, we signed him as a 31 year old in '88 and he hit, a 133 OPS+ in his first Giants season, 119 overall for his Giants career in 2083 PA. He left for the Dodgers in '91 and finished his career with them in '97.



1998 home vs. Rockies, we've lost 3 straight, 13.5 games out, so we're playing out the string, down 3-1 in the 8th - Barry Bonds hits a 3 run homer off Chuck McElroy, we win it 4-3.  This was #407 for Bonds.  Barry hit 762 homers.  What were, within the context of the game, the biggest each season?

1986-  #16 Barry was a Pirate, of course, leading off and playing CF as a rookie. On September 23 the Pirates were down 5-4 in the 9th to the Phillies, Barry hit a 2 run walk off against Steve Bedrosian.

1987- #21, May 13, Pirates down 5-2 to the Padres in the 6th, Barry hits a 3 run homer off Craig Lefferts to tie the score.

1988 - #58, July 17 - Bedrock and Lefferts, of course, were future Giants, this homer's hit against us, we're tied with the Pirates 3-3 in the 8th, Joe Price on the mound, Barry pinch hitting, on the 10th pitch of the at bat he hits a 2 run homer to give Pittsburgh the lead.

1989 - #66 April 4, Barry's now a left fielder, but still leading off for the Pirates, 3-3 in the 8th, Barry puts Pittsburgh in front with a homer off Montreal's Joe Hesketh.

1990 - #105 August 9, Barry's hitting 5th against the Expos, Pirates down 5-4 in the 8th, Barry homers off Scott Ruskin to tie the game.

1991- #137 August 12, Pirates down 3-2 in the bottom of the 11th, Lee Smith on the mound for the Cards, Barry hits a 2 run homer to win the game.

1992 - #158 July 19, Pirates down to the Cubs 2-1 in the 8th, Barry homers to tie the score.

1993 - #204, hey look, Barry's with the good guys now, he hits a ton of big homers in his first San Francisco season, this one is July 23, we were down to the Phillies 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th when Barry homered off of Curt Schilling to tie it up.

1994 - #227, April 18 we're down to the Expos 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th - and like the year before Barry Bonds homers to tie the score, this time off of Jeff Shaw.

1995 - #272, June 30, home against the Padres, we're down 6-4 in the 9th when Barry hits a 3 run walk off homer against Trevor Hoffman.

1996 - #333, September 17, Barry actually homered under very similar conditions 6 days prior, it's tied in the 8th, this one is 7-7, and Barry hits a 2 run homer off of Dario Veras of the Padres.

1997 - #342, May 26, 3-3 in the 9th, Barry homers off Jose Lima to walk off the Astros.

1998 - this game, the one we just did, #407, that was his big blow in '98.

1999 -  #439 August 30, 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th against Billy Brewer of the Phillies, Barry hits a 2 run walk off shot.

2000 - #469, June 5 4-4 in the 11th against the Angels, Barry homers off Shigetoshi Hasegawa to put us up 5-4.

2001 - #549, August 23, we're tied at 5 with the Expos in the 9th, Barry pinch homers off Graeme Lloyd to give us a 6-5 lead.

2002 - #572 April 5, 1-1 against the Padres in the bottom of the 10th, Barry walks it off with a 2 run homer off Alan Embree

2003 - Barry hit 3 walk offs in '03, let's pick August 21, 3-3 in the bottom of the 10th, Barry walked off the Braves two days prior and does it again, homering off of Trey Hodges for #652

2004 - #671 May 28, 2-2 in the bottom of the 9th against the Rockies, Barry hits a two run homer off of Tim Harikkala to send everyone home.

2005 - Barry was hurt most of the season, only hit 5 homers, let's pick #705 off Hung Chih Kuo of the Dodgers, we were up 4-3 in the 8th and this extends that to 5-3.

2006 - #711, April 26, we're down 7-5 to the Mets in the bottom of the 9th, Barry hits a 2 run pinch homer off Billy Wagner to tie the score.

2007 - last season for Barry, #738, April 18, Barry homers off Ryan Franklin of the Cards in the 8th inning to tie the score at 5.

2000 at Houston, it's game 145 and we have an 8.5 game lead, 28 games over .500, Livan Hernandez goes 8, 0 earned, it's 2-2 in the 9th, 2 out - Armando Rios homers off Wade Miller and we win this one 3-2. This is Rios's 19th career homer, he'll hit a total of 36, all but the final 3 with the Giants. We're off to San Diego for the weekend as we get ready for October baseball.

Walk off 2011 home vs. Padres, on August 21 we were just 1.5 back - but now it's 8.5 and the WC isn't much closer, this is game 148 so unfortunately it didn't happen for us this year.  2-2 with 2 out in the 12th, 1-2 count to Mark DeRosa - he singles home the winning run off of Brad Brach.  DeRosa got 201 PA over two seasons as a utilityman with the Giants and didn't hit at all, had a 67 OPS+, but 2011 was a solid upgrade over 2010 (DeRosa gave us a 48 OPS+ in 2010, there's just no way he should have been given any 2011 PA). This was near the end of his career, in 2012 DeRosa was 37 and left for the Nationals and then finished the following season in Toronto.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 12 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday

Here are the top 5 September 12 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1965 home vs. Cubs, half a game lead headed to a Sunday doubleheader against the Cubs - we've won 8 straight to move 22 over .500, this is game 142 on the season, down 2-1 in the 6th, bases loaded, 1 out, Jim Ray Hart grounds to third, they get the force at 2nd, Glenn Beckert tries to turn the double play and throws it away, scoring 2 runs and we go on and win it 4-3  We also take the back half, that's 10 wins in a row to build a 2 game lead with 19 to go.  We head to Houston for four beginning the following day.

1997 at Florida, it is game 147 and we are tied with the Dodgers for first in the West, its a Friday night in Miami. We get a sac fly in the 4th to go up 1-0 and then hold on, Julian Tavarez gets Craig Counsell to ground into a bases loaded double play that ends the 6th and 2 innings later, Roberto Hernandez gets Bobby Bonilla to ground into a double play to leave us 4 outs left to get. Hernandez strikes out Darren Daulton to finish the inning and Rod Beck gets them in order in the 9th.  We take a 1 game lead with 15 to play.  Tavarez was part of the Kent/Williams trade, he was okay in 3 years in our pen, a 96 ERA+ in 228 IP.  We got Hernandez in a big deadline deal with the White Sox along with Wilson Alvarez and Danny Darwin.  Hernandez only threw 32 innings for us but he killed it, a 168 ERA+.  This was his 20th Giants appearance. I did not attend this game - I did however catch the following day when we lost to Kevin Brown.

2004 at Arizona, it's game 144, we're 6 out in the West, so while that's not over, you can see over from here, but we're tied with the Cubs for the WC so it's a pennant race in mid September. Jason Schmidt comes up big - a complete game 4 hitter, 9 strikeouts, 2 earned.  This was is decided in the 8th, 2-2 with 1 out - Deivi Cruz singles home the go ahead run off of Mike Koplove - Barry adds his 41st of the season in the 9th, we win it 5-2.  This is Barry's 699th career home run, he's got 4 more to hit this season.  The game before he broke the record for walks in a season. We cut the deficit to 5 and move into sole possession of the WC lead.  Tuesday we go to Milwaukee.

2010 at San Diego, okay, we're 1 out in the West, the Padres are in first, this is game 144 on the season and we're 1.5 out in the WC, so with 19 games left on the season, every day is crucial. Tim Lincecum goes 7, strikes out 9, gives up 1 earned, Giants nemesis Mat Latos went for the Padres, Buster Posey hit a 2 run first inning homer, and we cruised to a 6-1 win to move into a first place tie.  Tuesday we go home for 3 against the Dodgers. Lincecum won the Cy Young the previous two seasons and gave back a lot this year, with a 114 ERA+ in 212 IP.



2014 home vs. Dodgers, okay - we're 2 out in the West, the Dodgers are in first, this is game 147 on the season - but we're 4 games clear in the WC, so it isn't exactly 1962 in terms of importance, but still a fun game at this point in September. Madison Bumgarner for the good guys on a sold out Friday night, he goes 7, gives up just 3 hits and strikes out 9 as we shut them out.  They had one chance to get into the game, we're up 4-0 in the 5th, bases loaded, two out - Adrian Gonzalez hits a ball to the track - but no further.  We win 9-0 and cut the deficit to 1 - but that's as close as we'll get in the division race.  Bumgarner was good but not great in '14, a 116 ERA+ in 217 IP.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 11 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday


Here are the top 5 September 11 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1966 home vs. Cubs, once again, we're chasing the Dodgers in September, 2 out of the lead, we've lost 3 straight including the front end of this Sunday doubleheader.  Who comes up huge in this one? Bobby Bolin - throws a 3 hitter, walking none, striking out 8, and hits the big blow, an 8th inning homer off Curt Simmons to extend our 1-0 lead to 2-0, we only got 3 hits ourselves and that was the final score.  Really good year for Bolin a 129 ERA+ in 224 IP.  We stay 2 out with 18 games to go.

Walk off 1983 home vs. Astros, no pennant race here, Nolan Ryan throws a complete game and strikes out 11, he had a shutout into the 9th, but a 1 out Dave Bergman single drove in 2 to tie the score, that was followed by a Tom O'Malley single that won the game 3-2.  We haven't been in the postseason since '71 and that will continue into '84.

1997 at Phillies, we're half a game out of first in the West, 1.5 up in the WC, its game 146 on the season, 3-3 in the 9th - Jeff Kent hits a 2 run homer off Jerry Spradlin, we're gonna win it 5-3.  It's Kent's 27th homer in his initial Giants season and 105th for his career.  We move into a first place tie and head to Miami for a weekend series to which I will be in attendance.

2000 at Houston, we've been in first since late July, here at game 143 we're 26 over .500 with a 7.5 game lead, we were down 7-5 in the 9th when Bonds hit his 45th homer of the season to tie the game - in the 10th it was a Bill Mueller triple off Marc Valdes that broke that tie and we won it 8-7.  Mueller hit 22 triples in his 11 year career, 8 of them with the Giants.  We're 8.5 up with 19 games to go.

2016 at Diamondbacks, we were in first on August 20, but even after taking the first two in Phoenix we're 4 back - we are, however, a game up in the WC.  We're winning here, 3-2 in the 7th, 2 out and runners on the corners, Hunter Pence doubles off Randall Delgado to score both of them and we're gonna win it 5-3.  Injuries started to get Pence in '15, he missed considerable time in both '15 and '16, and then his bat entirely collapsed at the age of 34 in 2017.  We moved to 3 back in the west with 20 games to go - but that's as close as we'd get.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 10 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday

Here are the top 5 September 10 moments in San Francisco Giants History.

1965 home vs. Cubs, we're 20 over .500, half a game up over Reds and Dodgers here on game 140, we've won a half dozen straight 1-1 with an out in the 6th, Willie McCovey hits a grand slam off of Ted Abernathy, we win the game 5-2 and maintain a half game lead with 21 to go.  McCovey hit 18 grand slams, all came with the Giants, this was his third.  We play 3 more against the Cubs, including a Sunday doubleheader.

Walk off 1990 home vs. Braves, the defending NL Champs are 7.5 out with 22 to go, the Stick is empty on a Monday night, 6-6 in the bottom of the 10th, bases loaded with 1 out, Robby Thompson squeezes home Kevin Mitchell with the winning run off of Kent Mercker.  Who doesn't love a walk off bunt?  You know the year before, Robby led MLB in both triples and getting hit by pitches?  We've won 3 straight and have two more against the Braves.

Walk off 1997 home vs. Cardinals, we're 1.5 out in the West with 18 to go, but our WC lead is also 1.5 games as we try to make the postseason for the first time since '89.  A 9th inning Stan Javier homer (speaking of '89) off of Dennis Eckersley took the game into extras, and in the 10th (speaking of '89) a Damon Berryhill pinch single drove home the winning run off of Lance Painter to give us the 7-6 victory.  We signed Berryhill in the offseason for the final 73 games of his big league career, he was okay, an 84 OPS+ in 188 PA.  We move half a game out in the West.

Walk off 2008 home vs. Diamondbacks, we're 9.5 out with 19 left, so it's done, here's a fun ending to a game, down 3-2 with 2 out in the 9th, Brandon Lyon has an 0-2 count on Eugenio Velez - and Velez beats him with a triple that scores two runs to win the game.  Velez spent the first 4 years of his 5 year career as a Giants utilityman, he had a 71 OPS+ in 678 PA.  He played the final 34 games of his career with the Dodgers.

2010 at San Diego, on the 28th we were 6 back in the West, but as we come into game 142 we are just 1 behind the first place Padres (and half a game out of the WC).  6 Giants pitchers give up a total of 3 hits, the big moment is the bottom of the 9th, 1 on, 2 out, Max Venable, a son of a former Giant, at the plate - Brian Wilson strikes him out to end the game and move the Giants into a tie for first with 20 to go.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 9 - Top 6 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 6 September 9 moments in San Francisco Giants history. Because it can't be
contained by 5.

1962 home vs. Cubs, the greatest San Francisco Giants team of all time has been chasing the Dodgers all year and come into this one just half a game out of first place, we are 40 games over .500, have won 4 straight and are trying to sweep the Cubs on a Sunday afternoon. We're up 5-4 with an out in the 9th, a man on - Ron Santo at the plate - and Don Larsen gets him 3-6-1 to end the game.  This was Larsen's 9th save of the season, he had a total of 23 saves in his career.  LA wins as well, we stay in second place and the Pirates are coming in tomorrow night.

1969 at Cincinnati, the Reds took a doubleheader from us the day before to move into first place - so just like 7 years prior we're a half game out.  Gaylord throws a complete game, striking out 10, it's 1-1 in the 7th, Willie McCovey hits a 2 run homer off of Jim Merritt, we go on to win 7-4 and move back into first place with 21 games to go.  Tomorrow we go to Atlanta.  McCovey won the MVP Award in '69, he hit 45 homers, this is #42, #310 for his career.

Walk off 1972 home vs. Reds, 3 years later the stakes are lower, there's no pennant race, Jim Willoughby threw a complete game 3 hitter - but we only got 3 hits ourselves, and with one out and one on we trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th - but Dave Kingman hit a 2 run walk off homer off of Don Gullett to win it for the good guys.  Kingman hit 8 walk off homers in his career, this was his first and the only one he'd hit as a Giant.

2001 at Colorado, we're 1.5 out in the West, half a game up in the WC, this Sunday afternoon at Coors is game 144 on the season.  This one goes 11, 4-4 with one out, JT Snow hits a 2 run homer off of Todd Belitz, we wind up scoring 5 and winning 9-4.  Snow hit 8 homers in '01, this was his last, the 159th homer of his career. This is our last game before 9-11, we don't play for 9 days, the Astros come in for 3 games Bonds hit #61 in the first inning.

2002 home vs. Dodgers, we're 5.5 out in the West, but 1 game behind the Dodgers for the WC, and starting a 3 game series against them. Giants vs. Dodgers in September with a playoff spot on the line. That was September 9 2002.  3-3 with an out in the 6th, David Bell hits a 2 run homer off Odalis Perez, we're gonna take this one 6-5.  Bell hit 20 in '02, easily the biggest total of his career, this is the last one, career homer 81. We don't gain anything on the lead, but with only 18 games left in the season, the Giants and Dodgers are tied for the WC.



2016 at Arizona, we're 5 out in the West, but half a game up in the WC, we go 5 1/2 hours in Phoenix and use a combined...how many?..a combined 21 pitchers.  21 pitchers?  In a 12 inning game?  Remember when Gaylord went 16?  6-6 with an out in the 12th, Kelby Tomlinson singles home the go ahead run off of Dominic Leone.  We win it 7-6. The winning pitcher - Joe Nathan, who we drafted 21 years prior and who returned this year to pitch in 4 innings down the stretch to end his career.  It was Nathan's first Giants win since 2003. This is Tomlinson's second year as a Giants utilityman, he's been fine, as of this writing a career 92 OPS+ in 505 PA.  We cut the West deficit to 4, and moved a game clear in the WC.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!