September 21 - Top 6 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Here are the top 6 September 21 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1966 home vs. Pirates, we're in third, 5 behind the Dodgers - the Pirates are in second and they've just beaten us 3 straight at the Stick. It's Wednesday afternoon and now or never.  Marichal throws a complete game, because he's Marichal, but that's not why this game is here - in the bottom of the 9th inning (after a Tom Haller 2 run homer tied it) Juan Marichal hit a walk off home run off of Roy Face. This was Marichal's best year with the bat (56 OPS+) he hit 4 career home runs.  This was the second, he wont hit another for five years.  LA loses.  We move to 4 games out and head to Houston tomorrow.

Walk off 1969 home vs. Dodgers, 10 games left and our lead is half a game on the Braves, this is a Sunday afternoon at the Stick and we are trying to sweep the third place Dodgers, who are 2.5 out.  41,000 paid - it's a real live late September situation - Gaylord goes for the good guys, Jim Bunning for the Dodgers.  They're both gone in the bottom of the 10th, 3-3, bases loaded, two out, Pete Mikkelson on the mound facing Jim Davenport - he gets out of it, Davenport grounds to Maury Wills - but it goes through his legs and McCovey scores the winning run.  Atlanta wins too. We stay half up with 9 to play, the Padres come in tomorrow night.  Wills committed 284 errors in his career, this is my favorite. What Dodger made his big league debut in this one?  Bill Buckner.

1989 home vs. Dodgers, 10 to play and we're 5 up on the Padres, it's Thursday night at the Stick and we're looking to sweep LA. 2-2 with an out in the 7th, Brett Butler doubles home two runs off of Ray Searage, we're gonna win this one 4-3.  The Padres also win - tomorrow we lose the opener to the Astros, the Padres also lose.  So - with 8 games to play our lead remains 5.  Butler had 277 career doubles, 69 of them as a Giant.

1997 at San Diego, the Brian Johnson game was 3 days ago, we're up 1 on LA with 7 left to play, it's Sunday afternoon, 5-5 with an out in the 9th, Stan Javier triples home two runs off of Trevor Hoffman, we win this one 8-5 - the Dodgers lose, so with 6 games remaining our lead in the West is two.  We've got one more in San Diego tomorrow night.  Javier hit 40 triples in his career, a quarter of them as a Giant.

2000 home vs. Diamondbacks, 6-6 in the 8th, Russ Davis hits a sac fly off of Mike Morgan to give us a lead, we win 8-7 and clinch the NL West - it's the earliest we'd ever clinched a playoff spot at that point.

2002 at Milwaukee, we're 6.5 out in the West, 2 up in the WC - there are just 7 games to go. Three Giants pitchers (great start from Schmidt) combine to give up 3 hits, it's 1-1 in the 7th, Kenny Lofton leads off with a homer off Ben Diggins.  We win 3-1, move to 5.5 out in the West and still 2 up in the WC with 6 games left in the season. Kenny Lofton played in 46 regular season games as a Giant.  The Astros drafted him in the 17th round of '88 from Arizona (10 spots later we took a pitcher from UC Riverside named Mitchell Ferrick who didn't make it) he came up in '91, finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year with the Indians in '92 (to Pat Listach), was with the Indians until this season when he signed with the White Sox - and they shipped him to us at the deadline.  35 year old Kenny Lofton was just fine, a 104 OPS+ in 205 San Francisco plate appearances.  Lofton hit 3 Giants homers, this was the last.  He signed with Pittsburgh for the '03 season and finished up back in Cleveland in 2007.

2010 at Chicago, well, here we are, half a game up in the West, a dozen left to go, starting a 3 game series at Wrigley on a Tuesday afternoon.  Four Giants pitchers (great start from Cain) give up a combined 2 hits and 1 walk, it's scoreless with one out in the 8th when Buster Posey homers off Andrew Cashner.  We only got 5 hits and only needed that one, this was a 1-0 final.  The Padres kept pace, so with 11 left we were still up half a game.  We get shut out the next day, San Diego wins, so with 10 left we were half a game out of first place - and half a game out in the WC.  This is Posey's 15th career homer.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 20 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Here are the top 5 September 20 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1965 at Cincinnati, 2 weeks ago we were in second place but then ripped off 14 straight and now have a 3.5 game lead with a dozen left.  We open up a series at Crosley, it's scoreless in the 5th, a Jim Maloney wild pitch scores Jim Ray Hart with the game's first run, we win it 4-0, the hero is Masanori Murakami, who gets a 4 inning save. Murakami, of course, is the first Japanese native to play in MLB, he pitched in 54 big league games, all with us, in '64 and '65. He was fine, had a 106 ERA+ 89 innings.  He was just 21 in '65 but it was his last year in the bigs due to a contractual issue with his Japanese club.  We move 4 up on the second place Dodgers with 11 to play.

1969 home vs. Dodgers, we were 3.5 out a month ago but now have a half game lead in the West with 11 to go - it's a Saturday afternoon at the Stick, Juan Marichal throws a complete game, we're up 5-4 but the Dodgers have 2 on and 2 out in the 8th - longtime Giant Tom Haller at the plate - Marichal gets him to pop to short to end the inning.  We win 5-4 and maintain a half game lead with 10 remaining. Marichal had 244 career complete games, in '69 he had 27 and 8 of those were shutouts.

1989 home vs. Dodgers, we've got a 5 game lead with 11 to go, how about a walk off win against the Dodgers, we're down 7-3 coming into the bottom of the 9th, Mitch leads off with a homer (7-4) Riles singles and Williams doubles him home (7-5). Kennedy then singles home Williams (7-6) and that chases Jay Howell.  Benjamin runs for Kennedy, Speier doubles him to third, Litton singles home the tying run off of Mike Hartley.  John Tudor was a Dodger in '89, he gives up the game winning single to Brett Butler - we score 5 in the bottom of the 9th to beat LA without a single out in the inning.We stay 5 up in the West with 10 games left.



1993 at Houston, ah, 1993 - we were up 7.5 a month prior, 3.5 two weeks ago, but then lost 8 straight at home to fall four behind the Braves (an 11.5 game swing in a month). We've won 3 straight and come into this one 3 out in the West with 14 to play. We've got a narrow 2-1 lead in the 6th, 2 out, bases loaded, Darren Lewis clears the bases with a double off Greg Swindell, we take this one 7-2 and gain a half game on the idle Braves.  Houston shuts us out the next night, the Braves win, so with a dozen left we're 3.5 games out of the lead. DLew couldn't hit and didn't hit in '93, he had a 71 OPS+ - Darren Lewis had a .302 OBP in 1993, so of course he led off in 101 games.

2005 at Washington, we're 5.5 out with 13 left having just taken 3 of 4 from LA, we're down 2-1 with 2 out in the 9th, Moises Alou hits a 3 run homer off former Giant Livan Hernandez, we take it 4-3 and live, albeit barely, to see another day.  We move to 5 back with a dozen left.  Moises played his aged 38 and 39 seasons with us - he hit the ball - a Giants OPS+ of 135 in 868 PA. This was his 18th Giants homer and 296th career shot.  He goes to the Mets in '07 and finishes there in '08.  Barry hit
#706 in this one.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 19 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Here are the top 5 September 19 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1965 at Milwaukee, we're 3.5 up with 13 left, 2-2 in the 8th, Jim Davenport singles home the go ahead run off Tony Cloninger - we win this one 4-2.  We head to Cincinnati 3.5 games up with a dozen to play.  We lost to the Cubs on the 3rd, leaving us 2 back and in third place.  Then we went on the best September run in San Francisco history.  14 straight.

Took two in Chicago.
Two in LA
Went back home and got two against Houston and then swept 4 against the Cubs
Then went to Houston and swept 4.
We're in Milwaukee this weekend, we lose the opener to break the streak and then win the next two, we head to Cincinnati up 3.5 on LA with 12 remaining.

Walk off 1982 home vs. Padres, we're 5.5 out with 14 left, but '82 is dying hard, we've won 12 of the last 15 and walk off the Padres on a Sunday afternoon. Runners on the corners in the 11th, we're tied at 3, Tom O'Malley ends it with a single off of Luis DeLeon. We stay 5.5 back with 13 to go, we're heading to Cincinnati on Tuesday. It's O'Malley's rookie year and the best season he'll ever have with the bat.

1989 home vs. Dodgers, we're 5 up with a dozen left, we're down 2-0 with 2 out and the bases loaded in the 5th - Mike Laga clears the bases with a pinch double off of Orel Hershiser, Laga spent the last two years of a 9 season career with us as a pinch hitter, he played in 40 games, got a total of 50 Giants plate appearances, had an 88 OPS+ (Laga had two doubles as a Giant).  We stay 5 up with 11 games remaining.

1997 at San Diego, the Brian Johnson game was the day before, we come into this tied with the Dodgers with 9 to play. Scoreless in the 6th, Barry Bonds hits a 2 run homer off Joey Hamilton, we go on and win it 7-4 - the Dodgers lose - so with 8 to play we move into first place (and never fall out of it the rest of the way).  It's #370 for Bonds, he's got 4 more to hit before the season ends.

2010 home vs. Brewers, sold out Sunday afternoon, it's game 150, we're half a game out of first place, still chasing the Padres. The WC is a couple of games away, so it's the division in our sights with 13 to play. The big blow is in the first inning - Jose Guillen hits a grand slam off Chris Narveson, we cruise to a 9-2 win and move into first place with a dozen games left.  Guillen, who has 6 RBI on the day, played the final 42 games of a 14 season career with the Giants and hit 3 of his 214 career homers with us.  This is the last home run of his career.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 18 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 September 18 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1961 home vs. Braves, we're 8.5 out with 19 to play, down 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Orlando Cepeda hits a 2 run walk off homer off of Bob Hendley, we move to 8 games off the lead. Cepeda hit 46 in '61, this was 41 - he'll get Spahn tomorrow and Burdette the next day. This was his 4th career walk off - his third was a month prior. We never get closer than 7.5 back.

1965 at Milwaukee, less than two weeks ago we were in second, but we won 14 straight (hell, yeah, 1965) and are now 3.5 up with 14 to play. Ron Herbel goes 7 and a third, gives up just 3 baserunners, it was still scoreless in the 7th when Tom Haller led off with a home run off of Hank Fischer, we only got 5 hits - but win this one 2-0.  Herbel was a reasonably effective spot starter/swingman in his 7 year Giants career, a 98 ERA+ in 718 IP. After the '69 season we sent him to San Diego and he was out of the league by '72. We keep our 3.5 game lead on the Dodgers with 13 to go.

Walk off 1977 home vs. Reds, we're long since eliminated, but we get a little satisfaction here, 2-2 with 2 out in the 9th, 39 year old Willie McCovey singles home the winning run off of Pedro Borbon. McCovey didn't hit at all in '76, but in his Giants return surged to a 132 OPS+.



Walk off 1997 home vs. Los Angeles, look at this one, we're 1 game behind the first place Dodgers (one game up in the WC) with 10 games left in the season.  It's a 2 game series, we beat the Dodgers the day before, this is a Thursday afternoon at a sold out Candlestick for a four hour game, we were up 5-1 through 5, but they tie it up and then load the bases with nobody out in the 10th, Rod Beck slips it by striking out Todd Zeile and getting Eddie Murray to ground into an inning ending 4-2-3. Brian Johnson ended the game in the 12th, leading off with a first pitch homer to left center off Mark Guthrie to pull us even with LA with 9 games left in the season. We head to San Diego for the weekend. Johnson his 49 homers in his 8 year career, almost half of them in his 2 Giants seasons.  This is his 3rd of 4 career walk offs, the only one he hit as a Giant.

2002 at Los Angeles, we were 8.5 back a couple weeks ago, that number is 6.5 now, that's too many with 10 left, but really what we're fighting for is the WC spot, we are one game up on the Dodgers for the last spot in the playoffs.  That's really what this game is about - it's a 4 game series in LA, we split the first two, this is a 4 hour Wednesday night game. 3-3 in the third, Russ Ortiz leads off with a homer off Robert Ellis, we're going to win the game 7-4. Ortiz hit the ball pretty well in '02, he had an 88 OPS+.  Ortiz hit 7 career homers, 4 of them as a Giant and this the last of those four.  His other 2002 homer also came against the Dodgers, against former Giant Terry Mulholland.   We stay 6.5 out in the West, our lead over the Dodgers grows to 2.  We lose tomorrow however, and with 8 games remaining we go to Milwaukee on Friday one game up on LA for the last playoff spot.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 17 - Top 6 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday

Here are the top 6 September 17 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1971 home vs. Padres, 13 days ago we were 8.5 up, but we've dropped 11 out of 12 (get it together, '71) and come into this one 1 game in front of the Dodgers in the West.  This is the first game of a weekend series, a frustrating 9300 paid to see Marichal on a Friday night at the Stick in the heart of a pennant race.  We only got 5 hits, the big one coming in the 6th - we trailed 5-3 with one out when Dick Dietz (saved the season?) with a 3 run homer off Steve Arlin. We win it 7-5. Dietz, who, as I've mentioned previously, certainly appears to have been backballed for union activity, hit 62 homers as a Giant, this is #61. We move 2 up with 11 left to play.

1989 home vs. Padres, we're up 5 with 14 left, playing a Sunday doubleheader against the second place Padres. This is game 1, it's 3-3 in the 6th, Pat Sheridan singles home the go ahead run off of Greg Harris, we win it 5-3.  Sheridan played in 70 games as a Giant, we dealt Tracy Jones to Detroit for him in mid June. He didn't hit - had a 72 OPS+ in 175 PA. He left after the season and only played another 62 games in his big league career. We lose the second game and stay five games up with a dozen to play.  We go home to start a 3 game series with the Dodgers.

1993 at Cincinnati, the thing you need to understand is this team was gone, we were moving to Tampa after the '92 season, RIP, but then stepped in Bill White and Peter McGowan and Barry Bonds and the greatest Giants team of my lifetime emerged in 1993.  On August 22 we walked off the Marlins to move 42 games above .500 with a 7.5 game lead in the West.  11 days ago we beat the Pirates, that left us 41 above .500, so you see we tread some water in the interim, and at that point our lead was down to 3.5.  We haven't won since.  The Braves, meanwhile, have won 29 of 35. We lost the last game of the Pirate series, then got swept at home - at home - by both Cards and Cubs, and we come into this one 4 games behind the Braves.  4 back!  We drop 8 straight to fall 4 games off the lead, easily the most we've trailed all season long.  17 games left and we start a series in Cincinnati and we kill them, a skid stopping 13-0. Billy Swift throws a complete game, we jumped on them early with a Matt Williams two run first inning homer off of John Roper. Swift was terrific in his 3 San Francisco seasons after coming over in the Mitchell deal, a 138 ERA+ in 506 IP.  We got the best years of his career (he had really come on his last two Mariners seasons, largely in the bullpen) he left for Colorado before the '95 season and finished up back in Seattle in '98.  We stay 4 back with 16 left - we only lose 3 more games all season.

2003 home vs. Padres, Jason Schmidt struck out 11 in 7 innings, down 3-2 in the 4th Marquis Grissom hit a 2 run homer - we win this one 8-3 to clinch the NL West.

2011 at Colorado, it's game 152, we're 6 out in the West, having picked up 3 on the lead in the last week with a 7 game winning streak. The WC isn't any closer, so we need to win out and get help.  We keep it going here, 3-3 in the 8th, Brett Pill triples home 2 off of Huston Street, we win this game 6-5. Pill had two triples on the game, the only two triples of his big league career.  Pill got 259 PA in the majors, all with us, and was okay with a 93 OPS+ but as a first baseman just not enough to get a look beyond 2013.

2014 at Arizona, game 152, still down 3, but 4 games clear in the WC, so with 11 left, we're in good shape but it sure would be nice to get that division title.  Tied at 2 in the 9th, Matt Duffy drives in two with a pinch single off of Addison Reed, we're gonna win it 4-2.  That pulls us to 2 back in the West, which is as close as we'll get to winning the division. This was Duffy's 27th big league game, it would be next season when he finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year, the following season that he was dealt away to Tampa, and then an achilles tear wiped out his 2017 season.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!