October 29 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?



Here are all the October 29 games that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.

2010 World Series Game 3 is tomorrow

2014 World Series Game 7 at Kansas City 52 years ago we lost game 7 to the Yankees, a dozen years ago we lost game 7 to the Angels, the 2014 Giants look for a different outcome on a Wednesday night in Kansas City. Both clubs score 2 in the second.  We get one out singles from Pence/Belt off Jeremy Guthrie and a couple of sac flies turn them into runs.  The Royals come right back off Tim Hudson in their half, Alex Gordon's run scoring double was the big shot.  We go to the pen early, Jeremy Affeldt gets the last out in the second, coming in with 2 on and 2 out to get Nori Aoki, and then he's perfect in the third and fourth.  Our fourth broke the tie, Mike Morse singling home Pablo Sandoval off Kelvin Herrera.  Madison Bumgarner enters in the fifth - he threw 117 pitches in a complete game victory in Game 5 three days before and 106 five days before that in going 7 innings to win Game 1.  On his first pitch, Bumgarner gives up an Omar Infante single to right, he's sacrificed to second, but Bumgarner gets Aoki and Lorenzo Cain to end the inning.  We get a couple of hits in the 6th but can't plate a run.  Bumgarner throws a dozen pitches in a perfect sixth and we head to the 7th still up 3-2.  We go down in order.  The bottom of the 7th takes just 9 pitches for Bumgarner.  In our 8th, Pablo Sandoval doubles with 2 out off Wade Davis, but we can't get the insurance run.  Bumgarner continues - 16 pitches gets him through a perfect 8th and he's retired a dozen straight Royals.  We go down in order in the 9th - Bumgarner comes back to the mound, it's his 21st inning of the Series, he gets the first two men, but Gordon's line drive single is misplayed by Gregor Blanco into three bases - giving the Royals the tying run on third base with 2 out in Game 7 of the World Series. Just as Mays stood on third 52 years prior with 2 out and the Giants trailing by a run in the 9th inning of Game 7.  Salvador Perez is in the Willie McCovey spot - he pops up a 2-2 pitch into foul territory by third base, it's snapped out of the air by Pablo Sandoval, and for the 3rd time in 5 seasons, the San Francisco Giants are World Champions.

Here are your 2014 World Champion San Francisco Giants.  Flags Fly Forever.

C Buster Posey
1B Brandon Belt
2B Joe Panik
SS Brandon Crawford
3B Pablo Sandoval
LF Travis Ishikawa
CF Gregor Blanco
RF Hunter Pence
C Andrew Susac
IF Joaquin Arias
IF Matt Duffy
OF Mike Morse
OF Juan Perez
SP Madison Bumgarner
SP Tim Hudson
SP Jake Peavy
SP Ryan Vogelsong
P Sergio Romo
P Santiago Casilla
P Jeremy Affeldt
P Javier Lopez
P Yusmeiro Petit
P Tim Lincecum
P Hunter Strickland
P Jean Machi

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

October 28 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?


Here's every October 28 San Francisco Giants game that mattered.

1989 World Series Game 4, I had just turned 29, this was the first Giants World Series of my life time, only the second in San Francisco history, and if there was a way it could have gone worse that is not evident.  Never really in any game, swept 4-0, with a catastrophic earthquake making all of it seem not as important as you'd like it to seem.  I wasn't around for the gut wrenching loss in '62, but I got to sit through this mess.  Again, the A's just rip our starting pitcher, Don Robinson doesn't get out of the second inning, gives up 4 earned, he's followed by Mike LaCoss who gives up 3 earned, The A's take a 7-0 lead and win 9-6.  We lose the World Series. Again.



2010 World Series Game 2 home vs. Rangers, 21 years later we still hadn't won the World Series, having added a 7 game 2002 loss to the sweep in '89 and the 7 game loss in '62. We're here again and up a game, winning game 1 last night. This one is super tight. Scoreless in the second, Cody Ross doubles with one out, but we can't move him across the plate against CJ Wilson. The Rangers get a man in scoring position in the third, but Matt Cain shuts that down.  Wilson and Cain continued to match each other, neither team getting another man in scoring position until the 5th, Ian Kinsler doubled to lead off the inning, but he died at second. We broke through in the bottom half, Edgar Renteria hit a solo run to give us a 1-0 lead. Cain got in real trouble in the 6th, second and third with one out - but Nelson Cruz popped up and Kinsler flew to right and we kept that 1-0 advantage. A leadoff walk to Ross chased Wilson in the 7th, Juan Uribe singled him home off of Darren Oliver, and we led 2-0 with 8 outs to go. Cain left with a man in scoring position in the 8th, but Javier Lopez shut the door on the threat-  and in our half of the inning we sent 11 men to the plate, erupted for 7 runs, and put the game away.  It all happened with 2 out and nobody on, Posey singled and then Ranger pitching walked 4 consecutive Giants to give us a 3-0 lead.  We then got 3 big shots - Renteria's 2 run scoring single, Aaron Rowand's two run scoring triple, Andres Torres doubling home the final run of the game.  We win 9-0 and head to Texas up 2 games to 0.

2012 World Series Game 4 at Detroit, we needed to win 3 straight to beat the Reds in the NLDS, we needed to win 3 straight to beat the Cardinals in the NLCS - but we win the first 3 games of the World Series putting Detroit in a hole from which no team has ever climbed.  Cain for us, Max Scherzer for Detroit. We break through in the second, Hunter Pence doubles, Brandon Belt triples him home. They take the lead in the third on a 2 run Miguel Cabrera homer. We retake the lead in the 6th, Buster Posey hits a 2 run homer off Scherzer and Cain gives it back in the bottom half, Delmon Young homers and it's 3-3.  Scoreless in the 7th,8th,9th.  Top of the 10th, Ryan Theriot led off with a single off Phil Coke and stood at second with two out, with a 3-1 count from Coke, Marco Scutaro singled to center, Theriot scored and we went up 4-3.  Sergio Romo came on and struck out Austin Jackson...then struck out Don Kelly...then, on the 15th pitch of the inning, at approximately ten minutes to midnight Eastern time, he struck out Miguel Cabrera and the San Francisco Giants were Champions of the World.  23 years to the day after we were swept by the A's, the Giants swept the Tigers to win the World Series.

Your 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants.   Flags Fly Forever.
C Buster Posey
1B Brandon Belt
2B Marco Scutaro
SS Brandon Crawford
3B Pablo Sandoval
LF Gregor Blanco
CF Angel Pagan
RF Hunter Pence
IF Joaquin Arias
IF Aubrey Huff
C Hector Sanchez
IF Ryan Theriot
OF Xavier Nady
SP Madison Bumgarner
SP Matt Cain
SP Ryan Vogelsong
SP Barry Zito
P Sergio Romo
P Santiago Casilla
P Jeremy Affeldt
P Javier Lopez
P Tim Lincecum
P George Kontos
P Jose Mijares
P Guillermo Mota

2014 World Series Game 6 we won the final 2 at home to take a 3 games to 2 lead in the World Series, meaning we are one game away from another World Championship.  We do not get it here. The Royals break Jake Peavy in half, 5 earned runs in less than 2 innings, we trail 8-0 after 3 and lose 10-0.  The Royals get 6 doubles, which has to be in shouting distance for most in a World Series game. As did it in 1962 and 2002, this World Series is headed for a Game 7.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants.

October 27 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Yesterday

Here are all the October 27 games that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.

1989 World Series Game 3, we got blown out in Oakland in games 1 and 2, then the earthquake hit ten days ago, here then is the first World Series game in San Francisco since McCovey's line drive to Richardson ended the '62 series 27 years prior.  It goes the way the first two games went, the A's jumped all over us and won easily.  Dave Henderson doubled home two in the first, then homered in the third, both off Scott Garrelts.  We sliced the deficit to 4-3 with a 2 run Terry Kennedy single off Dave Stewart in the 4th, but you just couldn't deny this A's squad, Henderson homered again in the fifth, this time off Kelly Downs, McGwire hit a 3 run shot in the same inning, we were down 8-3 and went on to lose 13-7.  Mercifully, game 4 is tomorrow.

2002 World Series Game 7, I think if I owned a sports bar I'd call it Game 7, it's a term with immaculate branding for sports fans.  40 years ago McCovey lined out to Richardson in the bottom of the 9th; 24 hours ago we had a 97% chance to win our first ever World Championship.  It's game 7.  Let me ask you this - how many hits did we give up?  5.  We gave up 5 hits in a Game 7.  Livan gave up 4, Rueter, in 4 innings of relief, gave up 1.  Livan also gave up 4 earned runs in 2 innings.  It was 1-1 through 2, the first 3 Angels got on in the third and Garret Anderson hit a 3 run double to end our season.  We had chances.  2 on, 1 out in the 4th.  2nd and 3rd with 2 out in the 6th. 2 on, 1 out in the 9th inning.  But none crossed and we lost the World Series. Again.



2010 World Series Game 1 home vs. Rangers, 8 years later, we're back.  It's the first San Francisco home World Series game since Game 5 in '02 when we scored 16 runs.  We get 11 in this one.  It didn't look good early, Tim Lincecum gave up runs in each of the first two innings, including a run scoring single to Vlad Guerrero. We got them both back in the third; an error and hit batsman gave us 2 on with 1 out, Freddy Sanchez and Buster Posey had back to back RBI knocks off of Cliff Lee and it was 2-2. We ended the game in the 5th. Sanchez broke the tie with his second run scoring double, Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff had back to back run scoring singles, Darren O'Day came on and gave up the backbreaker, a 3 run homer to Juan Uribe that gave us an 8-2 lead. We won 11-7 (Sanchez added a third double). Game 2 is tomorrow.



2012 World Series Game 3 at Detroit, we took the first two at home, making it a must win for the Tigers to effectively stay in the Series. We got 2 in the second off of Anibal Sanchez, Gregor Blanco had a run scoring triple and was driven home himself by Brandon Crawford.  Those are the only runs of the game, Ryan Vogelong pitched us into the 6th, Tim Lincecum gave us 2 1/3 and Sergio Romo closed it out.  The big spot was the 5th, they loaded the bases with 1 out, Vogelsong struck out Quintin Berry and then popped up future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera to end the game.  No one has ever come back from 3-0 down to win a World Series, so with Game 4 tomorrow, even the most jaded of Giants fans had to be optimistic.

2014 World Series Game 6 is tomorrow

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

October 26 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here's every October 26 game that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.

1989 World Series Game 3 is Tomorrow 

2002 World Series Game 6...when Russ Ortiz got Garret Anderson to ground out to open the 7th inning we had a 5 run lead with 8 outs left to get, that's a 97% chance to win the game, meaning, a 97% chance to win the first World Championship in San Francisco Giants history.  So, just sit in that for a moment. Dunston hit a 2 run homer in the 5th, Barry homered in the 6th, when Jeff Kent singled home Kenny Lofton in the top of the 7th we had a 5-0 lead.  Ortiz got Anderson, then gave up back to back singles and got lifted.  On the 8th pitch of the next at bat Felix Rodriguez gave up a 3 run homer to Scott Spezio, but even with the lead cut to 5-3 at the end of the inning we still had an 86% chance to win the World Series. And then they got 3 more in the 8th to beat us.  Erstad homered off Worrell and Glaus hit a 2 run double off of Nen.  We went down in order in the 9th and the series was tied.  Game 7 is tomorrow. It's the worst loss in San Francisco history. 

2010 World Series Game 1 is Tomorrow

2012 World Series Game 3 is Tomorrow



2014 World Series Game 5 home vs. Royals, a dozen years after we failed to close out the Angels we were 2 games to 2 against the Royals, this is the last game in San Francisco of the series, Madison Bumgarner throws a complete game 4 hit shutout, striking out 8 and walking none, we win 5-0 to move within a game of the World Championship.  Brandon Crawford and Juan Perez both drove in two runs, the Royals only put one man in scoring position the entire game, we head back to Kansas City the same way we went back to Anaheim in '02, needing to win one of the final two games.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

October 25 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday


Here's every October 25 game that mattered in San Francisco Giants history.

1989 World Series resumes on 10-27

2002 World Series Game 6 is tomorrow.

2010 World Series starts 10-27





2012 World Series Game 2 home vs. Tigers, we took the opener last night on Sandoval's 3 homers, one more game in San Francisco. We only get 5 hits - but the Tigers only get 2.  Madison Bumgarner and Doug Fister keep the game scoreless into the 7th; we scraped a run across on a Brandon Crawford double play in the the 7th, then got a second run on a Hunter Pence sac fly in the 8th. Bumgarner gave way to Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo, who each threw perfect innings and we head to Detroit up 2 games to 0.



2014 World Series Game 4 home vs. Royals, down 2 games to 1, needing a win to avoid going down 3 games to 1 with only one home game remaining, it looked a little desperate when the Royals ripped Ryan Vogelsong for four in the third, a two run Omar Infante single being the big blow.  We got one back on a Buster Posey run scoring single off Jason Vargas in the bottom half to make it 4-2, and then got the rest back in the 5th, Joe Panik doubled and scored on a Hunter Pence single, Pence later scored on a Juan Perez sac fly.  Yusmeiro Petit held the Royals down for 3 innings since taking over from Vogelsong, so it's 4-4 with the bases loaded and 2 out in the bottom of the 6th. Pablo Sandoval at the plate against Brandon Finnegan - he lines the first pitch to center to score two, and Brandon Belt follows with a run scoring single of his own.  Look what happened here - it's 7-4 good guys and in the 7th we pick up another 4 runs off Tim Collins, Joe Panik's 2 run double the big blow. We win 11-4 to even the Series with another game still to play at home.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!