The Coin Flip Games

NL - Pittsburgh
AL - Tampa

There's no good way to predict the outcome of one major league baseball game; a 7 game series is almost entirely a crapshoot, a single game is as likely to be won by any team as any other.

If forced, you take the best arm, Price in the first knockout, now Cobb and (weirdly) Liriano.

Once we get to the final 8 I'll move through the tournament, a Dodgers/Tigers series might wind up as my final prediction.

#FarewellCandlestick: The 100 Greatest Moments in Candlestick Park History #90

#91 is here.

#90 September 29, 1999 The Last Night Game

It wasn't the last game, that came the following day, but it was the Giants last ever night game at Candlestick.  Bonds homered, Kent homered, and the Giants beat the Dodgers.

#89 is tomorrow.

2010 Giants video

#FarewellCandlestick: The 100 Greatest Moments in Candlestick Park History #91

#92 is here.

#91 July 11, 1962 Stu Miller Blown off the Mound



Willie Mays doubled home the tying run and then scored the winning run in extra innings, giving the NL the win at the first All Star Game ever held at Candlestick - and another Giant, Stu Miller, infamously got blown off the Candlestick mound.

If not for Mays, this would rank with the other All Star Game, but that Mays was the star in a close game gives this a boost.  The remaining 90 slots, spoiler alert, will be either Giants or Niners wins.  If you're looking for Leonard Marshall essentially ending Joe Montana's Niners career, that's not this list.

#90 is tomorrow.

All Time San Francisco Giants Starting 9: 1958-69

Here would be the top lineup, position by position, year by year, for the San Francisco Giants from their first year, 1958, until the end of the 60s.  Note, I'm strictly adhering to the dominant position for each player in each season (you won't see Mays at each OF position; he played center).

The number is my WAR, made from combining baseball-reference and Davenport.  



C Tom Haller 1967 4.0
-Haller had 5 of the top 6 seasons.

1B Willie McCovey 1969 8.05
-McCovey had 5 of the top 6 seasons

2B Ron Hunt 1968 5.15
-Hunt was 1-2.

SS Daryl Spencer 1958 3.85
-The only representative from that first SFG team to hold his spot through a dozen years.

3B Jim Ray Hart 1966 5.85
-Hart had the top three seasons.

LF Willie McCovey 1963 6.05
-McCovey beats out Cepeda at both positions.

CF Willie Mays 1964 10.95
-The 8 best Giants position player seasons in this period were from Mays.  8.  The 60s Giants weren't Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, the 60s Giants were Mays.

RF Bobby Bonds 1969 5.95

P Juan Marichal 1965 10.75
-Marichal has 6 of the top 7 slots.

RP Frank Linzy 1965 4.25

And the worst Giant season....

RF Jesus Alou 1966 -2.45