April 4 - Top Five Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday is here.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 moments on April 4 in San Francisco Giants history.

1994 vs. Pirates 3rd inning, up 1-0, Matt Williams hit a 2 out three run homer off Zane Smith, we go up 4 nothing on our way to an 8-0 opening day Candlestick Park victory.  Williams hit 43 homers in 112 games in '94 and finished second in the NL MVP race.

1998 at Arizona, 7th inning, down 3-1, Brian Johnson took an 0-2 pitch from Joel Adamson over the wall in left center; it was a 2 run game tying homer. We'd go on to win 5-3.  Johnson hit 13 homers in '98, tying his career high from the previous season.

Walk Off: 2001 home vs. Padres, 9th inning, 7-7, Shawon Dunston singles home pinch runner Calvin Murray to win the game.  A 38 year old Dunston had his third highest OPS+ ever in '01 at 109.

2003 at Milwaukee 8th inning down 5-4, Jose Cruz hit a two strike homer off of Luis Vizcaino to tie the game. Cruz got 650 plate appearances with the Giants in '03, the second most of his career.

2003 at Milwaukee, same inning, five batters later with the score tied, JT Snow singled off Shane Nance (off of former Giant Royce Clayton's glove) to score Bonds and Aurilia, the Giants went up 7-5 and that would be the final score, we moved to 4-0 on the season.  Snow was the Giants first baseman for a long time; 4497 plate appearances as a Giant, that's only about 400 fewer than Will Clark.

Thanks for reading.  See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

April 3 - Top Five Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday is here.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 moments on April 3 in San Francisco Giants history.

1989 at San Diego, 7th inning, down 3-2, bases loaded, two outs, Kevin Mitchell singles sharply to right field off Eric Show to score both Butler and Thompson and flip the game, putting us up 4-3 in an opening day 5-3 win over the Padres.  This was Mitchell's career year, he led MLB in homers, RBI, total bases and OPS+, winning the NL MVP Award.

1998 at Arizona, 5th inning, 1-1, two on, two out, Darryl Hamilton doubles to right off of Jeff Suppan, scoring Brian Johnson and Aurilia. We go up 3-1 and win 8-3.  Hamilton wouldn't finish the season in San Francisco, getting moved to the Rockies for Ellis Burks.

2013 at Dodgers, 3rd inning, up 2-1, Pablo Sandoval hit a two run homer off Josh Beckett, extending to 4-1 our lead in a game we'd win 5-3. Sandoval was coming off his World Series MVP from the year prior; within two years he'd be in Boston with his career apparently cratered.

2014 at Arizona, 8th inning, down 5-4, 2 on, 2 out, Mike Morse pinch singles off Will Harris to score Juan Perez and tie the game.  Morse picked up 484 PA as a Giant in 2014, the second most of his career.

2014 at Arizona, same inning, next batter, next pitch, now 5-5, Angel Pagan hit a 3 run homer off Harris to give us an 8-5 lead which held up as the final score.  Pagan hit only two more homers the rest of the season.

Thanks for reading.  I'll be back tomorrow.  Go Giants!

April 2 - Top Five Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday is here.

What is this all about?


Here are the top 5 moments on April 2 San Francisco Giants history.



2001 home vs. Padres, up 3-2, 8th inning, bases loaded, Felix Rodriguez gets an inning ending double play (5-2). That lead holds up and we take an opening day win.  Rodriguez was a monster in 80 innings pitched in '01, with a 237 ERA+.

2002 at Dodgers, up 2-1, 2nd inning, Barry Bonds hit a three run homer off Kevin Brown.  We'd win 9-2. Bonds broke the single season home run record the year before, but it was '02 where he hit for the best OPS+ of his career, 268.

2003 at San Diego, scoreless in the third, Rich Aurilia hit a one out double down the right field line off Oliver Perez to score Jose Cruz and break the tie.  Aurilia had been the Giants starter at short since '96, but he left after this season as a free agent, returning to the Giants in '07.

2003 at San Diego, same inning, now 2-0, Marquis Grissom hits a bases loaded double to right-center  off Perez that scored everyone and we'd go onto win 5-3.  In '95, Grissom was traded from the Expos to the Braves for future Giants third base coach Roberto Kelly.

2008 at Dodgers, 9th inning, up 2-1, tying run on first, how about a strike 'em out throw 'em out game ending double play?  Brian Wilson strikes out Rafael Furcal, Bengie Molina throws out Juan Pierre.  It was Wilson's 8th career save.

Thanks for reading.  See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

April 1 - Top Three Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday is here.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 3 (just three today) moments on April 1 in San Francisco Giants history.

2003 at San Diego, top second, scoreless, Benito Santiago hits a two out homer off Adam Eaton; the day before Santiago beat the Padres to make the all time March 31 list; he's back the next day beating his old club again

2003 at San Diego, same game, two innings later, up 1-0 from that Santiago homer, Jose Cruz's kid hits a homer of his own off Eaton.  6 months later Cruz dropped a fly ball in Miami to lead to another crushing October loss against the Marlins.

2003 at San Diego, same game, same inning, up 2-0 from those two homers, Edgardo Alfonzo doubled home Aurilia and Bonds to put us up 4-0; we'd win 8-1.  Alfonzo was brand new as a free agent signing from the Mets; it never really came together for him in San Francisco, his 90 OPS+ in '03 was tied for his worst since '96.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

March 31 - Top Five Moments in San Francisco Giants History

2017 is the 60th year of San Francisco Giants baseball and my 40th year as a Giants fan (I'm actually 46 and have some memories of the prior year, but the 1978 season is the first one in my memory I recall following the Giants actively as a fan from first pitch to last out).

To that end, each day during this season I'll present the top five San Francisco Giant moments from that date in history.  Here's the thing - you're not going to see milestones; you can get the date Mays hit 660 from the Giants game notes.  I went through each win in San Francisco history (seriously? yes) to search for the top moments in Win Probability Added and Win Expectancy to find the most crucial moments that impacted the winning of baseball games.

Absent something unforeseen, we'll do this all year.

I'm not going to rank the five - each of the five moments per day will be presented in chronological order, rank them any way you like.

We start with March 31. Here are the top 5 moments on March 31 in San Francisco Giants history.

1998 at Houston, 3rd inning, down 1-0, 2 outs and a 1-2 count, Jeff Kent hits a 3 run homer off Shane Reynolds. It was his 30th homer as a Giant.

1998 at Houston, 13th inning, tied 4-4, same game as the previous moment, 10 innings later, one out, men on first and third, Alex Diaz (who you do not remember) singles into the hole at short off CJ Nitkowski, scoring Rey Sanchez to give us the 5-4 lead, we'd go on to win 9-4.  Diaz had only 7 more hits as a Giant.

2003 at San Diego, 9th inning tied 2-2, Benito Santiago leads off with a homer off Clay Condrey. 16 years prior Santiago won the NL Rookie of the Year as a Padre.

2003 at San Diego, next pitch, 9th inning up 3-2, JT Snow homers off Condrey, we go on to win 5-2. Snow only hit another 7 homers the rest of the season.

2014 at Arizona, 9th inning,7-7, one on, two outs, Buster Posey hit a 2 run homer off Addison Reed; the Giants hold on to get the 9-8 Opening Day win.  It was Posey's 62nd career homer.

Tune back in tomorrow.  Go Giants.