May 8 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

May 8

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 8 Moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1966 at St Louis, 5-5 with 2 on and 2 out in the 5th, Willie McCovey hits a 3 run homer off Tracy Stallard; we win it 10-5.  It was McCovey's 168th career homer; McCovey was a 7 win player in '66, it was the third best season of his career.

1982 at Mets, 8th inning, down 3-2, bases loaded, Chili Davis scores two with a single off Neil Allen to give the Giants a 4-3 lead in a game they'd go on to win 8-3.  It was the 35th game of the 22 year old Davis's big league career.

2003 at Marlins, the Giants came in 23-9, our best start since '71, with a 7 game lead looking to sweep the Fish in their own park. 2-2 in the 9th, 2 out, Rich Aurilia singles home Yorvit Torrealba off of Braden Looper with what turns out to be the winning run.  This is the last season of Aurilia's first Giants run, he'll come back in '07.

2012 at Dodgers, all the runs were scored in the 2nd inning, the Giants had a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th but the Dodgers had loaded the bases with one out - Javier Lopez got Andre Ethier to ground into a 6-4-3 inning ending double play. The 2-1 win moved us to 19-11 on the season. We beat Kershaw in this one. Lopez came over in a deadline deal in 2010 with the Pirates for John Bowker and would finish his career as a Giant after the 2016 season.

Walk off 2013 home vs Phillies, bottom of the 10th, two on, two out, Andres Torres singles off of Antonio Bastardo to drive in Posey with the winning run.  It was Torres' 4th career walk off hit.  This would be his last year in the big leagues, he signed back with the Giants after a couple of forgettable seasons with the Mets and got 300 plate appearances largely as a reserve OF.  By the end of August he was out of the league for good.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 7 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 7 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1960 home vs Pirates, down 5-3. two out, runners on the corners, Eddie Bressoud hits an inside the park home run off Fred Green to give us a 6-5 lead and that would be the final score.  Bressoud signed with the Giants at 18 in 1950, made the trip west and became the primary shortstop in '59 and left for Houston in the '61 expansion draft.  This was the only inside the park homer of his career.

1964 home vs Cubs, down 6-5 in the 8th, Tom Haller drove in two with a base hit off Lindy McDaniel, those are the last runs, we win 7-6. Through 2016, Haller's the 25th greatest San Francisco Giant ever.

1974 at Mets, first game of a double header, down 3-1 with 2 on and 2 out and facing Tom Seaver in the 9th - Gary Matthews hit a 3 run homer and we'd hold that 4-3 lead.  It was the 19th homer of his career.

1988 at Cubs, down 1-0 at Wrigley in the 7th, a man on and 2 out - Jose Uribe lined a a 2 run homer off Jamie Moyer into the basket in left field; that 2-1 score is going to be the final.  Uribe, who had a career OBP of .299 but could help you with the glove a little bit, spent most of his 8 year Giants career not getting on base as the starting shortstop.  He played all but 53 games in his big league career with San Francisco.



Walk off 2016 vs Rockies, scoreless through 9, the Giants had to get 1 in the 10th to match the Rockies, this is the 13th, with 2 out Matt Duffy hit a line drive double to left, scoring Conor Gillaspie with the game winner.  Duffy was the runner up in the NL Rookie of the Year ballot the season before, but doesn't end 2016 in San Francisco, moved at the deadline to Tampa for Matt Moore.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 6 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 6 moments in San Francisco Giants History

Walk off 1973 home vs Cubs, first game of a double header, the Giants scored 9 runs in the first four innings but were tied 9-9 in the bottom of the 12th when Bobby Bonds hit a 2 run homer off Jack Aker to win it for the good guys - we'd also win the nightcap to move us to 22-9 on the season. '73 was Bonds' best San Francisco season, he was an 8 win player - it's the best year a San Francisco right fielder ever had and the best year a Giants RF ever had who wasnt Mel Ott.

1982 at Mets, tied at 3 in the 9th, 2 on, 2 out, 22 year old Chili Davis hits a two run double off Jesse Orosco, we go up 5-3 and that's the final score.  Davis finished 4th in the rookie of the year race in '82, he was a Giant through 1987.

2003 at Marlins, we came into this one 21-9 on the season, with a man on and two out in the 8th, fomer Marlin Benito Santiago hit a two run homer off Armando Almanza and those would be the final runs of a 4-2 Giants win.  This was Santiago's last of 3 San Francisco seasons, he'll sign with the Royals in the offseason.



2011 home vs. Colorado, down 3-1 with 2 on and 2 out in the 8th, Nate Schierholtz tied the game with a two strike double down the left field line off of Rafael Betancourt.  Schierholtz was the starting RF for most of 2010 and 2011, but really didn't have the bat to hold down the position, he was shipped out a year later in the Pence trade (worked out) and out of the league after 2014.



Walk off 2011 home vs Colorado, same game, now 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th, Freddy Sanchez singles home Cody Ross with the game winner off of Felipe Paulino.  We take it 4-3.  It was Willie Mays's 80th birthday.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 5 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History.

Walkoff 1966 home vs. Dodgers 8-8 in the 10th inning in a game where Koufax didn't get out of the 2nd; one on, two out, (due to an error and passed ball) Willie Davis drops a Jim Ray Hart flyball to allow the winning run.  The day before Mays broke Mel Ott's NL home run mark.

1990 at Montreal, 1-1 in the 8th, Robby Thompson hits a 2 run homer off Dennis Martinez, we go up 3-1 in a game we win 4-1.  Robby's 1990 .299 OBP would be the second worst of his career.

1998 at Marlins, 2-2 in the 8th, Rich Aurilia hits a leadoff homer off of Vic Darensbourg and the Giants go on to win 8-2.  Here are all players with more San Francisco plate appearances than Aurilia:  Mays, McCovey, Bonds, Thompson, Davenport.

2010 at Marlins, a dozen years later and we're in Miami again, up 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, runners on the corners with two out, Brian Wilson on the mound - he strikes out Wes Helms to win the game.  This was Wilson's career year, 48 saves, 217 ERA+ it was the third best season for a Giants reliever in organizational history.

2014 at Pittsburgh, 5 and a half hours on a Monday night in Pittsburgh, we had come back from an 8-2 deficit to force extras, by the time we hit the 13th inning we had used up the bench, 7 pitchers, we had 20 hits - and with two on and one out, Jared Hughes threw a Jean Machi bunt away, allowing Hunter Pence to score.  We won 11-10 to move our record to 21-11.  Machi went to 5-0 on the season with a 0.53 ERA.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 4 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?


I could be wrong, but I think this is the first day that all five moments have come from different decades.  Here are the top 5 moments in San Francisco Giants history from May 4.

1959 at Cincinnati, down 3-2, 2 outs in the 9th inning, bases loaded - Jimmy Davenport doubles everybody home off Bob Purkey, we go up 5-3 and win the game 6-5.  Davenport was a Giant lifer; never played for any other big league club, was with the organization following retirement, spent years as the starting third baseman - and he just didn't have a ton of value other than an ability to stay in the lineup. He had an OPS+ of 74 in '59

Walk off 1964 home vs Houston, we only had 6 hits headed to the bottom of the 12th inning, tied at 2, Chuck Hiller doubles home Matty Alou off of Hal Woodeshick for the game winner.  Hiller had been the starting second baseman the previous two seasons, but his bat couldn't keep him in the lineup, he only had a couple hundred plate appearances in '64 and hit a buck eighty.

Walk off 1997 home vs Reds, down 1-0 in the tenth, the Reds scored on an error in the top half, two out, bases loaded, Glenallen Hill blooped a single to right off of Jeff Brantley to plate two and win the game. Brantley was a Giants farmhand, drafted in '85, up in '88, All Star in '90 and off as a free agent in '93.  He pitched more than double the number of innings in San Francisco as any other stop.

2007 home vs Phillies, Giants down 2-0 in the 7th, 2 out and the bases loaded for Eliezer Alfonzo, who cleared them with a double off Jamie Moyer.  We won the game 6-2. Alfonzo was the Giants starting catcher the year before but only had 67 plate appearances as a backup in '07.

Walk off 2013 home vs Dodgers, we walked off LA with a Posey homer the night before to move to 17-11 on the season, we get them again here.  9-9 with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning - an 0-2 count to, of all people, Guillermo Quiroz who then hit a line drive home run to left field off of Brandon League to send everyone home happy.  Quiroz was near the end of a 10 year big league career when he came to San Francisco in 2013.  He had a total of 16 hits as a Giant, this was the only home run.


See you tomorrow. Go Giants!