May 18 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

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

1966 at Dodgers, at 22-10 the Giants were in first place as they played this Wednedsay night game at a sold out Dodger Stadium.  Down 3-2 in the 8th, Hal Lanier tied the score with a base hit off of Claude Osteen to score Don Landrum.  We won 6-4.  Lanier came up through the system, signed when he was 18, became the starting second baseman in '64, could not hit a lick, never hit a lick, got 3700 sub replacement plate appearances as a Giant with an OPS+ of 50.  It wasn't Mays/McCovey/Marichal's fault we never won a World Series, it was all the bums we put next to them.

1974 home vs Padres, Giants down 2-1 with 2 out in the 8th when Mike Phillips hits a 3 run homer of Steve Arlin.  You've gotta be getting tired of reading about Mike Phillips every day.  We win 4-2.  Like Lanier, Phillips was a farmhand, drafted at 18, was a utility guy in '73 and '74, we let him go early in the '75 season.

2005 at Colorado, 2-2 in the ninth, Deivi Cruz continues the May 18th tradition of light hitting middle infielders winning games for the Giants; he triples home Pedro Feliz off of Brian Fuentes and we win 3-2.  Cruz was a replacement level utility infielder for two Giants seasons near the end of his 9 year career.  He hit 3 triples with San Francisco.

2010 at San Diego, 4-4 in the 12th, runners on the corners, it's May 18th, so who wins this game...it's Matt Downs, he doubles everyone home off of Cesar Ramos and we wind up winning the game 7-6.  This broke a seven game losing streak against the Padres. Downs was a light hiting backup infielder who came up through the system, got about 140 Giants plate appearances and would be released about 3 months after winning this game.

2011 at Dodgers, like 45 years prior we're in first place at Dodger Stadium, no banjo hitting utility guy here, just Brian Wilson, with the bases loaded and a 3-1 lead, getting Jamey Carroll to line to right to end the game.  It was Madison Bumgarner's first win of the season.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 17 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 17 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1961 home vs. Cubs, down 3-2 in the 9th, runners on the corners, Ed Bailey singles home Cepeda off of Don Elson. Two batters later Jim Marshall drew a walk that ended the game. We got Bailey 3 weeks prior from the Reds for Don Blasingame and Bob Schmidt, Bailey hit the ball in '62 and '63, with OPS+ of 121 and 147.  In '65 we traded him to the Braves in February and got him back from the Braves in May. Which is weird.

Walk off 1963 home vs Mets, 3 and a half hours on a Friday night at the Stick, with one out in the 11th Joey Amalfitano homered off of future Giant manager Roger Craig to win it for the good guys.  Amalfitano too a circuitous route to the only walk off homer of his career.  He got 29 plate appearances for New York in '54-55 and then went back down for years, not getting back to the bigs until '60 (we released him entirely and resigned him in the interim).  He's a Giant in '60-'61 but then gets drafted away by the expansion Colt 45s and plays in Houstin in '62 - but wait, wait, we deal for him in the offseason for Manny Mota.  And here he is, nearly a decade after being signed by the New York Giants beating Roger Craig on a Friday night at the Stick.

Walk off 1981 home vs Expos, bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th in a 4-4 game, Jack Clark singles home Mike Sadek off of Steve Ratzer to win it. Clark had a career San Francisco OPS+ of 134, Through 2016 he remains the 15th greatest San Francisco Giant of all time.

1995 home vs Cubs, down 1-0 in the 7th - until Barry Bonds hits a 2 run homer off of Kevin Foster.  That 2-1 lead holds up.  Just another 170 OPS+ season for Bonds in '95. It's an 8+ WAR season for Barry, his 10th best as a Giant.

1997 at Cubs, down 1-0 in the 8th, former Cub Rick Wilkins hits a 3 run homer off of Amaury Telemaco, we win the game 4-1.  We got Wilkins at the deadline in '96 from Houston for Kirt Manwaring and will release him 2 and a half months after this home run.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

At the Quarter Pole - 2017 MLB All Star Teams

Here is the first build of my selections for the 2017 MLB All Star Teams.

I do this exercise each year at the 40, 60, and finally the 80 game mark, full 34 man all star rosters for both leagues.  Each team represented, 21 position players, 13 pitchers.  

I'm only interested in this season's play, it's an evaluation of the best players so far in 2016. WAR is B-Ref+Davenport, the best WAR number that exists.

I also do this opportunity to make updated predictions.  These are they.

AL East
1. NYY 85
2. Boston 84
3. Baltimore 82
4. Tampa 
5. Toronto 

AL Central

1. Cleveland 92

2. Detroit 82

3. Minnesota 

4. Chicago 

5. Kansas City

AL West

1. Houston 97

2. Seattle 83

3. Texas 

4. LAA 

5. Oakland

NL East

1. Washington 92

2. NYM 81

3. Miami 

4. Atlanta

5. Philadelphia

NL Central

1. Chicago 90

2. St Louis 84

3. Pittsburgh

4. Milwaukee 

5. Cincinnati 

NL West

1. LAD 95

2. Colorado 83

3. Arizona 82

4. SFG 80

5. San Diego

NL

C

B. Posey SFG 1.85

Y. Grandal LAD 1.55

1B

F.Freeman Atl 2.7-MVP

R.Zimmerman Wash 2.05

J.Votto Cin 1.8

E.Thames Mil 1.7

2B

C.Hernandez Phi 1.4

DJ LeMahieu Col 1.25

SS

Z.Cozart Cin 2.2

C.Owings Ari 1

3B

E.Suarez Cin 2.05

J.Gyorko SD 1.95

K.Bryant Chi 1.7

LF 

A.Altherr Phi 1.8

M.Ozuna Mia 1.75

M.Conforto NYM 1.75

CF

C.Blackmon Col 1.2

C.Yelich Mia 1.05

RF

B.Harper Wash 2.45

S.Schebler Cin 1.1

DH

P.Goldschmidt Ari 2.2

P

M.Leake StL 2.25-MVP

C.Kershaw LAD 2

I.Nova Pit 1.85

Z.Greinke Ar 1.65

G.Gonzalez Wash 1.6

A.Senzatela Col 1.6

G.Cole Pit 1.45

M.Scherzer Wash 1.45

K.Freeland Col 1.3

T.Cahill SD 1

RP

G.Holland Col 1.5

W.Davis Chi 1.45

T.Watson Pit 1.25

AL

C

B. McCann Hou 1.2

A.Avila Det 1

1B 

Y. Alonso Oak 1.45

C.Davis Balt .75

2B

R.Cano Sea 1.55

J.Lowrie Oak 1.05

S.Castro NYY 1.05

SS

E.Andrus Tex 1.5

C.Correa Hou 1.4

3B

M.Sano Min 1.95

E.Longoria TB 1.15

LF 

M.Gardner NYY 1.65

J.Upton Det 1.55

CF

M.Trout LAA 3.05

L.Cain KC 1.65

A.Hicks NYY 1.5

RF 

A.Judge NYY 2.45

M.Haniger Sea 1.65

A.Garcia CWS 1.6

DH

C.Dickerson TB 1.85

N.Cruz Sea 1.65

P

C.Sale Bos 2.5

D.Keuchel Hou 2.5

J.Vargas KC 2.4

E.Santana Min 2.3

C.Carrasco Cle 2

D.Bundy Balt 2.15

J.Paxton Sea 1.6

M.Fulmer Det 1.5

Y.Darvish Tex 1.4

M.Stroman Tor 1.4

RP

C.Kimbrel Bos 1.6

A.Miller Cle 1.2

A.Swarzak CWS 1.1

May 16 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 16 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1964 home vs Mets, Mays homered to tie the game at 4 with 2 out in the 9th, it's now 6 innings later in the 15th, the score is the same, and Jim Davenport hits a 2 out, 2 run homer of Galen Cisco to send everyone home.  It's Davenport's only walk off homer.

Walk off 1980 home vs. Cardinals, at 11-22 on the season there hadn't been a ton of good moments in the 1980 season, but here, down 3-2, Jim Wohlford singled home the tying and winning run in the ninth off of Mark Littell for the 4-3 win.  Wohlford was a replacement level pinch hitter in his three mid career seasons with the Giants.  We sent him to Montreal after the '82 season.

Walk off 1984 home vs Mets, at 13-22 we weren't any better than 4 years prior, and again, we trailed 3-2 in the ninth inning when Jack Clark tied the game with a 2 out single - we won it when Hubie Brooks misplayed a Jeffrey Leonard ground ball to third, allowing Joe Pittman to score the winning run.  We got Pittman in the offseason from the Padres for Champ Summers, he only played 17 games for us; two weeks after scoring this run was the final game of his big league career.

Walk off 1990 home vs Mets, we've had some dramatic games against the Mets on May 16, again, we were pretty bad, 13-20 coming into the game, 3-3 with 2 out in the 9th, Kevin Mitchell homered off of Alejandro Pena (just inside the left field pole) to walk them off.  It was the first walk off homer of his career, the second would come 3 weeks later.

1991 home vs Expos, another bad season, 11-22, no one at the Stick on a Thursday night, We had a 5-4 lead in the ninth with one out, runners on the corners, and Tim Wallach at the plate - but he grounds into a 6-3 double play off of Francisco Oliveras and we hold on.  Oliveras did three of his 4 big league seasons in San Francisco, mostly out of the pen, He had 5 career saves, this was his third.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 15 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 15 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1990 home vs Mets, down 4-1 in the 4th, Terry Kennedy hits a grand slam off of Ron Darling to put us in front 5-4. Kennedy hit only 4 more homers the rest of his career - this was his second career grand slam, his first was his first ever homer, against Tug McGraw.

1990 home vs Mets, same game, 5-5 in the 8th, pinch hitting for Kennedy is our other catcher, former Met Gary Carter, he hits a two out, two strike double off of Bob Ojeda that scores Kevin Bass. That's it, we hold on to that 6-5 win.  The only season in Carter's last six where he broke 100 OPS+ is the year he spent in San Francisco.  He played just 92 games for the Giants.

1993 at San Diego, scoreless in the 6th, Barry Bonds hits a 2 run homer off of Kerry Taylor, one of our 4 hits on the day - we win 3-0.  28 year old Bonds won his 3rd MVP in '93.  This was Barry's 9th Giants homer.



2010 home vs Astros, down 1-0 in the 4th, Juan Uribe hits a 2 run homer off of Roy Oswalt - those are the last runs scored in the game.  Uribe spent two seasons in San Francisco (like Gary Carter, he left to join the Dodgers as a free agent) but hit 40 regular season homers and two in the 2010 playoffs.



2016 at Arizona, up 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, the Snakes had runners on the corners with one out, Santiago Casilla got Rickie Weeks on a replay aided 4-6-3 to end the game.  Casilla left the Giants after 2016 as the 41st best player in San Francisco history.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!