May 25 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Top 5 May 25 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1963 home vs. Dodgers, first place Giants against the second place Dodgers on a Saturday afternoon at the Stick. 2-2 in the 7th, one out, one on - Ed Bailey hits a 2 run homer off of Johnny Podres, we're gonna win this one 6-2.  It's Bailey's best year as a Giant with a 147 OPS+. We dealt him to Milwaukee in the offseason, then got him back a little more than a year later for the winning pitcher in this game, Billy O'Dell.

1976 home vs. Astros,13 years later we came in 13 under .500, fewer than 3000 paid on a Tuesday night at the Stick. Getting shut out 3-0 in the 5th, Bobby Murcer hits a grand slam off JR Richard.  At the end of the season we send Murcer to the Cubs for Bill Madlock. It's the third grand slam of Murcer's career.

1976 home vs. Astros, same game, now down 6-5 with two out in the 8th, Willie Montanez hits a 2 run homer off Ken Forsch.  Three weeks later we traded Montanez to Atlanta for Darrell Evans.



Walk off 2013 home vs. Rockies, the Giants came in a game out of first and trailed 5-4 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Angel Pagan hit a 2 run walk off inside the park home run.  It's Pagan's second inside the park home and his second walk off (the others did not come in the same at bat, obviously). It was the first game ending inside the park homer in 9 years.

Walk off 2016 home vs Padres, 29-19, the first place Giants were tied at 3 with San Diego with a man on and two out in the bottom of the 10th.  Brandon Crawford singled home Matt Duffy off of Brad Hand with the winning run.  This was our 9th straight over the Padres. Crawford's 2016 is one of the 40 best seasons for a shortstop in organizational history.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 24- Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 24 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1962 home vs Phillies, the best club in San Francisco history was 28-14 when they hosted the Phillies in front of 5000 paid on a Thursday afternoon.  Down 4-3 with 2 out in the 7th, Willie Mays hits a 2 run homer off Cal McLish. We'd win the game 7-4.  49 homers and a 162 OPS+ in '62 for Mays.  Mays was a 10 win player in '62, his peak starts now - this is the fourth best season of his career and the three best are the next 3.

1980 at Pittsburgh, 5 hours on a Saturday night at Three Rivers, with 2 out in the 15th, Jim Wohlford doubles home Darrell Evans off of Rod Scurry to break a 9-9 tie, we win it 10-9.  It's the first of three replacement level seasons for Wohlford in San Francisco.

1987 at Philadelphia, 25-17, the first place Giants were tied 3-3 in the 8th at the Vet, 2 on, 2 out, Robby Thompson hits a 3 run homer off of Kent Tekulve.  We win 6-3.  Thompson finished second in the rookie of the year race in '86, this is the 10th homer of his career.

1998 at St Louis, almost 6 hours on a Sunday afternoon at Busch, down to our last strike in the 9th, 4-2, a man on, Barry Bonds hits a two run homer off Juan Acevedo to tie the game.  We'd have 8 more innings to play,  it's Barry's 385 career homer.

1998 at St Louis, same game, we put the first two on in the 17th, Stan Javier attempts to bunt them over - it's thrown away by Kent Mercker to score both men and we'd win the game 6-3.  Javier got a lot of plate appearances as a 4th outfielder in San Francisco for nearly 4 seasons.  We moved him to Houston in late '99 for a non prospect.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May, 2017 Athlete of the Month

April is here.

Steph Curry.  Runners-up: Aaron Judge,  LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo

Nearing the halfway mark.  Who is going to be athlete of the year for 2017?

January - Deshaun Watson
February - Tom Brady
March - Russell Westbrook
April - A'ja Wilson
May - Stephen Curry

May 23 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 23 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1976 home vs Braves, after losing the first half of a doubleheader we were 12-27 on the season, this was a 10 inning 3 hitter from John Montefusco, scoreless in the bottom of the 10th, with two out Chris Speier drives in Derrel Thomas with the winning run. We played .500 ball the rest of the season and still finished 27.5 back.

1978 home vs. Astros, first place Giants on a Tuesday night at Candlestick, down 2-0 headed to the bottom of the 9th, we has already picked up a run, now with 2 out, Tom Heintzelman singled home Larry Herndon off of Joe Sambito to tie the score. Heintzelman got 39 plate apperances in parts of 2 seasons in San Francisco, after this game tying single he only had four hits left in his big league career.

Walk off 1978 home vs. Astros, same game, next batter, Bill Madlock follows with a single that scores Mike Sadek to win the game.  We got Madlock from the Cubs before the prior season for Bobby Murcer, he was just okay in '77 but hit the heck out of the ball in '78, had a 144 OPS+. It was the 13th best season for a Giants second baseman in organizational history.  So, of course, we dealt him to Pittsburgh at the deadline the following season.

2009 at Seattle, down 1-0 with the bases loaded and 2 out in the 8th - Juan Uribe clears them with a 3 run double off Mark Lowe, we win 5-1. We had 3 hits in our previous 35 at bats with men in scoring position.  Uribe was 30 in his initial Giants campaign in '09, with an OPS+ of 112, this was his best year to that date with the bat.



Walk off 2016 home vs Padres, the night before Bumgarner shut out the Cubs 1-0, this was Johnny Cueto's turn, a complete game 2 hitter, Hunter Pence broke the scoreless tie with a 2 out double in the 9th off of Brand Hand that scored Brandon Belt with the walk off.  Pence had a 133 OPS+ in 2013, but has slowly been giving that back, a little bit every year since.  He's clearly post-peak as of 2017.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 22 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 22 Moments in San Francisco Giants History.

1968 at Atlanta, complete game 3 hitter by Mike McCormick, but it took a 2 out tiebreaking Willie Mays single in the 9th inning off of Pat Jarvis to give us the 2-1 win.  Mays was 37 in '68, had a 156 OPS+, his best year with the bat since '65.  It's his 14th best season.

1981 at Houston, 14th inning, 2-2, with 2 out Jerry Martin singles home Darrell Evans off of Dave Smith, we go up 3-2. Its Martin's only season in San Francisco, we got him in the offseason from the Cubs for Joe Strain, we'll move him in the offseason to the Royals for Rich Gale and Bill Laskey.

1981 at Houston, same game 4 and a half hours on a Friday night at the Astrodome, 3-3 game in the 15th, bases loaded, two out, Darrell Evans singles home 2 off of Bobby Sprowl, it's our 18th hit of the night and we win it 6-3.

2005 home vs A's, 6th inning, 1 on, 2 out, we trail Oakland 1-0, Moses Alou hits a 2 run homer off of future (mostly awful) Giant Barry Zito.  We win the game 3-1.  It's Alou's 5th Giants homer.



Walk off 2011 home vs. A's, 4-4 in the 11th, Emmanuel Burriss singles home Darren Ford off of Brian Fuentes to win it for the home team.  Burriss came up in '06 and did portions of five seasons as a utility guy.  He left after the 2012 season.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!