June 2 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 June 2 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1962 at Mets, second game of a doubleheader, the greatest San Francisco team ever was 37-15 and in first place after winning the front end, 4-4 with 2 outs in the 8th, Harvey Kuenn hits a 2 run homer off Craig Anderson.  That would do it, we won 6-4.  It's Kuenn's second season in San Francisco and his best, really his only year above replacement value as a Giant.

1978 at Montreal, the Giants came in 30-16 and in first place, with 2 on and 2 out in the 10th, Willie McCovey doubled home Terry Whitfield off of Donald Knowles to give us a 6-5 lead.  McCovey's second Giants stint started the year prior and he was Willie McCovey one final time; this season is more of a struggle, he hit .228, his OPS+ was 97, 40 year old McCovey was basically replacement level. This was his 2357th career game.

1978 at Montreal, same game, bottom of the 10th, Giants still with that 6-5 lead, but the Expos had two on with one out and Gary Carter at the plate - Randy Moffitt gets him to go 4-6-3 to end the game.  12 year big league career, Moffitt was never traded.

Walk off 1990 home vs Astros, 9 under, 14 back, we walked off the Astros the game prior and play a three and a half hour game here, 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th, 2 on, 2 out, Mike Kingery with the game winning single off of future Giant Danny Darwin.  Kingery spent two years as a punchless backup OF with the Giants, we signed him just before the season and let him go at the end of the following year.  A month after this game, he'd walk off the Cubs.

Walk off 1995 home vs. Phillies, first place Giants hosting the team with the best record in baseball, 2-2 in the bottom of the 9th, 1 out, 1 on, Steve Scarsone hits the walk off home run off of Gene Harris.  I believe this to be the 91st walk off homer in San Francisco history.  Scarsone did 4 years as the Giants utility infielder, this was easily his best with the bat, with a 116 OPS+.  It's really the only season of his career he wasn't around replacement level.  Scarsone hit 20 big league homers, this is his only walk off.  He leaves for St Louis after the '96 season.

See you tomorrow. Go Giants!

June 1 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 June 1 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1960 home vs Cubs, the third ever San Francisco Giants opened June a game and a half off the lead, we only had 2 hits off Dick Ellsworth headed to the bottom of the 9th in a game tied 1-1, we got a two out single from Bob Schmidt and then Sam Jones, who threw a complete game 5 hitter for our guys, hit for himself - and struck a game ending double. It was the second ever walk off hit by a San Francisco pitcher.  This was the second of 4 San Francisco seasons for Jones, we got him for Bill White just before the '59 season and he went to Houston in the expansion draft after the '61 season.

1982 at St Louis, the Giants were 8 under .500, the Cardinals 13 above, tied at 3 in the 11th inning, Jack Clark singled home Milt May off of Doug Bair to put us up 4-3 and that was the final score. Jack finished 7th in the NL MVP race in '82, he was a 4+ WAR player, his second best San Francisco season.

2007 at Philadelphia, a couple games under .500, this is one of the earliest moments in a game we've had so far, top of the 2nd in a scoreless game, bases loaded with 2 out, Fred Lewis hits a grand slam off of Adam Eaton. We won 13-0.  Lewis hit 2 grand slams in his career, this is the first and the next is a month away.

Walk off 2008 home vs Padres, we're 8 under .500, 8 games back, probably looking too far up at the rest of the world at this point, it was 1-1 going to the 10th, the Padres got 2 in the top - but then we got 3 in the bottom, the first two of those coming on a Fred Lewis (big Fred Lewis day) triple off Trevor Hoffman, and he'd score the winner on a Jose Castillo single. Lewis had 16 triples in his 7 year big league career and 11 of them were in '08.

2011 at St Louis, the Giants came in half a game out of first place, man on with 2 out in a 5-5 game in the 11th, Nate Schierholtz singles home Rey Sanchez off of Ryan Franklin, we'd win the game 7-5.  This was Nate's last full season with the Giants, he'd get moved in a deadline in in 2012 along with Tommy Joseph for Hunter Pence.

See you tomorrow. Go Giants!

2017 NBA Finals Prediction

Warriors in 5.

I'd like to say we're going to sweep them, just blitz right through them and drive them into the earth.

But I'll take 5.  Go Dubs.

May 31 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 May 31 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1961 home vs. Cardinals, the Giants are 25-15, tied for first, only 6000 paid on a Wednesday afternoon at the Stick, 2-2 in the 9th, bases loaded, 2 out - Joey Amalfitano singles home the winning run off of Mickey McDermott.  It's the 24th walk off hit in San Francisco history.  Amalfitano got a cup of coffee back in New York in '54 and '55 then didn't see the big leagues again until 1960.  He'd be taken by Houston in the expansion draft after this season but then we got him back in a deal for Manny Mota.

1964 at Mets, in the second game of a doubleheader on a Sunday afternoon at Shea (we won the first game, there were 57,000 paid, it was the biggest MLB crowd of the season) the Giants played the second longest game (by time) in big league history, a 7 and a half hour, 23 inning affair.  2 Mets pitchers pitched multiple innings in both games, Gaylord Perry threw 10 innings in relief in this one (in his book he said it was where he debuted the spitball) Mays played 3 innings at short.  We had a 6-1 lead after our turn in thr third and then didn't score for another 20 innings (we hit into a triple play in the 14th) 6-6 in the 23rd, Del Crandall, hitting for Gaylord doubles home Jimmy Davenport (he had tripled) off of Galen Cisco to the thanks of a grateful nation.

1965 home vs Cardinals, we walked them off the day before, this is a snappy sub two hour Monday afternoon game, Gaylord throws a 2 hitter but we still trailed 1-0 with 2 out in the 6th when Willie McCovey hit a 2 run homer off Curt Simmons. We'd go on to win 4-1. It's McCovey's 137th homer and one of 189 go ahead homers he hit in his career.

1967 home vs. Pirates, down 3-2 in the 4th, Jesus Alou hit a 3 run homer off Bob Veale, we'd take this one 15-4.  We signed Jesus at 16, he came up in '63, was replacement level in six Giants seasons and was (thankfully) taken by the Expos in the '68 expansion draft.

1985 home vs. Phillies, the 16-28 Giants were tied 1-1 in the 7th when Ricky Adams, in his Giants debut, right off the plane from AAA, hit a 3 run homer off Charles Hudson, we'd win the game 4-3.  This was Adams' only year in San Francisco, he hit .190 as a utility guy in 54 games and never saw the big leagues again.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

May 30 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Top 5 May 30 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1960 home vs. Cubs the Giants are 25-15, a half game out of first, we lost the first half of the doubleheader and were tied 4-4 in the 9th, Willie McCovey singled home the winning run off of Seth Morehead.  This was McCovey's first ever walk off base hit and the 18th walk off hit in San Francisco history.

Walk off 1965 home vs. Cardinals, how about this matchup, it's 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th, 2 out, bases loaded, Bob Gibson (because of course he's still in the game) facing Willie Mays.  Bob Skinner drops a fly ball and Frank Linzy comes home with the winning run.  '65 was Mays first MVP in 11 years, he was an 11 WAR player, it was his career best season.   Gibson killed Mays, struck him out 30 times in 108 plate appearances.

1971 home vs Expos, the Giants are 34-10, playing two at the Stick on a Sunday, down 4-3 in the 7th, Willie Mays hits a 2 run homer to put us up 5-4 and that's going to be the final score. This was Mays' 1950th run scored, passing Stan Musial for the all time NL lead.  You know how Willie Mays is held up as an example of a guy who hung on too long?  This is his aged 40 season, he led the league with a .425 OBP and had a 158 OPS+. 40 year old Willie Mays was a 6 WAR player.  This is home run #638 for Mays, he only has 8 Giants homers left to hit.

Walk off 1971 home vs Expos, your first place Giants are 35-10 after winning the first half of the doubleheader, we trail 7-6 in the bottom of the 9th, 2 out, bases loaded - Tito Fuentes singles off of Mike Marshall to score the tying and winning run.  We win 8-7 and take a 10.5 game lead.  Fuentes signed as 18, was 3rd in NL Rookie of the Year at 22, and was with us through his aged 30 season in '74 after which we moved him to the Padres for Derrel Thomas.

Walk off 2010 home vs. Arizona, 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, 5-5, Andres Torres singles home the winning run off of Carlos Rosa.  The second best season for a San Francisco center fielder not named Mays? This one by Andres Torres.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!