June 6 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 June 6 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1964 at Philadelphia, 28-19, 2nd place Giants half a game behind the first place Phillies - gotta love a battle for first place here in the first week of June, 2-2 with an out in the 9th, Tom Haller hits a two run homer off Ed Roebuck, we win 4-2 and move into first place.  It was Haller's 38th career homer.

1971 home vs. Phillies, we had lost 5 straight, including the first half of this double header - but were still 37-18 with an 8 game lead, Willie Mays got us back on track with a game winning homer of Joe Hoerner.  It was Mays' 12th walk off hit (last of his Giants career) and 6th (and final) walk off homer. Less than a year later we'd trade him to the Mets.

1990 home vs. Reds, come on, it's the first week of June and we're already a dozen out.  But we're looking for a sweep of the Reds here, 30,000 at the Stick for a Wednesday afternoon, we only had 4 hits and trailed 2-1 when Will Clark led off the bottom of the 9th with a homer off of Randy Myers. It's Will's 110th career homer.

Walk off 1990 home vs. Reds, same game, 2 innings later, still 2-2 with 2 outs in the 10th, Kevin Mitchell homers to dead center off of Rob Dibble to win it for the good guys.  I believe this is our 83rd walk off home run; it's Mitch's 115th career homer and his second walk off (his first was 3 weeks prior).  Mitch pounded the ball in 1990 with a 150 OPS+.  He was a four and a half win player, the 22nd best season for a LF in Giants franchise history.

1998 at St Louis, the good guys are 13 over .500 and tied for first in the West, this is a 5 hour game on a Saturday night at Busch, we are down 4-2 in the ninth inning but put the first two on and Darryl Hamilton clears the bases with a game tying triple off of Curtis King.  It took 5 more innings, but we won the game 5-4 in 14.  We signed Hamilton as a free agent prior to the '97 season and made him our center fielder, less than two months from now we send him to the Rockies for Ellis Burks.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

June 5 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

1964 at Philadelphia, 8 games over, one and a half back, the second place Giants taking on the first place Phillies, 3-3 in the 11th, Harvey Kuenn singles home Tom Haller with 2 out off of Jack Baldschun, we go up 4-3 and win it 5-3 to move half a game out of first place.  This was Kuenn's aged 33 season, his plate appearances slipped below 400 as the Giants 4th OF.  He was moved to the Cubs in a five player Memorial Day deal the following season.

1966 at Philadelphia, although we had dropped the first two to the Phillies we were still 14 over, 1.5 up for this one, tied at 6, 2 outs in the 10th, Hal Lanier homered off Bo Belinsky for what turned out to be the winning run.  Lanier was not good, replacement level in 3700 plate appearances in 8 Giants seasons as the Giants starter at both second and short. He never had an OPS+ above 75 in his career, in '66, a year where he got nearly 500 plate appearances, it was 49.  The Giants put so many terrible players around their legends in the 60s, it's the story of why it took us until 2010 to win a World Series.

1981 at Pittsburgh, 9 games out of first in the west, the Giants take their June 5 trip to Pennsylvania, 3-3 with an out in the 9th, Enos Cabell hits a 2 run homer off of Enrique Romo and we win it 5-3.  This is Cabell's only season in San Francisco, he replaced McCovey as the starter at first.  We got him from the Astros in the offseason for Bob Knepper, he was sub replacement, had an OPS+ of 72.  We moved him the following spring to Detroit for Champ Summers.

2000 at Anaheim, 4th place, 7.5 out, how about a 4 hour game on a Monday night in Anaheim? 4-4 with 2 out in the 9th, Shigetoshi Hasegawa facing....Barry Bonds....he homers and we go on to take it 5-4.  49 homers, a 188 OPS+, and 8 WAR for Bonds in 2000, it's his 11th best Giants campaign making it the 11th best season any Giants left fielder ever had in the history of the franchise.  This was career home run #469.

2002 at San Diego, 9 games over, one and a half out of first, down 1-0 in the third, 2 out, bases loaded, Dennis Tankersley facing...Barry Bonds...he hits a grand slam on the first pitch, we go up 4-1 and win it 12-2.  Career homer #587 for Bonds, his 11th career grand slam.  Other than San Francisco and Pittsburgh, Barry hit most of his career homers in San Diego. This is Barry's second best season, 11 and a half WAR, career highs in BA and OPS+.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

June 4 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Top 5 June 4 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1975 at Chicago, down 6-5 with 2 out in the 7th, Bobby Murcer hits a 2 run homer off Darold Knowles to put us up 7-6. Murcer's first of two Giants seasons, we got him from the Yankees for Bobby Bonds and would deal him to these Cubs for Bill Madlock after the following season.

1975 at Chicago, same game, now 8-8 in the 9th, Derrel Thomas homers off Oscar Zamora, we're gonna win it 10-8.  It's also Thomas's first year in San Francisco, we got him from the Padres for Tito Fuentes and a couple of years from now will ship him back to San Diego for Mike Ivie.  Thomas only had one season of his 15 where he had an OPS+ that reached 100, this was not that season.

1978 at Montreal, the Giants are 14 over .500, half a game up in the West, 2-2 in the 10th, Vic Harris leads off with a homer off Mike Garman for the game's final run.  Harris was a light hitting utility guy, he came over as part of a 7 player deal with the Cardinals the year before, in '78 his OPS+ in a hundred at bats was 29 so he was light hitting like Karen Carpenter was a light eater.  This was his only home run of the season, his was hitting .071 at the time.  The A's picked him 9th in the January draft in 1970, we picked Chris Speier second.  Harris was a -6 WAR player for his career, that makes him one of the very worst players in MLB History.

1986 at Montreal, the Giants are a game and a half out in the West, down 2-1 with 2 on in the 8th, Chili Davis drives them both home with a triple off of Jeff Reardon.  We'd win the game 4-2.  Chili was typically solid in '86, 4 WAR, 124 OPS+.

Walk off 2003 home vs. Twins, 13 games over .500 with a 3 game lead in the West, bottom of the ninth, 3-3, bases loaded with 2 out, Juan Rincon pitching to (gulp) Barry Bonds - Bonds singles on the first pitch to score Jose Cruz with the winning run.  This was Barry's 9th walk off hit as a Giant.  It's his 7th best Giants season meaning the 7th best season any Giants left fielder ever had.  As he did in every season from 2000-04, Barry led all of MLB in BB, OBP, SLG, OPS and OPS+ (231).

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

June 3 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 June 3 moments in San Francisco Giants history; I believe this is only the second date where each moment has come from a different decade.

1964 at Pittsburgh, the Giants are in second place, a game and a half out, Ron Herbel throws a complete game 4 hitter, with 2 out in the 6th the game was scoreless when Orlando Cepeda hit a two run homer off of Bob Priddy.  We'd win the game 4-0.  Cepeda was 17 when he signed in '55, came west with the club and his rookie season was our rookie season, 1958.  He hit in every Giants season, although gave back more than a little of that defensively.  He had a 148 OPS+ in '64.  We, of course, dealt him away for Ray Sadecki early in the '66 season.

Walk off 1973 home vs Phillies, first place Giants are 14 games above .500 but trail the Phillies 4-1 headed to the botom of the 9th, we plated 2 but with 1 on and 2 out, still trailed 4-3 when Garry Maddox hit a 2 run homer off of Bill Wilson to win the game.  I believe this to be the 46th walk off homer in San Francisco history.  It is the only walk off home run in Maddox's 15 year big league career.  Two years later he's traded to these Phillies.

Walk off 1980 home vs Braves, 8 games under and 9 games out the Giants had 2 on and 2 out in the bottom of the 9th trailing 2-1 - Milt May doubled home both men off of Larry Bradford to win the game.  It was May's first of four San Francisco seasons, we signed him as a free agent and would deal him to the Pirates in '83 in a catcher trade for Steve Nicosia.  He was just fine, hit well enough, good enough glove, basically just a guy, he was a San Francisco catcher not named Posey.

2006 at Mets, first half of a double header (we get walked off in game 2) down 4-3 with 2 out in the 6th, Eliezer Alfonzo hits a 2 run homer off of Orlando Hernandez.  Alfonzo became the starting catcher for the Giants in this, his rookie season (after a decade in the minors) he got more plate appearances in '06 than the rest of his big league career combined.  This was his first big league game and his first home run.  We won 6-4.

2011 home vs. Rockies, first place Giants up half a game in the West, down 1-0 in the 4th, Cody Ross hits a 3 run homer off of Juan Nicasio and those are the final runs scored.  Ross's only full season as a Giant, he leaves for Boston in the offseason.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

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!