July 16 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants history

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

1959 at Philadelphia, a game up in the west despite our losing the front end of this doubleheader, both Johnny Antonelli and Gene Conley throw complete games, it's scoreless in the 9th, 2 on, 1 out, Dusty Rhodes pinch singles home Leon Wagner to put us up 1-0 in the only run that would be scored.  Rhodes was a folk hero for the New York Giants, up in '52, was a pinch hitter through the end of the New York run in '57, most notably as a star in the '54 Series.  He was in AAA the entire '58 season, so wasn't part of the inaugural Giants, but played 54 games for San Francisco this season, which turned out to be his last in the big leagues.  In those 54 games - he had 54 plate appearances.  Rhodes had 9 hits as a San Francisco Giant.

1963 at Pittsburgh, 4 years later it's another doubleheader in Pennsylvania, we're 7 out of first (we lose the second half) Don Cardwell throws a complete game for the Pirates, it's 2-2 with two out in the 9th and it's Willie McCovey - he homers for what turns out to be the winning run.  McCovey played just 59 games in '59 and was still the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year. A 188 OPS+ will do that.  He led the league in homers in '63 with 44, it's his first All Star Game performance.  This is McCovey's 91st career homer, he hits #92 in the second game.

1969 home vs. Padres, it's game 92 on the season, down 2 in the west, only 3200 paid on a Wednesday afternoon.  Gaylord looking for the complete game win, we're up 4-3 in the 9th, the Padres have the runners on the corners with one out, Perry gets John Sipin to go 1-6-3 to end the game.  Gaylord signed with the Giants at 19 in the summer of '58, four years later he was up with the big club. He's in the rotation in '64 where he stays through '71. This is his second best Giants season, he's got a 142 OPS+ and is worth a half dozen WAR.  

Walk off 1976 home vs. Phillies, we're 18.5 out, the season is over, this is a 92 minute game on a Friday night at the Stick, complete game win for Ed Halicki, complete game loss for Jim Kaat - it's the bottom of the 9th, 2 out in a scoreless game, Bobby Murcer sends everyone home with a walk off homer.  It's Murcer's 163rd career homer, he'd have 4 walk offs but this was the only one as a Giant.  This is the 49th San Francisco Giants walk off homer.

Walk off 1995 home vs. Astros, we're 6 out, having dropped four games to the lead over the past 2 weeks, it takes us 5 hours and 14 innings to get a game back, it's 6-6 in the bottom of the 14th, JR Phillips leads off with a homer off of Doug Brocail to send everyone home. JR Phillips was bad, subreplacement for his career, OPS+ of 60 as a first baseman.  He broke in with us in '93 after washing out in the Angels system. This is the only year he got more than 150 plate appearances, splitting time at first with Mark Carreon. He went 1-6 in this one, was hitting .157 at game's end. This is his 7th career homer and the only walk off he'd ever hit.  We deal him to the Phillies for nothing early the next season and he's out of the league before the turn of the century.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

July 15 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Here are the top 5 July 15 moments in San Francisco Giants history.  I get a good deal of satisfaction when they're from all different decades as that wasn't engineered, just sort of happened that way.

1958 home vs. Phillies, the inaugural San Francisco Giants are a game out of first, starting a series against the Phillies, We get 3 hits, a couple harmless singles and a 6th inning Willie Kirkland double that will lead to the only run of the game.  This spot is the 9th inning, we're up 1-0 but the Phillies have two on with one out, Mike McCormick trying to finish off a complete game shutout win - he gets Carl Sawatski to go 4-6-3 to give us the victory.  It's McCormick's first year in the rotation, he got some action as a 17 year old in '56 and was in the pen in '57.  He moved west with the club and in '60 has a strong year, with a 130 ERA+ and 6+ WAR, through 2017 that's the 53rd best season for a starting pitcher in franchise history.

1978 at Pittsburgh, 18 over .500 with a 3 game lead, we're down 5-4 with 2 out in the 9th inning, Darrell Evans singles home the tying run off of Kent Tekulve and we win this game in 11.  This is a great lost season for the Giants as it didn't really lead to anything.  We won the west back in '71, but here's how many games out we finished between then and '78:

72 - 26.5 out
73 - 11 out
74 - 30 out
75 - 27.5 out
76 - 28 out
77 - 23 out

And then after this season

79- 19.5 out
80- 17 out
81 - 11.5 out

But, here we sit in 1978, 89 games into the season with the best record in the National League.

1983 home vs. Cards, we're 11.5 out, Joaquin Andujar throws a complete game, but we get him in the 8th, down 4-3, Chili Davis hits a 2 run homer.  That will do it, we win 5-4.  This is Davis's worst career year with the bat, he's 23, in his second full season, and has an OPS+ of 85.  He'll never be under 100 again the rest of his career.

1997 at San Diego, we've got a 3 game lead, and scored all the runs there are to score in the 7th, 13 of them, that ties the San Francisco record. Just an inning prior we were down 2-1 when Barry Bonds hit his second homer of the game, a 2 run shot off of Andy Ashby.

Here's the seventh inning (Stan Javier bats 3 times, yes he does, we may still be up)

Javier single
Wild pitch
Javier steals third.
Lewis doubles.  Javier scores.  Lewis takes third on a Rickey Henderson error.
Wilkins walk.
Rueter safe on a Caminiti error. Lewis scores.  Wilkins to third.
Ashby's replaced by Pete Smith.
Hamilton walks. Bases loaded.  Still nobody out.
Vizcaino singles.  Wilkins scores.  Bases still loaded.
Bonds singles.  Rueter scores.  Hamilton scores.  Vizcaino to third and Barry to second on the throw.
Kent singles.  Vizcaino scores.  Bonds scores.  
Snow grounds to first, it's the first out of the inning. Kent moves to second.  And we've turned the lineup over.

Javier singles again. Kent scores.
Smith's replaced by Rich Batchelor.
Lewis gets hit.
Wilkins walks again.  Loads the bases.
Hill pinch hits for Rueter, 'cause why not?  Single.  Javier scores again. Bases still loaded.
Hamilton walks again. Lewis scores again. Bases still loaded.
Sean Bergman replaces Batchelor.
Aurilia pinch hits for Vizcaino.  Single.  Wilkins scores again. Hill scores. Hamilton to third.
Benard pinch hits for Bonds.  Repeat-Benard pinch hits for Bonds. Single.  Hamilton scores again. 
Kent walks.  The bases are loaded again.
Snow strikes out.  He's made both outs in the inning.  And we've turned the lineup over again.

Javier grounds out.  We score 13 runs with only one extra base hit.  9 hits for the good guys on the inning.

2004 at Colorado, we just swept Arizona and are a half game back in the west, this one goes 3 and a half hours, it's 4-4 in the 9th, bases loaded, two out, Shawn Chacon hits JT Snow to drive in the go ahead run.  We win the game 7-5.  At the age of 36, this was Snow's best year with the bat as a Giant, he hit .327 with a 146 OPS+.

See you tomorrow. Go Giants!

July 14 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Here are the top 5 July 14 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1985 at Pittsburgh, it's game 88, we're 17.5 out of first so the season is over, 2-2 in the 5th inning, David Green homers off Rick Rhoden, we win this one 7-3.  It was Green's 2nd homer as a Giant, he only hits 3 more. 11 were arrested from a fight in the stands the night before.  

1991 at Philadelphia, we're 14 games out of first place, which is too many games to be out of first place, we got 22 hits at the Vet on a Sunday afternoon, with 2 out in the third we were down 3-2, Matt Williams hit a 3 run homer off Danny Cox - we win this game 17-5.  11 total bases for Williams here, he hits a second homer and triples.  Meanwhile, Will Clark has 5 hits and 7 RBI.  A good Sunday in Philadelphia, the most runs an opponent ever scored at the Vet.



1994 at Montreal, 7.5 out, coming into Montreal riding a 4 game winning streak, but facing Pedro Martinez and an Expos team that was 21 games over .500.  We were up 3-1 in the 5th when Darryl Strawberry hit a grand slam off Pedro, we're gonna win this one 8-3.  Strawberry played just 29 games with the Giants in '94, had an OPS+ of 110, hit 4 homers, this was his first and his second comes the next day.  It's Strawberry's 6th career grand slam.  Strawberry also singled and doubled in this one, his fifth game as a Giant and what turns out to be his best Giants performance.

2005 at Los Angeles, were 10 games off the lead, 1-1 in the 7th, 2 on, 2 out, Omar Vizquel hits a 3 run homer on an 0-2 pitch.  We're gonna win this one 4-3. Vizquel was a Giant for four years, the first two good enough to hold down the starting shortstop job, the last two pretty abysmal (Vizquel's Giants OPS+ was 75, and while he was still a good fielder, that bat just shouldn't keep you in any lineup).  This was his first year in San Francisco, he was 38, came over as a free agent from Cleveland where he had spent 11 seasons.  He was our shortstop through '08, after which he went to Texas.  Vizquel played until he was 45, his last year was 2012.  This was Vizquel's 68th career homer.

2011 at San Diego - it's game 94, we've got a 3 game lead in the west coming out of the break, we spend 4 hours at Petco, It took a 9th inning Aubrey Huff homer off Heath Bell to get us to extras, now it's the 12th, 1-1, bases loaded with 2 out, Mike Fontenot works a walk against Luke Gregerson to give us a 2-1 lead and we'd go on to win 6-2.  Bell had pitched in 99 games since giving up a home run.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

July 13 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Here are the top 5 July 13 moments in San Francisco Giants history.  5 different decades.

Walk off 1958 home vs. Braves, second place Giants - first place Braves, we're one game out in our first ever San Francisco season, it's a Sunday afternoon at Seals, with an out in a 5-5 game in the bottom of the 9th, Felipe Alou singles home the game winning run off of Ernie Johnson.  The Giants signed Alou 3 years prior, he comes west with the club and this is his rookie season, in fact - this is Alou's 29th game in the bigs.

Walk off 1967 home vs. Houston, 5 games out, coming back from the break, a McCovey homer in the 9th got us to extras, in the 10th Hal Lanier scored the winning run on a Sonny Jackson error.  It's McCovey's 213th homer, McCovey hit 8 career homers in the bottom of the 9th to either tie the game or put his team ahead.  The next day, Eddie Mathews hits his 500th career homer against us.

1995 home vs. Houston, we're in the midst of a swoon, we were 1.5 back less than two weeks before but now return from the All Star break six games out of first.  We go a dozen innings against the Astros, ending with a Bonds walk off single off of Jim Dougherty to win it 6-5.  Just another run of the mill 170 OPS+ for Bonds in '95.  If you're looking for his decline phase it never comes, Barry never has an OPS+ below 150 once he turns 25.  He leads the majors in OBP as a 42 year old in 2007 and can't find a job in 2008.  

2000 home vs A's, the first year at the new ballpark, we're 3.5 games out of first and hosting Oakland, a Bonds homer had us up 2-1 in the 6th, the A's had the tying run at second - Russ Ortiz got Matt Stairs to fly out deep to left, and then Barry threw out Miguel Tejada trying to tag up and go to to third.  We won the game 4-2.  Ortiz was 21 when we drafted him in '95, he came up in '98 and was moved into the rotation.  This is his worst San Francisco campaign, an ERA+ of 85.  After '02 he was sent to Atlanta for Damian Moss and Merkin Valdez, he won 21 with the Braves in '03 to finish 4th in the Cy Young race and completely fell of the cliff in 2005, he never approached even decency after '04.  Ortiz came back to San Francisco for a dozen inauspicious games in '07 and actually finished his big league career as a Dodger in 2010.



2014 home vs. Diamondbacks, 9 games over .500 and trailing by a half game, a month earlier we had a ten game lead and now that's all gone, Sunday afternoon rubber match against the Snakes, down 1-0 with 2 out in the 5th - Buster Posey hits a grand slam off of Vidal Nuno, we win this one 8-4.  As of this writing Posey has 4 career grand slams, this was his second (Piazza hit 14, so Posey won't catch him).  Madison Bumgarner also hit a grand slam in this one, the first batterymates to hit slams in the same game.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

July 12 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

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Top 5 July 12 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1958 home vs. Braves, 2 games out of first and hosting the first place Braves on a Saturday afternoon in mid July of our first ever San Francisco campaign, we jump all over Spahn, he doesn't get out of the 5th inning, the big blow coming here, up 2-1 in that 5th, Orlando Cepeda hits a 3 run shot off Spahn to put us up 5-1 in a game we'd win 5-3.  We move to 1 game out of first, it is the closest we've been to the lead in a month.  Cepeda killed Spahn - had a lifetime .344 BA with 10 homers.  Along with the 10 he hit against Drysdale these are the most homers Cepeda ever hit against anyone.

1962 at Philadelphia, 26 games over .500 but still half a game out of first place, we start a 3 game series against the Phillies, we're up 5-3 in the bottom of the 9th, but the Phillies have a man on and the tying run at the plate - Stu Miller gets Jacke Davis to go 5-4-3.  Miller had been a Phillie in '56, he came to the Giants in '57 for Jim Hearn. Miller was 28, he hadn't had a good year since his rookie season in '52 - but was instantly good with the Giants, he moved west with the club in '58 and led the league in ERA+ (155).  Miller was a swingman in '58 but came out of the pen almost exclusively in the rest of his Giants career - that career ended after this (not particularly good) season, We sent him and Mike McCormick to Baltimore where he had several very good seasons closing for the Orioles.

1968 at Cincinnati, we're 11 out, tied at 2 with 2 out in the 5th, Jim Ray Hart hits a 3 run homer off Clay Carroll and we go on to win 11-4. Hart hits another homer later in the game, the 133-134th of his career.  Hart was 7-24 lifetime against Carroll, this was his only homer.

1997 at Los Angeles, our 6 game lead in the west had been cut to four after losing the first two games of the series, sold out Dodger Stadium on a Saturday night, down 2-1 with one out in the 9th Mark Lewis and Rick Wilkins go back to back off Todd Worrell to give us a 3-2 lead in a game we'd win 8-5.  Lewis was a bust, the Indians took him 2nd overall in the '88 draft (Andy Benes was first, Robin Ventura 10th) but had a negative career WAR.  This is his one season as a Giant, backing up in the infield, getting some starts in at third.  Wilkins did parts of two seasons in San Francisco as our part time catcher, we got him at the deadline from Houston for Kurt Manwaring the year before and we released him less than 3 weeks after this home run.

2002 home vs. Rockies, we're 88 games in and after walking Colorado off the night before are 2.5 out of first place, Livan Hernandez throws a complete game 4 hitter, the big moment a 2 run Damon Minor homer in the second that broke a scoreless tie.  Minor played in 136 big league games, all as a Giant.  He got a couple hundred plate appearances this season at first base, he was replacement level and never got on a big league field after '04.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!