July 29 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 July 29 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1958 at Cincinnati, the inaugural San Francisco Giants are half a game out of first place, trailing 3-2 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Ray Jablonski hits a 2 run homer off of Willard Schmidt and we win it 5-3.  Jablonski spent two years with the Reds before coming over to the last New York Giants team in '57 (the only season of his career he had an OPS+ above 100) this was his only year in San Francisco, getting time at both third and left, he went to the Cards along with Bill White for Sam Jones.  Jablonski hit 21 homers in his two Giants seasons, this was the last one.

1991 home vs. Expos, we're 10 games back, but on a real roll, having won 8 in a row, we're up 6-5 in the 9th, the Expos have runners on the corners with one out and Delino DeShields at the plate - Dave Righetti gets him to go 4-6-3 to end the game.  The day before was Dennis Martinez's perfect game against the Dodgers.  Righetti was drafted 10th overall by the Rangers in the winter draft in '77 as an 18 year old lefty from San Jose City College (first overall pick was a catcher named Kalvin Adams who never made the bigs). He never played for Texas, he was part of a big 10 player deal with the Yankees, the biggest name headed the other way being Sparky Lyle.  Righetti got a cup of coffee in '79 but was Rookie of the Year with New York in '81 (the NL award went to Fernando with Tim Raines finishing second) Righetti led the league in ERA+ in '81, 174 in 105 IP.  Righetti wouldn't fall below 100 ERA+ in any season until '92.  He moved to the pen in '84 and remained the Yankee closer until leaving as a free agent before this season.  Righetti left almost everything in New York, he was okay this year as our closer (24 saves, 106 ERA+) but just fell off the table in '92 and was gone after the '93 season, a career Giants ERA+ of 78.  Righetti finished his career with the White Sox in '95.  He returned to the Giants organization in '99, joined the big league staff in 2000, and through 2017, remains as the pitching coach (the only guy to serve as a San Francisco coach longer is Ron Wotus, who is also still with the club as of this writing and started in '98).

1997 home vs. Mets, 5 days before we were 4 games up but now the lead is down to 1, we're down 2-1 in the 7th when Mark Lewis hits a 2 out grand slam off of Greg McMichael - we win this one 5-2.  Mark Lewis was supposed to be a star, he was the second overall pick in '88, Cleveland took him as a high school shortstop from Ohio (Andy Benes went first, Robin Ventura 10th, we took Royce Clayton 15th) but he never hit for the Indians and in before the '95 season they sent him to the Reds where he had the only good season of his career with the bat.  In '96 he was in Detroit, we picked him up before this season - he got 372 plate appearances backing up at third and second and was the same replacement level player for us that he was at every stop.  He'd leave at the end of the season and finished his career back in Cleveland in 2001.  Lewis had 48 career homers, 10 as a Giant, this was the only grand slam of his career.

2001 at Arizona, we are 5 games back, looking for a 4 game sweep in Phoenix, Randy Johnson strikes out 12 and walks just one - but Shawn Estes gives up only 4 hits in 8 innings, it's 2-2 with 2 out in the 9th, Marvin Benard hits a two run homer off of Byung-Hyun Kim and we're gonna win it 4-3.  The Mariners drafted Estes 11th overall as an 18 year old high school senior in 1991.  The Yankees took SI coverboy Brien Taylor first overall and he never pitched a game in the bigs, Two picks after the Mariners took Estes the Indians took a high school third baseman from New York City named Manny Ramirez.  We didn't pick until 33rd overall, we took a lefty from Long Beach St named Steve Whitaker who you do not remember because he only pitched as high as AAA for 16 games.  They can't all be Manny Ramirez.  Estes never pitched a game in Seattle, we got him during the '95 season along with Wilson Delgado for Salomon Torres.  Estes gets some starts in both '95 and '96 but becomes a full member of the rotation in '97, in which he has a 130 ERA+, it is by far the best season of his 13 year career.  This is his last season as a Giant, prior to '02 we send him to the Mets for Desi Relaford and Tsuyoshi Shinjo and then bounces around, after leaving New York he pitches for 5 more clubs, finishing up in San Diego in 2008.

Walk off 2009 home vs. Pirates, we're 8 games out, still in the postseason hunt, we 3 hit the Pirates, Matt Cain goes 8, allows only 3 singles, but we can't get him the win, it's scoreless in the bottom of the 10th, with two out Randy Winn singles home Eugenio Velez off of  Matt Capps for the 1-0 Giants victory.  Earlier in the day we made the Freddy Sanchez trade with Pittsburgh.  Randy Winn was a Giant for five seasons; for nearly all of that time he was our starting right fielder and for his Giants career was a dead average 100 OPS+ bat.  We got him at the deadline in '05 from Seattle for Jesse Foppert and Yorvit Torrealba, his best Giants seasons were '07 and '08, he hit .300 and cracked a 100 OPS+ in each.  In '08 he was over a 4 WAR player, through 2017 it's the 37th best season for a Giants right fielder in franchise history.  He falls off the table in '09, has a 76 OPS+ and never really is able to hit the ball again.  He signs with the Yankees before the '10 season and finishes his career in St Louis.  Through 2016, Randy Winn is the 39th greatest San Francisco Giant of all time.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

Top 10 Television Shows 2017 (April-June)

Jan-Mar is here.

I'm behind, obviously, but in my own defense, I'm behind.

I've yet to see, but will see:

Master of None

Kimmy Schmidt

OITNB

Catastrophe

I Love Dick

I also have not quite finished two of the shows on the list, so that might be reflected in a year end adjustment (Veep/Fargo)

1. Better Call Saul (AMC)

2. Veep (HBO)

3. Fargo (FX)

4. The Americans (FX)

5. Sneaky Pete (Amazon)

6. Last Man on Earth (Fox)

7. Dear White People (Netflix)

8. Silicon Valley (HBO)

9. Billions (Show)

10. Review (Comedy C)

Here's the thing - outside of Better Call Saul, which was the qualitiative equivalent of last season, all of the premium shows slipped.  Veep, as I mentioned in 2016, clearly suffered a decline after the departure of its creator/showrunner, and you see that slide continue here, it's high placement demonstrative of how much better than the sitcom field it had been.  Fargo was great in season two, and not nearly as gripping in season three.  The Americans had its worst season to date, running in place throughout.  Those shows, however, are of a different caliber than the remaining field - Sneaky Pete, like Billions, was more fun than art.  Last Man on Earth really shows its strength when its not a comedy.  Dear White People was a good film turned into an equally good show; Silicon maybe had its worst season, and the list also includes the last 4 episodes of Review.  

July 28 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 July 28 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1985 home vs. Pittsburgh, we're 19.5 out, so the last two months are going to be a bit of a grind, in fact, we haven't been within 10 games since early June, Rick Reuschel on the mound for the Pirates in this one, he's out of the game by the bottom of the 10th, when, with the score 2-2, David Green singled home Chris Brown off of Cecilio Guante with the winning run.  Reuschel's one of the more underrated pitchers in baseball history, with almost 70 career WAR I'd put him in the Hall of Fame.  He was drafted by the Cubs in 1970, came up in '72 and went into the rotation.  He spent 10 years in Chicago, then was sent to the Yankees for Doug Bird and Mike Griffin; he pitched only a dozen regular season games (and 3 in the postseason, Reuschel started a game in the '81 World Series against the Dodgers) for New York before having two shoulder operations in '82 and getting released. He signed with the Cubs again, left after two years for Pittsburgh, and that's where we are now, this is Reuschel's first year with the Pirates and, by ERA+, the best year of his career at 159. We get a 38 year old Reuschel for the stretch in '87 for Jeff Robinson.  He works a lot, leads the league with 36 starts in '88 and throws over 200 innings as a 40 year old in '89.  His career ends after 10 innings pitched in '91.

Walk off 1990 home vs. Reds, we're still in this, 7.5 games out of first, we've gained 3.5 games on the lead in 4 days, we walked off the Reds the night before, this is a huge, near 50,000 paid crowd at the Stick on a Saturday afternoon, it takes 11 innings but we get them again.  Kevin Mitchell singles home Ernie Riles with 2 out in the 11th off of Randy Myers to win the game 3-2.  The next day Scott Garrelts had a no hitter for 8 2/3 in front of 55,000 paid before giving up a base hit. We get to 3.5 games back but no closer.  Mitch had a 150 OPS+ in '90 - what were the best offensive seasons for the Giants in the 90s?  Let's say minimum 250 plate appearances and 125 OPS+.

'90 Mitch 150 OPS+, 589 PA, Clark 125 OPS+ 678 PA
'91 Clark 153 OPS+ 622 PA, Mitch 141 OPS+ 423 PA, Matt 129 OPS+ 635 PA, Robby 128 OPS+ 573 PA
'92 Clark 148 OPS+ 601 PA
'93 Bonds 206 OPS+ 674 PA, Matt 137 OPS+ 619 PA, Robby 136 OPS+ 559
'94 Bonds 183 OPS+ 474 PA, Matt 141 OPS+ 483 PA
'95 Matt 177 OPS+ 318 PA, Bonds 170 OPS+ 635 PA
'96 Bonds 188 OPS+ 675 PA, Matt 134 OPS+ 455 PA
'97 Bonds 170 OPS+ 690 PA, Snow 135 OPS+ 637 PA
'98 Bonds 178 OPS+ 697 PA, Kent 142 OPS+ 594 PA
'99 Bonds 156 OPS+ 434 PA, Burks 147 OPS+ 469 PA, Kent 125 OPS+ 585 PA

That's 23, shave 3 or add two and that's not a bad list of our best offensive seasons in the 90s.



Walk off 1992 home vs. Dodgers, at the time, it sure seemed like the last San Francisco Giants walk off homer against the Dodgers, 3-3 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Roger McDowell has an 0-2 count on Will Clark, who hits a 2 run homer to right to win the game 5-3.  It's Will's 157th career homer, his 6th career walk off (he only hits one more, he never hits a walk off homer for a team other than the Giants)

2000 at Chicago, it's game 100 and we are tied for first place, it's scoreless in the 9th inning in front of 40,000 on a Friday afternoon at Wrigley, we only got 5 hits, but the one that mattered came with one on and one out in the 9th, Rich Aurilia homering off of Tim Worell, we win the game 2-0.  The two pitchers that Aurilia faced the most in his career were Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux; 59 plate appearances each.

Aurilia vs. Johnson: .333 BA, .908 OPS
Aurilia vs. Maddux: .172 BA, .483 OPS

Walk off 2007 home vs. Marlins, we're a dozen games out of first, 3-3 in the 9th, Ray Durham singles home Fred Lewis off of Kevin Gregg to send everyone home.  We were trailing 3-2 coming into the inning, Mark Sweeney doubled home Dave Roberts to tie the score, setting up Durham.  Sweeney played in a couple hundred games as a Giants pinch hitter/backup first baseman in '06 and '07, we sent him to the Dodgers for Travis Denker (he played in 24 big league games, all for us in '08, he had 9 career hits).  As of this date we haven't made a subsequent trade with the Dodgers.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

July 27 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 July 27 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1979 at San Diego, we're 8.5 out, 3-3 in the 11th, Jack Clark (who see see over and over again in this countdown) homers off Mark Lee, 4-3 is the final score.  This was Clark's 60th career homer.

Walk off 1990 home vs. Reds, 8.5 behind these first place Reds, 3-3 in the 9th, Bill Bathe singles home Scott Garrelts (running for Gary Carter) off of Randy Myers.  Bathe played in 121 big league baseball games as a backup catcher. We signed him in '89, he was with us for two years, had 20 hits.  This is his last year as a major leaguer.

1992 home vs. Dodgers, 12 games out in what looks like our last season in San Francisco, this big moment happens early, down 1-0 in the 1st Cory Snyder hits a 3 run homer off Tom Candiotti, Bud Black throws a 3 hitter, and we beat LA 5-1.  The Dodgers were 17 out, to that date, '92 was the worst combined Giants/Dodgers season since the move west.  15 year big league career for Black, we got him near the end, we signed him as a free agent before the '91 season, the best of them was actually the first, despite his leading the league in losses with 16.  Black finished 4 replacement level seasons in San Francisco and then moved on to Cleveland, where he pitched in '95 and then retired.

2004 at San Diego, we're headed the wrong way, a month before we were 3 up and now we're 4.5 back in a tie with these Padres, and that's enough to get 40,000 in PetCo on a Tuesday night.  We're up 6-4 in the 9th, they've got the bases loaded with one out, Jay Peyton at the plate against Matt Herges - he gets a 6-4-3 and we win the game.  Herges came over from these Padres a year before for Clay Hensley. He was great, had a 183 ERA+ in 35 IP.  He did not repeat that performance in '04 and we'll give him to Arizona a year at the '05 deadline.

What were our best seasons for relievers this century?  Say a minimum of 50 IP? and a 150 ERA+?

2000: Nen 286 in 66 IP, FRod 162 in 81 IP
'01: FRod 237 in 80 IP
'02: Nen 177 in 73 IP, Worrell 173 in 72 IP, Witasick 164 in 68 IP
'05: Erye 163 in 68 IP
'09: Affeldt 246 in 62 IP, Wilson 156 in 72 IP
'10: Wilson 217 in 74 IP, Casilla 201 in 55 IP, Romo 180 in 62 IP
'12: Romo 198 in 55 IP
'13: Casilla 161 in 50 IP,
'14: Casilla 204 in 58 IP, Affeldt, 152 in 55 IP
'15: Kontos 165 in 73 IP, Strickland 157 in 51 IP
'16: Law 188 in 55 IP, Kontos 158 in 53 IP,

That's probably not quite the 20 best relief pitcher seasons for us this century given the artificial data parameters, but it's close.

2010 home vs Marlins, it's game 101 and we're in it, we were 7.5 out on the 4th of July but are now 3.5 back coming into this one.  3-3 in the bottom of the 8th, Juan Uribe homers off of Brian Sanches and we go on to win it 6-4.  It's Uribe's 143rd career homer, his 30th as a Giant, he's got 8 more regular season Giants homers to hit.  Uribe hit 9 homers against us, 3 with the Rockies early in his career (the first was off Rueter 8 days before 9/11) 4 with the Dodgers in 2013-14 and then 2 with the Braves in 2015.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

July 26 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 July 26 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1963 home vs, Pittsburgh, 24 days before we were a game out of first place - six days before we were 10 back, we come into this one 7.5 games out, trying to win our fifth straight after sweeping the Mets, 4-4 with an out in the 9th, Chuck Hiller hits a 2 run walk off homer off of Roy Face.  Hiller got two years as our primary second baseman, couldn't hit enough, particularly in '63 where he had a 62 OPS+.  Hiller only hit 20 career homers, this is his 7th and his only career walk off.  Here's good - of those 20 career homers, 3 were off Bob Gibson.

1969 at St Louis, it's game 99 and we're 2 games out of the lead, down 6-5 in the 9th, Jim Ray Hart hits a two run homer off of Joe Hoerner, we win it 7-6.  It's Hart's 142nd career homer. Hart's last year as our primary third baseman was '68, beginning this year he comes off the bench at both third and left all the way until he's sent to the Yankees early in the '73 season.  The first San Francisco third baseman is Davenport, he keeps that job through '63 and Hart takes over from '64-68, in '69 it's Davenport again.  That gets us into the 70s with just these two guys (then it's Gallagher/Goodson/Ontiveros/Reitz and you just want to bring Jim Ray Hart back)

1975 at Houston, we're 16 out, playing a doubleheader in Houston, down 2-1, Bobby Murcer doubles home 2 off of Ken Forsch, 3-2 winds up the final score and then we also get game 2.  Murcer hit in both his Giants seasons, his career Giants OPS+ was 125. You know who Murcer really hit well in his career? Catfish Hunter.  21 hits in 58 at bats, that's a .362 BA and he had a 1.027 career OPS against him. On the other hand he was a career 0-11 against Dennis Leonard.

Walk off 1980 home vs. Pittsburgh, we're only 7.5 out, so there's still some season left for us to win this division, bottom of the 10th, a guy who shows up on this daily list time and time again comes through - Jack Clark triples off Grant Jackson to score Joe Strain with the winning run.  Clark hit the ball, career Giants OPS+ of 134 and he hit even better than that in both St Louis and San Diego.  Jack Clark killed Jerry Reuss, 24 hits in 63 at bats (.381) with an OPS of 1.154 and five career homers.  On the other hand he was hitless in 14 career at bats against Bill Swift.

Walk off 1998 home vs. Reds, we're 13 out and this is game 105, so the season's done, we only get 3 hits in this one, the third coming with a 1-1 score in the bottom of the 10th, Jeff Kent led off with a homer off Stan Belinda to send everyone home.  It was his 4th homer in 3 days. One of the guys Kent killed was Terry Mulholland, 15-39 (.385) with a 1.109 OPS.  A guy he didn't hit was Osvaldo Fernandez (0-10).

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!