August 10 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 10 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1959 at St Louis, it's game 111 for the second San Francisco squad and this is the first game of a (wait for it...) 21 game road trip.  We're up a game and a half, it's 2-2 with 2 out in the 9th, Willie Kirkland doubles home Willie Mays off of Ernie Broglio, we go up 3-2 and that's the final score. Kirkland was the starting RF for the first 3 San Francisco teams, this was his best with the bat (116 OPS+). Let's look at the trade.

Kirkland/Antonelli to Cleveland for Kuenn

Kirkland had 2.35 WAR in Cleveland.  Antonelli was done.  -.85.
Kuenn had 2.55 WAR in San Francisco.

No one was great, but the Giants won the deal.

1967 at St Louis, it's game 112, we're 8.5 out, Mike McCormick throws a complete game 6 hitter, we trail 2-1 with 2 out in the 5th, Willie McCovey hits a 3 run homer off Ray Washburn (who no hits us in '68) and we win it 5-2. It's McCormick's Cy Young season, despite only having a 4.65 WAR so it seems unlikely he deserved it.  Jim Bunning finished second, for example and had an 8.05 WAR, so, you know, the writers could have done a better job.

1983 at Atlanta, we're 15.5 back, the season's over, 4-4 in the 9th, 2 out, Darrell Evans hits a 3 run homer off of Terry Forster and we win it 7-4. Career homer 255 for Evans.  Evans used to pound JR Richard, 22 of 61, 1.061 OPS.  On the other hand, Sutton handled him, 22 of 127, 552 OPS.

1986 at Atlanta, back on July 18 we were a game up - now we're 5 back and holding on to the season by our fingertips.  Down 3-2 with 2 out in the 9th, Harry Spilman pinch singles home 2 off of Gene Garber. We win 4-3.  We picked up Spilman in mid June when the Tigers released him. This was his 29th Giants game. Two years and a day later we release him and Spilman ends his career in Houston in '89.



Walk off 1987 home vs. Astros, on August 5 we were 5 out but haven't lost since, and now we're a game out of first and starting a series with Houston on game 113 of the season. We're down 5-4 in the 9th, Candy Maldonado and Will Clark go back to back with homers off Dave Meads to win the game. It's Clark's 36th career home run and his second walk off (the first came two weeks prior, the third comes in less than a month). He hits 4 more during his career, one each in 88,89,92,93. Jim Thome holds the MLB record with 13 career walk off homers.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 9 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday


Here are the top 5 August 9 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1959 home vs. Reds, this second San Francisco season is fun, close all year, this is game 110 back when it was still a 154 game schedule.  We're a half game up.  Jack Sanford and Don Newcombe both throw complete games; it's 3-3 in the 10th, Orlando Cepeda homers off of Newcombe to win the game.  A 134 OPS+ for the 21 year old Cepeda in '59. It's the 34th best season for a first baseman in San Francisco history through 2016. This is Cepeda's 48th career homer and second walk off.  Cepeda hits 6 career walk offs, all but one with the Giants.

Walk off 1961 home vs. Cubs, we're 9 games out of first place, 5-5 in the 9th, Matty Alou leads off with a homer off of Barney Schultz, Alou's 22, this is his rookie season, it's his 5th career homer (he hits 31 total) it's his first of 3 career walk offs, they all came with the Giants despite his being a much better player in Pittsburgh.

1986 at Atlanta, we were 2 up on July 17...and now we're 5 back. We came into the ninth down 2-1, Mike Aldrete homered (he also tripled earlier) - and then in the tenth Candy Maldonado homered (both off Jeff Dedmon, who, I've been led to believe, should not have worn plaid) and we win it 4-3. It'll be 30 years before another game where we homer in both the 9th and 10th. It's Candy's first year as a Giant, he had a 113 OPS+ as our 4th OF.

Let's analyze all 3 west coast Giants/Dodgers trades.

1968: Dodgers send Ron Hunt/Nate Oliver to Giants for Tom Haller/Frank Kasheta
1985: Dodgers send Candy Maldonado to Giants for Alex Trevino
2007: Dodgers send Mark Sweeney to Giants Travis Denker 

Hunt 10 WAR, Oliver -.7
Haller 10.1 WAR, Kasheta never made it

That's obviously super close, but the Dodgers got the better end.  

Candy 5.8 WAR
Trevino 2.15 WAR

We got that deal. 

Sweeney .6 WAR
Denker never played for the Dodgers.

So, we won 2 of 3, and also got the better end of the aggregate transactions.  This is why they don't trade with us.

1993 home v. Reds, we're up 8.5, cruising through this season, we haven't had a lead smaller than 7 since mid June, we're down 7-6 with 2 out in the 6th, Will Clark triples home 2 off of Johnny Ruffin, we're gonna win this one 10-7. Clark had 47 career triples, 37 of them as a Giant and this is the last one, he has only 25 games left in his Giants career.

1994 at Chicago, we're only 4 games out, having snapped a 6 game losing streak, which would be great, except this turns out to be the second to the last day of the season. Down 2-1 in the 9th, bases loaded, 2 out, Darren Lewis singles home 2 off of Rodney Myers and we're gonna win this game 3-2. 5 Giants seasons for D-Lew after we got him from the A's for Ernie Riles prior to the '91 season, 4 of which as our starting CF. He had a 77 OPS+ as a Giant, which, if you think is insufficient for a starting CF (who most often bat leadoff) then welcome to the life of a Giants fan in the 90s.

Giant CF OPS+ 1990s

1990 Butler 121
1991 McGee 119
1992 Lewis 66/Felder 106
1993 Lewis 71
1994 Lewis 87
1995 Lewis 67/Sanders 112
1996 Benard 80
1997 Hamilton 91
1998 Hamilton 106/Burks 128
1999 Benard 111

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 8 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday


Here are the top 5 August 8 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1970 vs. Astros, we're 21 out of first, the season's done, we're down 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded with 1 out --- Willie Mays singles home the tying and winning run off of Jim Ray. Skip Pitlock went for the Giants and hit an inside the park homer in the 5th. It's Pitlock's rookie (and only) season in San Francisco.  We spent the next 3 years in the minors and then sent him to the White Sox. Mays is 39 years old, he's got a 140 ERA+, Mays is worth 4 and a half WAR in 1970, its the 24th best season for a Giants center fielder in franchise history.

Walk off 1982 vs. Astros, on July 30 we were 13.5 games out - but we've won 5 straight and have sliced that deficit to 8 games.  Sunday doubleheader against Houston, this is game 1, we came into the bottom of the 9th down 2-1 and facing former (and future) Giant Bob Knepper.  Kuiper drew a walk, Chili singled him to second, Joe Morgan singled home the tying run, and then Jack Clark won the game with a base hit off of Frank LaCorte.  We also took the second game and moved to 6.5 games back, gaining 7 games in the standings in a little over a week.  Knepper was a high draft pick, we took him in the 2nd round in '72 out of Calistoga High.  The Royals took Dennis Leonard the pick before, the Pirates got John Candelaria 4 picks later. Knepper was 22 when we brought him up in '76 and he joined our rotation the following season.  He's there through 1980, picking up an ERA+ of 96 (Kneppers career year is '78, a 131 ERA+ in 260 innings pitched) we send him to Houston for Enos Cabell prior to the '81 season, he's in the Astros rotation until they release him in the middle of the '89 season - we pick him up for the stretch and he ends his career as a Giant in 1990.

1990 at Houston - on July 24 we were 11 out, we got as close as 3.5 just 4 days before but have lost 3 straight and are back down to 6 out.  4-4 with an out in the 8th, Greg Litton hits a 2 run double off Juan Agosto and we win this one 8-4. Litton was 19 when we took him in the winter draft in '84. He came up in '89 and spent 4 seasons as a utilityman. He had a career 76 OPS+ as a Giant. He left for the Mariners in '93, and finished his career in Boston in '94.

1996 at St Louis, remember mid June? We were a game and a half out and life was filled with promise? We're a dozen games out now, near the bottom of the league, but with the score 3-3 in the 10th, Dave McCarty hit a two run homer off of Dennis Eckersley. We win it 5-3. McCarty was a backup first baseman/outfielder for the duration of his 11 year career.  We got him from the Reds in the Deion Sanders deadline deal in 1995.

Deion Sanders
Dave McCarty
John Roper
Scott Service
Ricky Pickett

for

Darren Lewis
Mark Portugal
Dave Burba

Who won the Deion Sanders trade? Let's go to the videotape.

Deion played in 52 games with the Giants, hit the ball okay, had a 112 OPS+ which was the second best mark of his career. 1.3 WAR
McCarty was sub replacement in 2 Giants seasons, -.7 WAR.
Service gave us 31 innings and then went back to the Reds the next season, .65 WAR
Roper pitched in 1 inning for the Giants, gave up 3 earned runs.  -.1 WAR
Pickett - never played with the Giants

1.15 WAR total.

DLew played in 58 games for the Reds, was terrible with the bat a 59 OPS+, had a .25 WAR
Burba was in Cincinnati two and a half seasons as a starter, had a 104 ERA+, had a 5.5 WAR
Portugal did a year and a half in the Reds rotation, ERA+ of 107, and a 3.35 WAR

So, the answer is the Reds and pretty easily so.



2016 at Miami. we were 8 up on June 26, that lead is cut to 1 here, we spend 5 and a half hours on a Monday night in Miami, Brandon Crawford ties an NL record with 7 hits the last one coming in the 14th, 7-7, 2 out, 2 on, Crawford singles home Brandon Belt off of Andrew Cashner and we win this one 8-7. Through 2017, Crawford is a lifelong Giant - drafted in '08, up in '11, starter since '12. Through 2016 Crawford was the 28th greatest San Francisco Giant of all time.  He cratered offensively in '17, a 70 OPS+ at the time of this writing.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 7 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 August 7 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1966 at Cubs, it's game 112, we're trying to avoid getting swept at Wrigley, 17 over .500 and one game off the lead. we're down 2-0 with 2 out in the 3rd, Willie Mays hits a 3 run homer off of Ken Holtzman, we win this one 9-6. It's homer #530 for Mays, 130 still to go.  Mays hit 54 homers at Wrigley.  This is one of 253 go ahead homers Mays hit in his career.

1968 home vs. Phillies, we're 15 out, 3-3 in the 8th, Willie McCovey leads off with a homer off of Dick Hall and that turns out to be the game winner.  This was McCovey's second homer of the game, #259-60 for his career, another 260 still to go. McCovey had 44 multihomer games in his career.  This is one of McCovey's 189 go ahead homers.

1996 home vs. Reds, we're 13 out, we've dropped 4 off the lead since the 28th and are now probably playing out the string. Mark Gardner throws a complete game, gives up 7 hits, the big blow coming at 2-2 in the 3rd, Rick Wilkins singled home the go ahead run off of Keith Jarvis.  We win it 9-2. Gardner was taken in the 8th round of the '85 draft by the Expos (we took Trevor Wilson six spots prior) out of Fresno St, Gardner's in the minors until age 27, but a year later, in 1990, he's in the Expos rotation. From Montreal he goes to Kansas City, from Kansas City to Florida.  This is his first year in San Francisco, where he spends the rest of his career and, as of 2017, is currently a coach. Gardner was serviceable as a back of the rotation starter, career Giants ERA+ of 88 in in just under a thousand innings pitched, most of them in the rotation.  Gardner finished up after the '01 season.



2001 at Cincinnati, on July 25 we were 6.5 games back, but now only one game separates us from first place as we open a series in Cincinnati (and we have a half game WC deficit) it's 3-3 in the 11th inning when Barry Bonds homers off of Danny Graves.  We win it 9-3.  Homer #542 for Bonds, and in this record breaking season, homer #48 on the year. (6 years later on this same date Bonds broke Aaron's career record) Here are all 73 victims.

1. Woody Williams
2. Adam Eaton
3. Jamey Wright
4. Jimmy Haynes
5. David Weathers
6. Terry Adams
7. Chan Ho Park
8. Jimmy Haynes Again
9. Jim Brower
10. Scott Sullivan
11. Manny Aybar
12. Todd Ritchie
13. Jimmy Anderson
14. Bruce Chen
15 Steve Trachsel
16. Chuck Smith
17. He Pitched 8 Games as a Giant 10 Years Prior, Mike Remlinger
18. Odalis Perez
19. Jose Cabrera
20. Jason Marquis
21. Giant for the First 6 Seasons of His Career and Former Bonds Teammate John Burkett
22. Mike Remlinger Again
23. Cowardly Grifter Curt Schilling
24. Russ Springer
25. John Thomson
26. His Old Pirate Teammate Denny Neagle
27. Robert Ellis
28. 4 Innings Later Robert Ellis
29. Shawn Chacon
30. Bobby Jones
31. I Do Not Remember Wascar Serrano
32. Brian Lawrence
33. He Pitched a Total of 11 Games for the Giants in 2 Separate Stints Pat Rapp
34. Lou Pote
35. Mark Mulder
36. 5 Innings Later Mark Mulder
37. Not the Outfielder Adam Eaton
38. Rodney Myers
39. The Late Darryl Kile
40. Paul Abbott
41. Mike Hampton
42. Only One Inning Later Mike Hampton
43. Professional Bigot Curt Schilling
44. Screw You One Inning Later Curt Schilling
45. Brian Anderson
46. Joe Beimel
47. Nelson Figueroa
48. The One on August 7 Against Danny Graves
49. Scott Winchester
50. I Just Remembered Wascar Serrano But He's Not the One Who Gave Up This Homer, That Would Have Been Joe Borowski
51. Ricky Bones
52. AJ Burnett
53. Vic Darensbourg
54. Jason Marquis
55. Graeme Lloyd
56. Kevin Appier
57. John Thomson Again
58. Jason Jennings
59. Miguel Batista
60. Albie Lopez
61. Scott Elarton, 488 Feet, Barry's Longest of the Season
62. 4 Innings Later Scott Elarton
63. Todd Belitz
64. Wade Miller
65. Jason Middlebrook
66. 2 Innings Later Jason Middlebrook
67. Not that James Baldwin
68. Jason Middlebrook Should Have Seen this Coming
69. Chuck McElroy
70. Wilfredo Rodriguez
71. Chan Ho Park
72. 2 Innings Later Chan Ho Park
73. Dennis Springer

2012 at St Louis, it's game 110 on the season and we're 1/2 up in the West, up 4-2 in the 9th, one on, nobody out, Matt Carpenter goes 1-6-3 against Jeremy Affeldt and we're gonna win it 4-2. The 33 year old lefty Affeldt is in the middle of a 7 year 122 ERA+ Giants run.  63 Innings Pitched in '12, his biggest workload since '08 as a Red.

See you tomorrow. Go Giants!

August 6 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

1968 home vs. Phillies, we're 16 out, the season's over, 6200 paid at the Stick on a Tuesday night, Gaylord throws a 3 hit complete game, it's 1-1 in the 8th, Bobby Bonds singles home the go ahead run off of Larry Jackson, we go on to win it 4-1.  Through 2016 Perry is the 9th greatest San Francisco Giant of all time.  He spent the first 10 years of his career in San Francisco before we shipped a 33 year old Perry to the Indians for Sam McDowell after the '71 season.  It was a mistake, the best ERA+ season of his career was '72, the second best was '74. Gaylord moved around after leaving Cleveland, his last stop was Kansas City in '83.

Walk off 1982 home vs. Astros, on the 31st we were 13 back but just a week later it's down to 10 (still too many, of course, but we've won 3 straight coming into this one) 8400 paid on a Friday night at the Stick, we're down 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th, Reggie Smith ties it with a homer off Dave Smith and a few batters later Darrell Evans wins it with a run scoring single off of former Giant Randy Moffitt.  Smith earlier homered off of Nolan Ryan and had 4 hits on the night.  Career homers 306-7 for Smith, he hits 7 more in his career.

Walk off 1986 home vs. Reds, On July 20 we were tied for first - but now we're five games back, trying to avoid a sweep from the Reds, we go 14 innings on a Wednesday afternoon at the Stick, Vida goes for the good guys - 8 innings, 3 hits, it ends on a two out Mike Aldrete run scoring pinch single off of Carl Willis in the 14th, we take it 2-1.  Aldrete was a local, from Carmel, went to Stanford, we drafted him in the 7th round in '83.  This is his rookie year, Aldrete backs up at first and the OF and is good, has a 110 OPS+ (the next year's the best of his career, 131 OPS+ in over 400 PA) in '88 he pushes Jeff Leonard out of a job, Aldrete takes over in left, Leonard is sent to Milwaukee during the season, Aldrete's bat doesn't reach those 1987 heights though and he winds up getting dealt after the season to the Expos for Tracy Jones. Aldrete goes on to have a 10 year career in the majors, never again playing a hundred games in a season, never getting another real chance to start.  He finishes his career in '96 as a Yankee.

1993 home vs. Astros, look, it's game 110 and we have an 8.5 game lead - what could possibly go wrong?  We're 73-36 for the love of Pete.  Up 4-3 with 1 out and 2 on in the 9th, Rod Beck strikes out Andujar Cedeno and gets former Giant Kevin Bass to fly to center to end the game. Oakland drafted a 17 year old Beck in the 13th round in '86 out of high school in Van Nuys (the Rangers drafted future Giant Rey Sanchez 8 picks prior). We got him out of their system in '88, he came up in '91 and started closing in '92.  Beck smoked guys in these first couple of years, an ERA+ of 190 in '92 and then 181 in '93. Beck's '93 is the 16th best season for a reliever in franchise history (and '92 is 21st).

2002 home vs. Cubs, it's game 112, on July 21 we were a game out of first - but that was two weeks ago and now the deficit is 7.  We are still 2.5 games up for the WC however, so it's nearing time to turn our attentions to that race.  Starting a homestand against the Cubs on a Tuesday night, we're up 11-10 (having taken the lead in the 8th on a throwing error by the Cubs third baseman - Bill Mueller - that scored 2 runs, a month from now we get Mueller back from Chicago) but they've got the bases loaded with 1 out against Robb Nen - Nen strikes out Alex Gonzalez, then gets Joe Girardi to ground to short to preserve the win.  He's only 32 and he's got a 177 ERA+ but this is the end of Nen's career - he has 14 saves left to earn as a big leaguer.  Here's a tale of two Cubs against Nen - Nen owned Mark Grace, 3 hits in 24 AB, no extra base hits; on the other hand, here's Sammy Sosa - 8 hits in 19 AB, 3 homers and a 1.450 OPS.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!