August 29 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

Walk off 1970 home vs. Pirates, 17 games out of first, everyone just waiting for their tee times, Bobby Bonds hit a three run homer in the 8th to tie it, and then, with the score 9-9 in the 9th, singled home the winning run off of Bruce Dal Canton. Bonds never won an MVP award, but he had two top five finishes.  In '71 he finished 4th.  That year Bonds had a 6.05 WAR (his second best season) Joe Torre won, he had a 5.2 WAR.  Ferguson Jenkins was 10.5, so while Bonds was better than Torre, he still didn't deserve the award.  Bobby's best finish was in '73, when he finished third.  That was also his best season, 7.75 WAR, the best season a Giants RF had who isn't Mel Ott.  Rose won, his WAR was also 7.75.  Joe Morgan was 9.55, so you wouldn't have gone Bonds this year either.

1984 at Montreal, 22.5 games out of first, 3-3 in the top of the 11th, Bob Brenly homers off Rick Grapenthin and that's gonna be the final.  Brenly hit two extra inning homers in his entire career, this one and a walk off 3 years later to beat the Braves in the 10th.

Walk off 1985 home vs. Mets, 24.5 out, so things haven't gotten better a year later, with the score 3-3 in the 10th, Chili Davis hits a 3 run homer off Terry Leach and we win 6-3. Chili had 5 career walk off homers, this was his only one as a Giant.  He got two with the Angels 8 years later in '93, and then 2 with the Royals way out in '97.

1990 at Montreal, we're 8.5 out, 5-5 in the 9th inning, 2 out, Robby Thompson homers off of Bill Sampen, we're going to win 6-5.  This was Robby's 50th career homer.  His 5th was off Doyle Alexander His 14th was off Bob Knepper.  His 23rd/25th off Ed Whitson. His 51st off Dennis Cook.  His 61st off Rich Rodriguez. His 65th off Terry Mulholland. His 98th and 102nd off Robb Nen. His 106th off Kirk Rueter. His 113th off Jeff Juden. And his 116th off of Jason Schmidt.

2010 home vs. Diamondbacks, we were a game back on the 6th - but now that deficit is 6 games, we're 1.5 out of the WC, so here, on game 131 of the season as we try to avoid a series sweep by Arizona, a win would be a good thing.  Down 6-5 in the 7th, Jose Guillen singles home the tying and go ahead runs off of Esmerling Vasquez, we go on to win 9-7.  Guillen spent the last 34 games of his big league career in San Francisco, We got him 16 days before from the Royals. He played a lot of RF, had an 89 OPS+ in 139 PA.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August, 2017 Athlete of the Month

August is here.

Giancarlo Stanton.  Runners-up: Terence Crawford, Floyd Mayweather, Rhys Hoskins

2017 is 2/3 of the way gone.  Who will be named Athlete of the Year?


January - Deshaun Watson
February - Tom Brady
March - Russell Westbrook
April - A'ja Wilson
May - Stephen Curry
June- Kevin Durant
July - Roger Federer
August - Giancarlo Stanton

August 28 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

1964 at Braves, 8 games out of first on game 129 of the season, we get 5 hits, but one of them comes in the 9th inning, 2-2, Del Crandall singles home what turns out to be the winning run off of Wade Blasingame (aided by a Lee Maye throwing error). Crandall was a Brave lifer - finished second in the Rookie of the Year in '49 when he was 19 and the Braves were still in Boston (Newcombe won). He came back from Korea in '53, the team was in Milwaukee and he started a near decade long run as their starting catcher.  We got him in the offseason in the Felipe Alou trade and Crandall played in 69 games as a Giant.  We sent him to Pittsburgh before the '65 season and he finished as an Indian the following year.

Walk off 1968 home vs. Astros, 11 games out of first, only 4700 at the Stick on a Wednesday afternoon, 3-3 in the 9th, Bobby Bonds gets us a win with a literal walk off, forcing a bases loaded walk off of John Buzhardt to win the game.  Here's the OPS+, PA of every starting RF in San Francisco history.  Going backward with this one.

Pence 114, 2727
Schierholtz 98, 1316
Winn 100, 2799
Tucker 91, 833
Cruz 104, 650
Sanders 107, 571
Rios 123, 809 (Rios is our best post-Burks RF bat)
Burks 151, 1104 (Burks was a wrecking machine)
Javier 97, 1677
Hill 109, 1388
McGee 107, 1748
Bass 98, 923
Maldonado 109, 1862
Davis 113, 3564
Clark 134, 4300
Murcer 125, 1256
Bonds 131, 4610
Jesus Alou 84, 2347
Ollie Brown 84, 942
Felipe Alou 116, 2478
Kirkland 112, 1548

2000 at Pittsburgh, we're 73-55 with a 2.5 game lead in the West, it's 4-4 in the 9th, Russ Davis hits a leadoff homer off Scott Sauerbeck and we win this one 5-4. Davis finished up his career in San Francisco in '00 and '01 after a half dozen seasons in the AL. He was solid as our backup third baseman with a 100 OPS+.  Davis had 84 career homers, the last 16 with the Giants, this was his 6th.

2005 home vs. Mets, 7 games out of first, so while it's unlikely, it's not impossible we go on a September run. Noah Lowry goes 8, gives up just 5 hits, the big shot is Pedro Feliz's, he hits a 2 run homer off Kris Benson in the 6th to break a 1-1 tie. We win it 4-1.  Lowry's career was short, five seasons, all of which in San Francisco, almost all of which in the rotation. Lowry has a career ERA+ of 109 in 618 innings pitched.

2012 at Houston, it's game 128 and we're 2.5 games up and starting a series in Houston, Matt Cain goes 7 and a third, gives up 6 hits, we trailed 2-1 in the 9th when Joaquin Arias singled home Brandon Belt off Wilton Lopez to tie and Hector Sanchez singled home Arias off Lopez for the win.  Arias spent the last four years of his career as a utilityman in San Francisco, he had an 80 OPS+ in 843 plate appearances.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 27 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday


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

Walk off 1958 home vs. Braves, we were in first place on July 29, less than a month later the inaugural San Francisco Giants are 9.5 out the fight's all but done.  2-2 in the 12th, bases loaded, Orlando Cepeda draws a walk off of Bob Trowbridge to send everyone home.  We'd have one more walk off win that season.

Walk off 1981 home vs. Pirates, a dozen games out, 4 hours on a Thursday night at the Stick, score tied at 4 in the 13th, Jack Clark homers off of Don Robinson to get one for the good guys.  Jack hit 7 homers off of Caveman Robinson, more than any other pitcher.  The first two were in 1980, within 9 days of each other in May.  That second homer was also in a tie game in the 13th inning.  This is the third homer.  4 and 5 come next May in the same game.  Six comes later that season, in August.  The last one is five years later when Jack's a Cardinal.

2001 at New York, it's game 130 and we're 3.5 out in the West and in a flat tie for the Wild Card, 4-4 with 2 out in the top of the 9th, JT Snow hits a 2 run homer off of Rick White, we win this one 6-5.  Snow spent most of a decade as our starting first baseman, here's the OPS+ and PA of every 1B in San Francisco history.

Cepeda 140, 4531
McCovey 149, 8523
Kingman 112, 1403 (From 58-73 we had two starting first basemen, Kong breaks that run)
Montanez 112, 826
Evans 119, 4406
Ivie 126, 1131
Cabell 72, 413
Smith 134, 398
Oliver 101, 360
Green 85, 321
Clark 145, 4878 (Clark and Cepeda similar hitting numbers for Giants)
Benzinger 96, 559
Carreon 117, 1025
Snow 112, 4497
Hillenbrand 74, 247
Klesko 92, 411
Bowker 76, 513
Ishikawa 92, 752
Huff 116, 1342
Belt 126, 3149

Walk off 2011 home vs. Astros, game 132, we're 3 out in the West, 3 out in the Wild Card, 1-1 with 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, Jeff Keppinger lines a 2-2 pitch into right center off of Fernando Rodriguez to drive home the winning run. Keppinger played in 56 games for the Giants, we got him from the Astros at midseason. He played a lot of second base down the stretch and didn't hit, had a 76 OPS+. He left for Tampa after the season and finished with the White Sox in 2013.



Walk off 2014 home vs. Rockies, we're 4.5 out in the West, but now there are 2 wild cards per league and we're 2 games up for that final slot. Tim Hudson goes 8, gives up just 4 hits, it's 2-2 in the bottom of the 9th, 2 out, Buster Posey hits a 2 run homer off Juan Nicasio to send everyone home. 17 big league seasons for Hudson, Oakland took him out of Auburn in the 6th round in '97. We took Kevin Joseph out of Rice seven slots earlier, he never played for us, we sent him to the Cards for Jason Christiansen. Joseph threw 11 total big league innings.  Hudson did better, 6 years in Oakland, 9 in Atlanta, we signed him as a 38 year old this year for two seasons to finish his career.  He was just okay for us, 92 ERA+ in 313 innings.  Through 2016 I have Hudson as the 50th best pitcher in MLB history.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

August 26 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

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

Walk off 1970 home vs. Cardinals, we're 18 games out, trying to get to the end of the year, 7-7 in the bottom of the 9th, Jim Ray Hart singles home the winning run off of Frank Linzy.  It took a 2 run homer from McCovey in the 7th to get us to that 9th inning tie.  McCovey was the cleanup hitter for the '70 Giants.  Here's every cleanup hitter in San Francisco history (majority of games at clean up for the season).

58-Ray Jablonski/Hank Sauer
59, 62, 64 -Cepeda
60, 65-66, 68-73,77-79 McCovey
61, 63 Mays
67 -Hart
74-75 Matthews
76-Murcer
80-81 Evans
82- Smith
83-Jack Clark
84-86 Leonard
87-88 Maldonado
89-91 Mitchell
92 -Snyder
93-96 Williams
97-02 Kent (like McCovey, 6 straight years hitting cleanup)
03-04, 06-07 Bonds
05-Moises Alou
08-09 Molina
10, 12-13,15-16 Posey
11-Huff
14-Sandoval


While we're here - what's the most commonly used lineup in Giants history?  Exact order, 1-8?

In 2000, we had this lineup 22 times, by far the most ever in the 21st century:

Benard
Mueller
Bonds
Kent
Snow
Burks
Aurilia
Estalella

1993 came close, with 20 games for this lineup:

Lewis
Thompson
Clark
Williams
Bonds
McGee
Clayton
Manwaring

But if you go back to 1973, you get this lineup - it appeared 23 times. And this is your winner:

Bonds
Fuentes
Maddox
McCovey
Goodson
Matthews
Speier
Rader

1978 home vs. Expos, what has been a three way race every day of the season hits game 129, we are a game out of first, hosting the Expos on a Saturday afternoon (plenty of good seats available, unfortunately). Jim Barr throws a complete game six hitter, the big blow comes in the second - when Johnnie LeMaster doubles home the first run of the game off of Woody Fryman. We win this game 4-1 to stay in the race.  Johnnie LeMaster is an all time bad Giant, maybe the worst San Francisco Giant ever, he had a -5.8 WAR in 11 seasons, he got 3404 plate appearances to post a 62 OPS+.  LeMaster had his best offensive season here, with a 79 OPS+

1987 at Philadelphia, looky here, 3 weeks ago we were in 3rd place, 5 games out of first - but coming into this one, the 126th game of the season, we now hold a 1.5 game lead.  We only get four hits, 2 of them coming in the 9th inning, a 2 out single by Chris Speier and a 2 run homer by Bob Brenly off of Shane Rawley.  Those are the only runs of the game, Dave Dravecky went 7 2/3 giving up 5 hits and striking out 7 and Don Robinson went the rest of the way for the shutout.  The Pirates drafted Dravecky in the 21st round in '78 out of Youngstown St. (10 picks prior, we took Mark Calvert from Tulsa, he pitched in 28 games for us in 83-4 and that was his entire career). Dravecky broke into the majors at age 26 with the Padres in '82; we got him in the middle of the '87 season in just an enormous deal that brought he, Kevin Mitchell, and Craig Lefferts to the good guys for Chris Brown, Mark Davis, Mark Grant and Keith Comstock. Dravecky pitched in only 27 regular season games for the Giants (one fewer than Calvert) and had a 116 ERA+ before cancer ended his career in 1989.  This game was Dravecky's 11th as a Giant.

2002 at Colorado, we're 11.5 out, our biggest deficit of the season, but only half a game behind in the WC, 3-3 with 2 out in the 8th, David Bell homers off Todd Jones and we're gonna win this thing 4-3. Three generations of Bells.
  
Gus Bell WAR 10.6, OPS+ 103, PA 7070
Buddy Bell WAR 61.45 OPS+ 109 PA 10009
David Bell WAR 17.35 OPS+ 85 PA 5380

2009 home vs. Diamondbacks, 6 games out of first place, 4 out of the WC, down 3-1 with 2 out in the 8th, Bengie Molina hits a 3 run homer off Chad Qualls, 4-3 is gonna be the final score.  Bengie Molina was the 15,000th player in MLB history when he debuted with the Angels in '98. We signed him just before the '07 season and he was our starting catcher until Posey took his job during the '10 season. We sent him to Texas in July and he played against us in the World Series.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!