September 23 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday


What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 September 23 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Who is still with us on 9-23?

1959-we come in 2 out with 4 left and the Cubs walk us off for the second straight day, the Braves also lose, they're tied for first with the Dodgers, we're in third 2 out with 3 left.

1961-we come in 8 back with 8 left and the Reds end our season.  Eliminated.

1962-at Houston, we're down 4 with 7 left, a season of chasing the Dodgers has left us totally gassed and after getting walked off the night before we are staring at the end of the road.  But - we put it on Houston in this one, Billy O'Dell throws a complete game, we got 7 runs in the 6th inning and win it 10-3.  The first run was scored in the first on Ed Bailey's double off Bob Bruce. As important, the Dodgers lose to the Cards, so we get one back and trail 3 with 6 to play.

1964 at Houston, we're 6 down with 10 left, Juan Marichal throws a complete game, because of course he does, and we beat former Giant Don Larsen, who we sold to Houston earlier in the season. Harvey Kuenn broke a scoreless tie with a run scoring 6th inning triple off Larsen. We win 4-1 and the first place Phillies lose - so now we're 5 out with 9 to play.

1965-off day, our lead is 2 with 9 left

1969-the Padres walk us off, the Braves win - so we lose the lead again and are a half game out with only 7 left to play.  This is a Padre team that came in with 106 losses, but Clay Kirby and two relievers 5 hit us.  Former Giant Ollie Brown beat us with a run scoring single off Frank Linzy in the bottom of the 9th.

1971 at Houston, we're up 2.5 with 7 left, Gaylord comes through - complete game 3 hitter, we win 2-1, a 4th inning McCovey homer off Don Wilson broke a scoreless tie. The Dodgers had an off day, we're up 3 with 6 games left.

1978-we're 8 back with 8 left, and we win, 3-2 against the Astros, because that's who we play on September 23 clearly, but the Dodgers also win and we're eliminated.

1981- home vs. Dodgers, a Milt May 6th inning single off Tom Niedenfuer breaks a 4-4 tie, we win 8-4.  The Reds win too, we stay 11 out with 11 left, 1981 lives one more day.

1982 at Cincinnati, 1982 keeps coming, we were 9 out at the beginning of September and now it's 4.5, Reggie Smith does them in, we were up 4-3 in the 5th when Smith hit a 2 run homer off Greg Harris. We win 11-7, the Dodgers have an off day, so we're now 4 out with 10 still to go.

1986-the Reds beat us, we fall to 10 out with 11 to go.

1987 home vs. Dodgers, we've lost 3 straight, our NL West lead is 6.5 with 11 left, Reuschel doesn't get out of the 2nd, but a 2 run Kevin Mitchell single off Orel Hershiser ties it in the 7th, and then at 6-6, with 2 out in the 7th, Will Clark doubles Mitch home off of Brad Havens.  We win 9-8.  We're 7.5 up with 10 games to go.

1989 home vs. Astros, we're 5 up, 8 to go, Rick Reuschel throws a complete game, striking out 7, the big shot is from Matt Williams, who hits a 2 run homer off Mike Scott to break a 1-1 tie in the 6th. That's it for the scoring, we win 3-1. San Diego wins - the lead stays 5, 7 games to play.

1990 at LA, we're 9 out with 10 left, but 1990 lives one more day, John Burkett throws a complete game and strikes out 9, Matt Williams singled home the first run of the game in the first.  We win 6-2, the first place Reds also win - we're 9 back with 9 left.

1993 at Houston, our season long lead is gone and we're 2.5 out with 11 left, John Burkett comes through, goes 8, gives up just 3 baserunners, we win 7-0, the first run a Bonds 4th inning double off former teammate Doug Drabek. The Braves win too - the deficit stays at 2.5 with 10 to play.

1995 home vs. Rockies, we're 9 out with 9 left, but 1995 keeps going, Jamie Brewington leads 4 Giants pitchers in throwing a 2 hitter, the game was scoreless in the 6th when Mark Carreon singled home the game's first run off of former Giant Bryan Hickerson.  We win 2-0 and are now 8 back with 8 to play.

1997-we lose to the Rockies and our lead drops to 1.5 over the Dodgers with 4 games left to play.

1998 home vs. Pirates, this is a WC race, we come in 2.5 out with 5 left, Mark Gardner is enormous, 8 innings, 11 strikeouts, we win 4-1 - in the 6th we trailed 1-0 but Joe Carter hits a 3 run homer off Chris Peters.  The Mets and Cubs both lose - so with 4 games to go we are 1.5 out of the WC spot.  The Cubs took Carter second overall in '81 (Mike Moore went first, we took Mark Grant 10th). Carter was part of 3 big trades - the Cubs sent him to Cleveland in the Sutcliffe deal in '84; five years later the Indians sent him to San Diego for Sandy Alomar and Carlos Baerga, and at the end of the '90 season he and Robby Alomar went from the Padres to Toronto for Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff. We get the last 41 games of Carter's career, he came over in a deadline deal with Baltimore.  And he hit the heck out of the ball, a 132 OPS+ for the Giants.  This was Carter's 394th career homer, he hits 2 more.

1999 the Dodgers knock us out here, they beat us 5-3 and we're eliminated.

2000 - NL West Champions (clinched on 9-21)

2001 - at San Diego, we're 2 out, 13 left and just lay it on the Padres, 11-2, Barry hits 2, homers 65 and 66 on the season, both off Jason Middlebrook. We scored 3 in the first and just kept hitting.  Arizona also wins, we stay 2 back with 12 left (3 back in the WC).

2002 - off day, we're 2 up in the WC with 5 left

2003 - NL West Champions (clinched 9-17)

2004 - we lose to Houston and drop 1.5 out in the West as the Dodgers win, and the Cubs win which drops us half a game back in the WC.  So, not a great one to lose - we were up 3-2 going to the 9th and they scored 5.  Dustin Hermanson gave up 4 earned and only got one out.  9 left and looking up at both the division and WC.

2005 at Colorado we come in 5 back with 10 left and take the opener in Denver, down 6-4 in the 8th Ray Durham tied it with a single off Mike DeJean and JT Snow gave us the lead with a single that scored Durham.  We win 7-6, the Padres also win, we're 5 out with 9 to play.

2006 - we lose to Milwaukee and are 7 out with 7 left.

2009 at Arizona, we're 5 out in the WC with 11 left, so the climb is steep, we only get 4 hits but make them count, up 1-0 in the 6th Juan Uribe hits a 2 run homer off Kevin Mulvey, we win 5-4. Colorado loses and we move to 4 back in the WC with 10 left.  Not done yet.

2010 at Chicago - okay, 10 games to go and we're half a game back in the West and the WC, we lay the Cubs out, 13-0, we get 19 hits, score 9 in the second inning.  Freddy Sanchez gets 4 hits, Juan Uribe hits 2 homers including a 2 run shot in the second that gave us a 3-0 lead.  The Padres lost, we move into first place in the West by a half game with 9 to play.

2011 - we come in 4 out of the WC with 6 left and then drop another game, we lose to Arizona and the Braves win.  5 out, 5 left.

2012 NL West Champions (clinched 9-22)

2014 - we lose to the Dodgers, we still have a 5 game lead on the last WC spot with just five to play

2015 - the Padres walk us off, we're now 7 games behind LA with 11 to play

2016 the Padres beat us but we stay half a game up on the last WC spot with 8 games left

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 22 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 September 22 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Let's see where every team stood heading into 9-22. Maybe change the format for this one.

1958-11.5 out, 5 games left, eliminated
1959-1 back, 5 left, still in play
1960-16 back, 7 left, eliminated
1961-9 back, 9 left, still in play
1962-3 back, 8 left, still in play
1963-11 back, 7 left, eliminated
1964-7 back, 11 left, still in play
1965-3 up, 10 left, still in play
1966-4 back, 8 left, still in play
1967-11.5 back, 11 left, eliminated
1968-10 back, 6 left, eliminated
1969- half a game up, 9 left, still in play
1970-14 back, 9 left, eliminated
1971-1.5 up, 8 left, still in play
1972-26.5 back, 10 left, eliminated
1973-10 back, 8 left, eliminated
1974-26 back, 8 left, eliminated
1975-26 back, 5 left, eliminated
1976-27.5 back, 9 left, eliminated
1977-22.5 back, 9 left, eliminated
1978-9 back, 9 left, still in play 
1979-19.5 back, 9 left, eliminated
1980-15 back, 12 left, eliminated
1981-11.5 back, 13 left, still in play
1982-5.5 back, 12 left, still in play
1983-14 back, 10 left, eliminated
1984-22 back, 9 left, eliminated
1985-28 back, 14 left, eliminated
1986-10 back, 13 left, still in play
1987-up 7.5, 12 left, still in play
1988-10.5 back, 10 left, eliminated
1989-5 up, 9 left, still in play
1990-7.5 back, 11 left, still in play
1991-16.5 back, 13 left, eliminated
1992-23.5 out, 12 left, eliminated
1993-3.5 out, 12 left, still in play
1994- season ended on August 10, we were 3 back
1995-8 back, 10 left, still in play
1996-24 back, 7 left, eliminated
1997-2 up, 6 left, still in play
1998-3.5 out of the WC, 6 left, still in play
1999-9 out, 11 left, still in play
2000- Clinched NL West on 9-21
2001-2 out, 14 left, still in play
2002-2 up in WC, 6 left, still in play
2003-Clinched NL West on 9-17
2004-half a game up in WC, 11 left, still in play
2005, 5 out, 11 left, still in play
2006-5 out, 9 left, still in play - a decade of meaningful late September baseball. 
2007-20 out, 7 left, the run ends - eliminated
2008-11 out, 6 left, eliminated
2009-4 out in WC, 12 left, still in play
2010-half a game up, 11 left, still in play
2011-4 out in WC, 7 left, still in play
2012-10 up, 11 left, still in play
2013-18 out, 7 left, eliminated
2014-4.5 up in WC, 7 left, still in play
2015-6.5 out, 13 left, still in play
2016- tied for WC, 10 left, still in play
2017-36.5 out, 9 left, eliminated - no team in SFG history has ever been so badly buried


Okay - so on September 22 we played the following meaningful games:

1959-lost a walk off to the Cubs, the first place Braves won, that dropped us 2 back with 4 left.

1961-at Cincinnati, Billy O'Dell threw a complete game shutout, we won 6-0, a Jose Pagan two run second inning single got it going.  We're now 8 back, 8 still to play.

1962-at Houston, we lost a walk off - the Dodgers won, so we are now 4 games back with only 7 left to play. This was a tough one, we were up 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th but Jack Sanford gave up a 2 run single to Roman Mejias.  4 back with 7 left is a steep climb.

1964- at Houston, we win 7-1, a second inning Orlando Cepeda homer off Larry Dierker got it going.  We move 6 back with 10 left.

1965-we lose to the Reds, the Dodgers win and our lead is cut to 2 with 9 still to play.

1969-at San Diego, thick of the race, half up on the Braves, 9 left, we've won 4 straight and walked off the Dodgers the game prior, 2-2 in the 7th - which of these teams has Willie Mays?  Mays hits a 2 run homer off Mike Corkins, we win it 4-2 and maintain a half game lead with 8 to play.

1971 at Houston, 8 games to go, 19 days ago we had an 8.5 game lead but now it's down to 1.5, Juan Marichal throws a complete game, because he's Juan Marichal, 6 hits, 6 strikeouts, no walks, at 1-1 in the 5th Bobby Bonds homered, we win it 3-1.  That bumps the lead back to 2.5 with 7 to play.

1978 home vs. Astros, it's 9 back with 9 left, the end is coming any day now, but not today, Bob Knepper throws a complete game 5 hit shutout, striking out 8 and walking none.  Houston threatened in the 7th, we're up 2-0, 2 on, 2 out, Knepper strikes out Bruce Bochy.  We're 8 back with 8 left.

1981 home vs. Dodgers, 11.5 back with 13 left, scoreless in the first, Larry Herndon hits a 2 run inside the park homer off Fernando Valenzuela, we win it 5-2.  We move to 11 out with a dozen to play and hold off elimination just a big longer.

1982 at Cincinnati, 5.5 back with 12 left, Renie Martin goes 7, gives up just 2 hits, the only run we needed was a Johnnie LeMaster RBI single in the second off of Mario Soto, we win the game 2-0. Three weeks ago we were 9 back - but now that number is 4.5 with 11 still to play.

1986 at Cincinnati, we're nearly done, 10 back with 13 left, Vida starts this one - he came back from the Royals in '85 to finish his career in San Francisco, he has 2 starts left in his career after this. We came into the 6th down 3-2, but Bob Brenly tied it with a homer and, now up 4-3, Dan Gladden hit a grand slam off of Scott Terry, we win 10-7, we move 9 out with a dozen left.

1987 - we lose 4-3 to the Dodgers, the Reds win, cutting our lead to 6.5 with 11 to play. Fernando beat Dravecky.

1989 - we lose 3-1 to the Astros, the Padres also lose, so the lead remains 5 with 8 games left. Future Giant Portugal beats us in this one.

1990 - we lose to the Dodgers, 6-3, the Reds sweep a doubleheader, so we drop to 9 out with 10 to go, former Giant Dennis Cook beats us.

1993 at Houston, 12 days ago we were tied, we're now 3.5 out, Bill Swift goes 8, gives up 4 hits, strikes out 10, and we beat the Astros 1-0.  The run was scored in the 7th, Kirt Manwaring doubled home Willie McGee off of Pete Harnisch. Meanwhile - the Braves lose, so we gain a game back, 2.5 games down with 11 to play.

1995 - the first place Rockies beat us 6-1, we fall 9 out with 9 left, we get 2 hits.

1997 at San Diego - we're 2 up with 6 left, it's 5-5 in the 8th, Stan Javier drives in the go ahead run with a single off Heath Murray. That opens things up and we win 11-5. We gain a half game and are now 2.5 games up with 5 to play.

1998 home vs. Pirates, we're 3.5 out of the WC with 6 left, we just blast the Pirates 14-2, Barry Bonds finishes a double short of a cycle and we get 10 extra base hits.  We gain a game in the WC and are now 2.5 out with 5 to play.

1999 at Los Angeles, we're 9 back with 11 left, so the end is near, but not today - down 3-2 in the 7th Rich Aurilia flipped the game with a 2 run single, we win this one 5-4.  We remain 9 games out with 10 to go.

2001- the Padres walked us off, but Arizona also lost, so we stay 2 back now with 13 to play, Mike Darr homered off Brian Boehringer in the 10th to beat us.

2002-at Milwaukee, we're 2 up in the WC and looking for a sweep of the Brewers, Kirk Rueter is strong, 7 innings/3 hits, it's 1-1 with 1 out in the 9th, Jeff Kent leads off with a homer off Luis Vizcaino, we win it 3-1. Our WC lead stays at 2 with 5 to play. We head home for the final five games of the season.

2004-home vs. Astros, we're half a game up in the WC, 1.5 out in the West, Noah Lowry throws a complete game, gives up just five hits and a walk, at 1-1 in the 5th, Pedro Feliz singles home the go ahead run off Roy Oswalt, we win 5-1, with 10 to go we move half a game out in the West and stay half a game up in the WC.

2005-the Nats beat us 2-0, the Padres also lose so we remain 5 back, now with 10 to play. We got 4 hit.

2006-the Brewers beat us 13-12, the Padres won, we drop to 6 out with 8 left, former Giant David Bell beats us by driving home what turns out to be the game winning run in the 8th.

2009-Arizona beats us 10-8, the Rockies win - we fall 5 out in the WC with 11 to play, we were up 3-0, they scored 6 in the third, we closed with 4 in the final two innings but its not enough.

2010-the Cubs beat us 2-0, the Padres win, we fall half a game out in both the West and the WC with ten games to go. We got 5 hits.

2011-the Dodgers beat us 8-2, Bumgarner is knocked out after 4 innings, the Braves also lose so we stay 4 out in the WC, but with just 6 to go.



2012-home vs. Padres, we came into this one having won 9 of 10, we scored in the first and kept scoring, putting it away in the 4th, with a 3-1 lead Marco Scutaro hit a 2 run single off Andrew Werner, we'd go on to win 8-4 and clinch the NL West for the 8th time.

2014 at Los Angeles, Jake Peavy and 4 relievers 4 hit the Dodgers in 13 innings, at 2-2 in the 13th Andrew Susac hits a 2 out single off former Giant Kevin Correia to drive home the go ahead run, we win this game 5-2 and with just 6 games left we have a 5.5 game WC lead.

2015 at San Diego, we win, moving 6 out with a dozen left, a 2 run Angel Pagan homer in the 7th turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-1 lead and we held on for the 4-2 victory.

2016- at San Diego, we're scoreless in the 8th, Angel Pagan singles home the first run of the game off of Brad Hand, we win it 2-1, we move half a game up in the WC with 9 to play.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 21 - Top 6 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 6 September 21 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1966 home vs. Pirates, we're in third, 5 behind the Dodgers - the Pirates are in second and they've just beaten us 3 straight at the Stick. It's Wednesday afternoon and now or never.  Marichal throws a complete game, because he's Marichal, but that's not why this game is here - in the bottom of the 9th inning (after a Tom Haller 2 run homer tied it) Juan Marichal hit a walk off home run off of Roy Face. This was Marichal's best year with the bat (56 OPS+) he hit 4 career home runs.  This was the second, he wont hit another for five years.  LA loses.  We move to 4 games out and head to Houston tomorrow.

Walk off 1969 home vs. Dodgers, 10 games left and our lead is half a game on the Braves, this is a Sunday afternoon at the Stick and we are trying to sweep the third place Dodgers, who are 2.5 out.  41,000 paid - it's a real live late September situation - Gaylord goes for the good guys, Jim Bunning for the Dodgers.  They're both gone in the bottom of the 10th, 3-3, bases loaded, two out, Pete Mikkelson on the mound facing Jim Davenport - he gets out of it, Davenport grounds to Maury Wills - but it goes through his legs and McCovey scores the winning run.  Atlanta wins too. We stay half up with 9 to play, the Padres come in tomorrow night.  Wills committed 284 errors in his career, this is my favorite. What Dodger made his big league debut in this one?  Bill Buckner.

1989 home vs. Dodgers, 10 to play and we're 5 up on the Padres, it's Thursday night at the Stick and we're looking to sweep LA. 2-2 with an out in the 7th, Brett Butler doubles home two runs off of Ray Searage, we're gonna win this one 4-3.  The Padres also win - tomorrow we lose the opener to the Astros, the Padres also lose.  So - with 8 games to play our lead remains 5.  Butler had 277 career doubles, 69 of them as a Giant.

1997 at San Diego, the Brian Johnson game was 3 days ago, we're up 1 on LA with 7 left to play, it's Sunday afternoon, 5-5 with an out in the 9th, Stan Javier triples home two runs off of Trevor Hoffman, we win this one 8-5 - the Dodgers lose, so with 6 games remaining our lead in the West is two.  We've got one more in San Diego tomorrow night.  Javier hit 40 triples in his career, a quarter of them as a Giant.

2000 home vs. Diamondbacks, 6-6 in the 8th, Russ Davis hits a sac fly off of Mike Morgan to give us a lead, we win 8-7 and clinch the NL West - it's the earliest we'd ever clinched a playoff spot at that point.

2002 at Milwaukee, we're 6.5 out in the West, 2 up in the WC - there are just 7 games to go. Three Giants pitchers (great start from Schmidt) combine to give up 3 hits, it's 1-1 in the 7th, Kenny Lofton leads off with a homer off Ben Diggins.  We win 3-1, move to 5.5 out in the West and still 2 up in the WC with 6 games left in the season. Kenny Lofton played in 46 regular season games as a Giant.  The Astros drafted him in the 17th round of '88 from Arizona (10 spots later we took a pitcher from UC Riverside named Mitchell Ferrick who didn't make it) he came up in '91, finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year with the Indians in '92 (to Pat Listach), was with the Indians until this season when he signed with the White Sox - and they shipped him to us at the deadline.  35 year old Kenny Lofton was just fine, a 104 OPS+ in 205 San Francisco plate appearances.  Lofton hit 3 Giants homers, this was the last.  He signed with Pittsburgh for the '03 season and finished up back in Cleveland in 2007.

2010 at Chicago, well, here we are, half a game up in the West, a dozen left to go, starting a 3 game series at Wrigley on a Tuesday afternoon.  Four Giants pitchers (great start from Cain) give up a combined 2 hits and 1 walk, it's scoreless with one out in the 8th when Buster Posey homers off Andrew Cashner.  We only got 5 hits and only needed that one, this was a 1-0 final.  The Padres kept pace, so with 11 left we were still up half a game.  We get shut out the next day, San Diego wins, so with 10 left we were half a game out of first place - and half a game out in the WC.  This is Posey's 15th career homer.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 20 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 September 20 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1965 at Cincinnati, 2 weeks ago we were in second place but then ripped off 14 straight and now have a 3.5 game lead with a dozen left.  We open up a series at Crosley, it's scoreless in the 5th, a Jim Maloney wild pitch scores Jim Ray Hart with the game's first run, we win it 4-0, the hero is Masanori Murakami, who gets a 4 inning save. Murakami, of course, is the first Japanese native to play in MLB, he pitched in 54 big league games, all with us, in '64 and '65. He was fine, had a 106 ERA+ 89 innings.  He was just 21 in '65 but it was his last year in the bigs due to a contractual issue with his Japanese club.  We move 4 up on the second place Dodgers with 11 to play.

1969 home vs. Dodgers, we were 3.5 out a month ago but now have a half game lead in the West with 11 to go - it's a Saturday afternoon at the Stick, Juan Marichal throws a complete game, we're up 5-4 but the Dodgers have 2 on and 2 out in the 8th - longtime Giant Tom Haller at the plate - Marichal gets him to pop to short to end the inning.  We win 5-4 and maintain a half game lead with 10 remaining. Marichal had 244 career complete games, in '69 he had 27 and 8 of those were shutouts.

1989 home vs. Dodgers, we've got a 5 game lead with 11 to go, how about a walk off win against the Dodgers, we're down 7-3 coming into the bottom of the 9th, Mitch leads off with a homer (7-4) Riles singles and Williams doubles him home (7-5). Kennedy then singles home Williams (7-6) and that chases Jay Howell.  Benjamin runs for Kennedy, Speier doubles him to third, Litton singles home the tying run off of Mike Hartley.  John Tudor was a Dodger in '89, he gives up the game winning single to Brett Butler - we score 5 in the bottom of the 9th to beat LA without a single out in the inning.We stay 5 up in the West with 10 games left.



1993 at Houston, ah, 1993 - we were up 7.5 a month prior, 3.5 two weeks ago, but then lost 8 straight at home to fall four behind the Braves (an 11.5 game swing in a month). We've won 3 straight and come into this one 3 out in the West with 14 to play. We've got a narrow 2-1 lead in the 6th, 2 out, bases loaded, Darren Lewis clears the bases with a double off Greg Swindell, we take this one 7-2 and gain a half game on the idle Braves.  Houston shuts us out the next night, the Braves win, so with a dozen left we're 3.5 games out of the lead. DLew couldn't hit and didn't hit in '93, he had a 71 OPS+ - Darren Lewis had a .302 OBP in 1993, so of course he led off in 101 games.

2005 at Washington, we're 5.5 out with 13 left having just taken 3 of 4 from LA, we're down 2-1 with 2 out in the 9th, Moises Alou hits a 3 run homer off former Giant Livan Hernandez, we take it 4-3 and live, albeit barely, to see another day.  We move to 5 back with a dozen left.  Moises played his aged 38 and 39 seasons with us - he hit the ball - a Giants OPS+ of 135 in 868 PA. This was his 18th Giants homer and 296th career shot.  He goes to the Mets in '07 and finishes there in '08.  Barry hit
#706 in this one.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

September 19 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

What is this all about?

Yesterday

Here are the top 5 September 19 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1965 at Milwaukee, we're 3.5 up with 13 left, 2-2 in the 8th, Jim Davenport singles home the go ahead run off Tony Cloninger - we win this one 4-2.  We head to Cincinnati 3.5 games up with a dozen to play.  We lost to the Cubs on the 3rd, leaving us 2 back and in third place.  Then we went on the best September run in San Francisco history.  14 straight.

Took two in Chicago.
Two in LA
Went back home and got two against Houston and then swept 4 against the Cubs
Then went to Houston and swept 4.
We're in Milwaukee this weekend, we lose the opener to break the streak and then win the next two, we head to Cincinnati up 3.5 on LA with 12 remaining.

Walk off 1982 home vs. Padres, we're 5.5 out with 14 left, but '82 is dying hard, we've won 12 of the last 15 and walk off the Padres on a Sunday afternoon. Runners on the corners in the 11th, we're tied at 3, Tom O'Malley ends it with a single off of Luis DeLeon. We stay 5.5 back with 13 to go, we're heading to Cincinnati on Tuesday. It's O'Malley's rookie year and the best season he'll ever have with the bat.

1989 home vs. Dodgers, we're 5 up with a dozen left, we're down 2-0 with 2 out and the bases loaded in the 5th - Mike Laga clears the bases with a pinch double off of Orel Hershiser, Laga spent the last two years of a 9 season career with us as a pinch hitter, he played in 40 games, got a total of 50 Giants plate appearances, had an 88 OPS+ (Laga had two doubles as a Giant).  We stay 5 up with 11 games remaining.

1997 at San Diego, the Brian Johnson game was the day before, we come into this tied with the Dodgers with 9 to play. Scoreless in the 6th, Barry Bonds hits a 2 run homer off Joey Hamilton, we go on and win it 7-4 - the Dodgers lose - so with 8 to play we move into first place (and never fall out of it the rest of the way).  It's #370 for Bonds, he's got 4 more to hit before the season ends.

2010 home vs. Brewers, sold out Sunday afternoon, it's game 150, we're half a game out of first place, still chasing the Padres. The WC is a couple of games away, so it's the division in our sights with 13 to play. The big blow is in the first inning - Jose Guillen hits a grand slam off Chris Narveson, we cruise to a 9-2 win and move into first place with a dozen games left.  Guillen, who has 6 RBI on the day, played the final 42 games of a 14 season career with the Giants and hit 3 of his 214 career homers with us.  This is the last home run of his career.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!