I've been a San Francisco Giants fan since I was a wee lad. I remember Gaylord Perry's no-hitter in 1968 and Bobby Bonds' debut in 1969. My school chum Marty Duvall had a black lab named McCovey. My prized possession was the 1969 Sporting News Baseball Guide which featured MVPs Willie Mac and Harmon Killebrew on the cover. My favorite player was Tito Fuentes (I played second base in Little League). My dad took the family to Candlestick for Game 1 of the 1971 LCS against the Pittsburgh Pirates. I don't think they called it the "LCS" back then, and it was a best-of-five series. The Bucs won the whole thing that year. The Giants didn't make it back to the post-season until 1987. Since then, they've seen playoff action in 1989, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2010, and now 2012. Since the advent of division play in 1969, they've won the West eight times (they were the Wild Card team in 2002), the NL pennant three times, and the World Series once. That's nine playoff appearances in 44 seasons. Making it to the post-season is special. Yankees fans may take it for granted, but we don't. After all, the team has managed 13 second-place finishes since their arrival from New York in 1958 (eight since 1993). And they've finished LAST five times since 1984, most recently in 2007. It's not easy to stay on top in baseball, and even when you get there, it doesn't always come together for The Big Prize. So I hope everyone is enjoying this special season and looking forward to some exciting baseball this weekend. I will savor every pitch, every moment, and every play. Win or lose, this is my team, those are my guys, and I'm "all in." I hope you are, too.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. The Giants finished the Ninth Inning 12-6. They went 9-9, 9-9, 12-6, 10-8, 10-8, 9-9, 12-6, 11-7, and 12-6. The post-season has a maximum of 19 games (5 + 7 + 7) and you have to win 11. So, it's on to the Tenth!
5 comments:
Love that inning breakdown ya'll do...
As a relative newcomer to the Gints who had to suffer through the late 70s and early 80s until Will the Thrill and the first taste of success I would echo the sentiment that the playoffs are special, they are a privilege not a right, and for Giants fans those years become legendary. 1987 I remember the Hack Man, the brawls. 1989 I cut out of school to watch Clark go off, and then the Quake. 2000 I was at Shea and never so dejected, I didn't bother watching the final game. 2002 I was lucky enough to go to 3 playoff games. 2003 I can't talk about. And 2010 made everything alright in the world for the rest of my life.
Thanks for letting me participate a bit in your Raising Matt Cain. I love this blog, old friends shooting the shit about their favorite team. You guys do a great job here. Go Giants!
Looking forward to your first few posts from afar as we are still in Italy and will be home Monday night. Go Giants! Russian River
Random playoff memory- I went with Mom and her 20-game-plan season tickets earned us two seats in the upper deck, left field corner. These seats were the ideal place to watch Devon White's grand slam which assured the sweep by the Florida Fuckin Marlins. With their star pitcher Livan Fuckin Hernandez. The final score was 6-2 and it was the only post season game played in SF in '97.
The Marlins went on to win it all and Livan was the MVP of the WS.
@Shank
You're welcome!
@Russian River
Safe travels!
@Bob
Edgar Renteria and Robb Nen were also Marlins. The Giants were NL West champs yet had to go on the road to face the Wild Card team. They changed the format after that. Now it is 2012 and the Reds are the #2 seed and have to travel to #3 seed SF! Supposedly they are back to 2-2-1 next year.
@Zo, Ron, JC
What up? Where are yez? This is gonna be a tough fight. You gotta chip in!
This game is not over yet, but as of now the giants are losing, and until detroit won today, all the road teams were winning. Two key guys the giants needed to shut down under Cain were Philips and Bruce, and the Cainster, did not do it. He had his own chance with the bases loaded, and ripped a liner into right but it was caught. None of what Cain will mean much if the giants do not score. Come on Buster and the gints, time for a rally! Really! Been a giants fan since N.Y. I remember the games in the fifties before my giants left for the west coast. After they left I heard every delayed rebroadcast by Les Keiter, who died in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I have fond memories of my Zenith transister radio in the late 50's. Prior to that we used to listen to the games with our diode tube based radio's. Those were the days.
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