Memorable Moments: Giants World Series Edition

Oct 28, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; San Francisco Giants designated hitter

reacts as he scores the go-ahead run against the Detroit Tigers in the 10th inning during game four of the 2012 World Series at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: H. Darr Beiser-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 World Series has had its share of memorable moments already. The way game 3 ended is one that will go down in baseball history. No matter how this series turns out, the obstruction call will be the thing that fans of both teams talk about years from now.

So it got me thinking. What are the moments that we remember from the Giants 5 World Series appearances since they landed in San Francisco? What sticks out the most from each series? Doesn’t it suck that we only have 5 of them to choose from since 1958? To be fair on that last point the Red Sox are in their 5th World Series during the same time frame. The Cards on the other hand, are in their 10th World Series for that period.

I looked back over the 5 different World Series the Giants have played in, and you know what? It was depressing as heck up until 2010. My goodness Giants fans have been through a lot of agony. Thankfully the 2 rings in 4 years has helped soften that. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be writing this at all had the San Francisco Giants moments from past World Series all been miserable.

It starts out rough, but gets better. So stick around for the last couple and smile. Well, you know the story.

Some Honorable Mentions

October 23, 2002 – Game 4: The Giants were behind 2-1 in the series heading in to this game. The Angels jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. A rally in the 5th, highlighted by Kenny Lofton‘s bunt, tied it up. A David Bell single off Francisco Rodriguez in the bottom of the 8th gave the Giants a 4-3 victory.

October 27, 2010 – Game 1: It was billed as a pitching matchup between Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum. Instead, the Giants routed the Rangers with a 6 run explosion in the bottom of the 5th inning. The Giants had 3 straight run scoring hits with 2 outs in the inning, punctuated by Juan Uribe‘s 3 run home run. The Giants held on for a 11-7 victory.

October 28, 2012 – Game 4: The Giants completed the sweep and clinched their second championship in 3 years with a 4-3 victory over the Tigers. Buster Posey hit a 2 run homer and Matt Cain pitched a gritty 7 innings. The Giants scored the winning run in the top of the 10th when Marco Scutaro singled to RF with 2 outs to drive in Ryan Theriot.

Memorable San Francisco Giants World Seires Moments

October 16, 1962 – Game 7: This was an all time classic to end a pretty remarkable World Series. The Giants and Yankees had gone back and forth in the first 6 games with the teams trading wins. To top that off there were weather delays in both cities that pushed back many games. In total the 7 game series took 13 days to complete.

Game 7 was a nail biter the whole 9 innings. Jack Sanford pitched 7 innings for the Giants but had base runners on all game. He gave up 7 hits and walked 4. The Yankees scored the only run of the game on a ground ball double play in the 5th by Tony Kubek.

The 9th inning was the moment of the game. Matty Alou led off the bottom half of the inning with a pinch-hit bunt single. It looked as if he would be stranded there as both Felipe Alou and Chuck Hiller struck out. With 2 outs the Giants turned to Willie Mays. He delivered with a double down the RF line. Unfortunately Alou could not score as Roger Maris made a great play in the field to cut the ball off. Willie McCovey stepped in with the winning run of the series on 2nd base. McCovey hammered the Ralph Terry pitch on a line to the right side. Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson was standing right there to catch it and end the game, and the series. San Francisco fans experienced their first heartbreak as Giants fans.

October 17, 1989 5:04pm – Loma Prieta Earthquake: I hate that I have to include this on the list. I really do. But it happened, and it’s really the only thing any of us is going to remember from the 1989 World Seires. Below is some video from the broadcast. I’ll never forget sitting at my kitchen table doing homework while I watched this unfold. What a shame. I’m glad the cities are stronger now.

October 26, 2002 – Game 6: This is the last horrible memory I will make you relive. I promise. In fact, I make it up to you with the cool video below this. It’s much better to remember Kenny Lofton’s NLCS clinching hit than this game.

You know how it happened by now. The Giants led 5-0 with only 8 outs remaining in the game. Dusty Baker came out to remove Russ Ortiz with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th. Before Ortiz left the mound Baker handed him back the game ball to take with him and keep. This angered the baseball gods. They did not like Dusty Baker assuming that the game was over. Scott Spiezio immediately hit a 3 run HR off of Ortiz’s replacement Felix Rodriguez. In the 8th, Tim Worrell gave up 3 straight hits to start the inning. Robb Nen came in and gave up a double, and the lead. The Angels came all the way back and won 6-5. The went on to win Game 7 the next night.

But again, I won’t leave you with Russ Ortiz stuck in your head. Here’s Kenny Lofton as I promised.

November 1, 2010 – Game 5: The greatest moment in the history of the San Francisco Giants started with a 3 run home run off the bat of Edgar Renteria. It ended when Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz and the Giants were champions for the first time since moving out West.

This game brought the pitcher’s duel between Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee that everyone expected in Game 1. They traded goose eggs until the top of the 7th inning. Cody Ross and Juan Uribe led off the inning with back to back singles. Aubrey Huff, he of the 0 lifetime sacrifice bunts, the bunted the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Lee was able to strike Pat Burrell out swinging and face Renteria with 2 outs. With the count 2-0 Lee hung a cutter over the middle of the plate and Edgar Renteria became a hero.

The only blemish for Lincecum was a solo shot by Nelson Cruz in the bottom half of that 7th inning. But the damage was done with no runners on base and Lincecum was sharp. Bruce Bochy made the move to go with his closer in the 9th and Wilson rewarded him with a 1-2-3 inning to seal a championship. The Giants were finally champions.

October 24, 2012 – Game 1: The Pablo Sandoval game. He of the feats of strength that were so unexpected from the rotund third baseman. The man single-handedly carried the momentum the Giants had from their stunning NLCS comeback in to the World Series. The Tigers and Justin Verlander came is as heavy favorites, but the Panda was having none of that. Pablo Sandoval tied Babe Ruth (twice), Reggie Jackson, and Albert Pujols as the only players to hit 3 HR’s in a single World Series game.

Bottom of the 1st – With an 0-2 count and 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st inning, Sandoval turned around a high fastball for a solo HR to center field. It was a 95 mph pitch that he got his hands around quick enough to power over the fence. It landed just over the Visa sign and into a crowd of orange clad Giants fans.

Bottom of the 3rd – Marco Scutaro was on second base after a 2 out double. With a 2-0 count Verlander fired another 95 mph fastball towards Pablo. This one was low and away. Again, Pablo used the power of the pitch to help him drive the ball the oppositie way for a 2 run home run. It gave birth to the Verlander “Wow” gif, and gave the Giants a 4-0 lead in the game.

Bottom of the 5th – By now Verlander was out of the game. Helped no doubt by those previous home runs by Sandoval. It didn’t matter to Pablo who was pitching, he was primed for history. On a low 1-1 pitch, Pablo Sandoval went down and drove the ball over the center field wall for his 3rd home run in 3 at bats. The Giants had a 6-0 lead, and the rest became history.

Do you have one I missed? Maybe you were at a game and that’s your memory. Feel free to share any of yours in the comments below.