San Francisco Giants Baseball:Back To The Future Edition Pt. 1

<h2>You’re a San Francisco Giants fan, riding in the passenger seat of your friends’ Deloreon, when he turns to you and says……”I’ll give you one Giants game that you can change the outcome of, so where are we going?”</h2>
It could be a play at the plate, a misplayed ball in the outfield, a fastball left up, or an injury that prevented the team from being at full strength. But all long-time Giants fans have a few games that stick out as ones that they would love to have turned out differently.

Let’s explore a few, and please feel free to comment, share to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other place with the ones that you would go back to. First up:
<h2>103 Wins, and a reason for the Wild Card</h2>
While a lot of the world was watching the happenings in Mogadishu, Somalia, Giants fans were also very interested in a game played at Chavez Ravine against the hated Dodgers.

The Giants led the Atlanta Braves in the NL West by three and a half games on September 6th. After an eight game losing streak, the team found itself down by three and a half.

The team then won fourteen of their next sixteen, including the first three of a four game set against the Dodgers.

But with the Braves finishing off the Colorado Rockies with a three-game sweep( with Avery, Glavine, and Maddux winning the last three), the Giants had to sweep the Dodgers in order to keep themselves tied with the Braves and force a one game playoff.

The pitching was in shambles by that point, trotting out Scott Sanderson, Bryan Hickerson, Greg Brummett, and the young Salomon Torres as fifth starters. Even Jim Deshaies got four starts for them, and it is interesting to note that Torres (started and went three and a third), Sanderson and Deshaies all appeared in the final game. (As did current pitching coach Dave Righetti)

The Giants entered the game the slight favorite. Both teams went through the first two innings with minimal success at the plate. But then, after a one-two-three top half, the bottom of the third began. And it began with a single up the middle off Torres by the opposing pitcher Kevin Gross.

A sacrifice bunt and a groundout later, and it looked like the Giants may get out of it with no damage. But up came Dave Hansen, who singled on a 3-1 pitch and brought in Gross. Then, after a walk to Mike Piazza, Eric Karros doubled to score Hansen. 2-0 Dodgers.

After a top of the fourth (Matt Williams singled and that was about it for the Giants), the Dodgers scored another run in the bottom half, chasing Torres after he gave up two walks and a run-scoring single. Trevor Wilson came on to finish the inning, getting a line drive double-play ball from Tim Wallach. 3-0 Dodgers.

Darren Lewis managed to drive in Royce Clayton with a groundout in the fifth to make it 3-1, but the Giants never were really in the game after that. Piazza hit two home runs after that, and the Giants took the loss 12-1. Gross, who went 13-13 that year, went all nine innings giving up the lone run.

So where would I go back to in my friends’ Deloreon?

It would be nice to have gotten a decent starter earlier in the season to provide depth down the stretch and into the possible postseason. It’s something that does not go unnoticed by the current Giants management team. The team did try to bring in Dennis Martinez, after the non-waiver deadline. The Braves, who were below the Giants at the time, put in a claim specifically to block the Giants from getting him. He ended up staying in Montreal for the remainder of the year.

So, since he was presumably available prior to the deadline, a trade with the Expos could have been made without the waiver rules. <span style=”line-height: 1.5″> </span>

<span style=”line-height: 1.5″>Taking the Deloreon back to the days leading up to the trade deadline, and putting together a package for Martinez would have supplied the rotation with a suitable veteran starter who would have been the type of arm to start the last game of the season. </span>