Top Five Times San Francisco Giants Ruined the Dodgers Season

Giants Sweep the Dodgers

In 2016, the Dodgers were heading to the playoffs, but they had a chance to ruin the Giants season. The Giants needed to sweep Los Angeles in the final series of the season to make the wild card.

One win and the Dodgers could laugh their way into the the postseason.

The Giants did what they needed to do and won the first two games. Madison Bumgarner and Ty Blach, two left handers, pitched great and led the Giants to wins. Bumgarner pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs. The following game, Blach pitched eight shutout innings to lead the Giants to the brink of the playoffs. He out pitched Clayton Kershaw, who allowed three runs over seven innings.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Angel Pagan led off the inning with a solo home run. In the bottom of the seventh, after a single by Pagan, Crawford rolled a ball down the third base line. Kershaw’s throw went wide and Pagan raced home to make it 2-0. Crawford would end up at third and Gordon Beckham would hit a sacrifice fly to score him and extend the lead to 3-0.

For game 162, San Francisco called on Matt Moore. The team had traded for Moore at the trade deadline, and he was one out away from throwing a no hitter against Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium a month earlier.

Moore was outstanding, pitching eight innings, allowing one run on three hits.

Kenta Maeda couldn’t get out of the third inning, as he allowed five runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings.

Buster Posey drove in three runs on two singles as the Giants never looked back to a 7-1 win and a trip to the playoffs.

Giants Shutout Dodgers

In 1991, the Giants were 74-86 heading into the next to last day of the season. The Dodgers, who had won 92 games already, needed two more wins to make the playoffs. If the Giants could pull the upset, the Atlanta Braves, who had finished last the year before, would go to the playoffs for the first time in nine years (we will get to that one too.)

Unknown at the time was it would also start a string of unprecedented success in Atlanta led by one of the most dominant staffs in baseball history.

Facing the Dodgers that day was Trevor Wilson. Wilson came into the game with a record of 12-11 and an earned run average of 3.73.

Wilson’s ERA would drop 17 points this day as he pitched a 2 hit shutout to send the Braves to the postseason and made game 162 meaningless for the Dodgers.

In the bottom of the fourth, Will Clark tripled and Matt Williams singled him in to break a 0-0 tie.

Then in the 6th inning, Willie McGee singled and stole second. The Dodgers Tommy Lasorda decided to intentionally walk Clark with one out and Williams on deck.  Williams immediately made him pay with another single and a 2-0 lead. It wasn’t just any single. Williams hit what could have been a routine pop up on another day. Instead, this was Candlestick Park and the wind made every pop fly an adventure. The ball would fall, and Williams and Clark would advance on the throw.

After intentionally walking Kevin Bass, Robby Thompson hit a sacrifice fly to left to extend the lead, but the throw got away from catcher Gary Carter and Williams scored on the error to make it 4-0.

Wilson struck out Brett Butler and Darryl Strawberry and forced Eddie Murray to ground out to end the game. He certainly picked a great game to have his best start of the season.

Morgan Shocks Lasorda

In 1982, The Giants and Dodgers were in a battle for the West. The Braves, Dodgers and Giants went into the final days of the year all with a chance to win the division.

After the Dodgers won the first two games, the Giants were eliminated. Now, the Dodgers had to win one more and sweep the Giants to tie the Braves at 89 wins.

Ron Cey started the scoring with a two home run in the second. In the bottom of the inning, Fernando Valenzuela loaded the bases on a single to Darrell Evans, a double to Jeffrey Leonard and a walk to Bob Brenly. That brought up Johnnie LeMaster, who also drew a walk and cut the lead to one.  Pitcher Bill Laskey grounded into a double play, but another run scored and the Giants had tied the game.

Through six innings, the Giants and Dodgers were tied at two.

Bob Brenly started the seventh with a single. Champ Summers followed that up with a pinch hit double to left field and the Giants had runners at second and third and no outs. Pitcher Greg Minton struck out and so did pinch hitter Jim Wohlford.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Dodgers pitcher Terry Forster was one out away from keeping the game tied. Joe Morgan walked up to the plate for the Giants.

Morgan homered to right field and gave the Giants a 5-2 lead. After 2 and 2/3 inning of relief from Greg Minton, the Giants won and ended the Dodgers season just one day after seeing their playoff hopes ruined. It was a bittersweet season for the Giants, but one Giants fans remember much more fondly because of Game 162.

The Brian Johnson Game

In 1997, the Giants and Dodgers were in the middle of another classic division battle.

Candlestick Park was packed for a two game series in late September. After a win the day before, the Giants went into the game tied with the Dodgers for the division lead.

This game would go into extra innings. It wasn’t suppose to. The Giants were up 5-1 after Barry Bonds hit a three run home run in the fifth inning. But the Dodgers scored two runs in both the sixth and the seventh and the game was tied through nine.

Then came the top of the tenth inning. Rod Beck, the Giants closer came into the tie game and gave up three straight singles. With the bases full of Dodgers, Beck struck out Todd Zeile and forced Eddie Murray to ground into an inning ending double play.

“The ‘Stick” was rocking.

Dodgers relief pitcher Todd Worrell and Beck spent the next two innings putting up zeroes and the game went into the 12th. Brian Johnson, who had been catching all 12 innings, was ready to send the fan base into a frenzy. Johnson homered to left off Mark Guthrie and walked off the Dodgers and took a commanding one game lead in the division.

The momentum never swayed and the Giants won the division two weeks later.  The Giants had finished the previous year in last place, so beating the Dodgers and winning the West in 1997 was not only unlikely, but as good as it gets. It was truly a team of “Dustiny,” as the phrase was coined that season.

The Greatest Home Run Of All-Time

In 1951, the Giants had no business being the the race. On August 11, they were 59-51.

Then, the Giants won 16 straight games and only lost 7 games the rest of the season to finish 96-58 and be tied with the Dodgers.

At the time, that meant a three game playoff, and the Dodgers chose to play the first game at Ebbets Field and allow the Giants to play the final two games at the Polo Grounds.

The Dodgers lost the first game anyway, but won the second 10-0 on the road to set up a third and final game for the National League pennant.

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Jackie Robinson started off the scoring with a single in the top of the first that scored Pee Wee Reese and moved Duke Snider to second for a very Hall of Fame sentence.

The score would remain 1-0 until Bobby Thompson hit a sacrifice fly to score Monte Irvin in the seventh.

Then, in the top of the eighth, the Dodgers took a commanding 4-1 lead after a wild pitch, and a couple of singles put the Giants on the brink of elimination.

Don Newcombe pitched a quiet bottom of the eighth and the Giants were down to their final three outs.

Newcombe started the ninth allowing singles to Al Dark and Don Mueller. He got Irvin to pop out, but with one out, Whitey Lockman doubled to score Dark and knock Newcombe out of the game.

Ralph Branca came in to face Thompson.

What came next is still considered the most famous home run in baseball history. Thompson’s walkoff homer not only sent the Giants to the World Series, but sent the Dodgers home and shocked the baseball world.