SF Giants: Three of the biggest heartbreaks of past 20 years

Three times the SF Giants experienced heartbreak

The San Francisco Giants have enjoyed a fair bit of success during their history. They have appeared in four World Series, winning three of them, got to see the home run king at the height of his powers, and have had players win Cy Young Awards, MVPs, Rookie of the Year Awards, not to mention some no-hitters and a perfect game along the way.

But there have been low moments as well. We may be spoiled as Giants fans in this millennium, but that does not mean the losses have hurt any less or stung for just as long.

Of course, three championship titles in five years makes up for a lot of heartbreak, but the memories from the bitter defeats still lurk within the deep recesses of our mind, peeking out every now and then just to haunt us.

This article seeks to bring those dark memories out of our heads so we can address them fully. It may hurt to revisit these moments, but in times like these it doesn’t hurt to remember dark moments from the past as a reminder that those moments don’t last forever and the pain eases as the years go on.

The following highlights three of the biggest heartbreaking moments for the Giants over the course of the past 20 years. Turn away if you must, but it may be best to revisit these memories head-on so they can no longer haunt us and give us fits at night.

SF Giants heartbreaks: 2003 NLDS

Fresh on the heels of their brutal loss to the Angels in the 2002 World Series (which, as you could probably guess, we get to in a future slide), the Giants won 100 games in the 2003 regular season to win the NL West and make another push for the World Series.

The division series against the Marlins was a back and forth one. The Giants took Game 1, the Marlins took Game 2, and the two teams went back to Florida with five games to decide it.

Ivan Rodriguez, more commonly known as Pudge, hit a two-run home run as well as a game-winning single in the bottom of the 11th to give the Marlins a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 was emblematic of the series itself, with the two teams going back and forth. The Giants were down by two runs heading into the top of the ninth with their season on the line. J.T. Snow drove in a run to make it a one-run game, and a hit batsman put him in scoring position with two outs.

Snow decided to challenge the arm of the left fielder after a single into shallow left field, but a great throw and great tag from none other than Pudge at the plate, who held on to the ball despite Snow barreling into him, secured the series for the Marlins.

The Marlins went on to win the World Series that year and the Giants would not return to the postseason until 2010.

That’s not the only heartbreaker the Giants have had in the divisional round. We need not look back too far for our next heartbreaker which happened back in 2016.

SF Giants heartbreaks: 2002 World Series

This has got to be the biggest heartbreak for the Giants in the past 20 years, and it is not even close. This was a series that the Giants had right in the palm of their hand only to see it slip away. It may only rival Willie McCovey’s caught line drive in the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees for biggest heartbreak in the history of the franchise.

We all know the story, but let’s run through it again. Russ Ortiz had shut down the Angels through 6-1/3 innings. After he gave up two consecutive singles, manager Dusty Baker decided to pull him with the Giants up 5-0.  They only needed eight outs to secure the first championship in their time in San Francisco.

Then, just like in 2016, the bullpen folded in on itself and coughed the game up. The next batter hit a three-run home run, then the Angels tacked on another run in the eighth. Baker made the call to bring in closer Robb Nen, who was dealing with shoulder issues and knew he might be jeopardizing his career.

Nen gave up two-run double, and the Angels held on for the 6-5 victory. The following day the Angels closed out the series with a 4-1 victory in Game 7. It was an awful way to lose a World Series, and the ghosts of 2002 did not begin to dissipate until the championship years made up for past heartbreak.

Heartbreak is a part of being a sports fan, and we as Giants fans can only be thankful that we have been on the right side of the heartbreak more often than not in the past 20 years.