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: 2016 NLDS

The 2016 season was a bizarre one for the Giants. They finished the first half with the best record in baseball only to have one of the worst records in the second half. Nonetheless, the team eked their way into the Wild Card game against the Mets, and some magic from Madison Bumgarner and Conor Gillaspie sent them to the divisional round against the Cubs.

Game 1 was a 1-0 heartbreaker in which Johnny Cueto pitched great but got no run support. The Cubs won Game 2 as well and the Giants had to win three consecutive games if they wanted to push for their fourth title in seven seasons.

Game 3 saw some more magic from Conor Gillaspie, who was incredible for the Giants that postseason, who tripled off of Aroldis Chapman to give the Giants the lead only for them to cough it up in the ninth. However, Joe Panik’s double in the 13th inning drove in Brandon Crawford to send the series to a Game 4.

Game 4, in my opinion, is how Matt Moore should be remembered as a Giant. He pitched eight solid innings giving up only two runs, and the Giants had a two-run lead heading into the ninth inning. As we all know, the bullpen imploded upon itself like a dying star. The strength of their three championship runs turned out to be the Achilles heel this go around.

This is my most bitter Giants memory because it occurred just months after I moved to Illinois. I have hated the Chicago Cubs and the city of Chicago ever since.