27 Years Later…..
This series vs the Cubs is bringing back a lot of memories for me. 1989. Just starting out Lewis and Clark College. I remember a surprising number of Giants fans attending that tiny school in Portland.
I looked over the ’89 roster just for some better recall. Some of these guys weren’t on the post season roster:
Best player name: Ernie Camacho
Best horse racing name: Kelly Downs
Best Ex Cardinal: Ken Oberkfell
Best clutch hitter I remember with no stats whatsoever to back it up: (tie) Greg Litton and Ernie Riles
wait…2 guys named *Ernie*? Whoa…..
Guy I Thought was too old to be on that team: Chris Speier
That team also had Yan Gomes future father-in-law on it….
Draveckey, Bedrosian, Reuschel….
The Thrill.
Greenwald.
In hindsight, the clear problem with that team not winning the World Series was chronological. 1989. Odd year. They never stood a chance.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Earnest Riles. Claim to fame? Hit the 10,000th home run for the Giants.
I was in Eric Lovell’s living room listening to the radio when he hit that. Remember it well.
Good memory, your dog was named Ernie too.
Ha! That’s so rad that you read the blog. Ernie was a good dog.
Who we got for the origanal One Flap Down, Jeffrey Leonard
A’s had a powerhouse that year, but 89 means only one thing, disaster of the Big One.
Unfortunately for Krukow, Wrigley is his own personal disaster area. No elevators to help him, he has to negotiate stairs there, something he swore off after trip there August of 2014. Hope him and the team can survive this weekend.
Best luck to the Bozos too in face of Matthew.
Thanks Willie, the latest track looks like we won’t get hit directly, but will still get some flooding.
When I was at Wrigley in September I was told they were trying to come up with some sort of makeshift thing so Krukow would come back, don’t know if they figured anything out in time for the playoffs though.
I would make them rickshaw me up these stairs…like me, I refuse to walk a golf course…
I think that team had the 2 Presidents – Nixon and Kennedy…
I liked Litton too and had hopes that he was gonna become a solid player. I was also a big Kelly Downs guy.
My daughter is a senior in high school and she and I are in a months long debate over what colleges she should apply to. She has an affinity for exotic out of state colleges and I am pushing the CSU system HARD.
The other day she mentioned interest in Lewis and Clark (she has a fascination with Portland for some reason) and I blurted out “Big Flavor went there!” We both got a big kick out of that.
it’s changed a lot since I roamed the campus. Used to be a liberal hippy school. No longer.
LMAO – problem with not winning WS was pure chronological (odd year). Good one. Yeah, I would have to go dig to remember a lot about that team. I do have the NLCS pennant in my shop/man cave. My main memory is the Loma Prieta and us getting swept. Ouch.
We’ve covered this before, but just to help get us warmed up on a Friday morning gameday, who did the Giants trade to get Ernest Riles?
(A guy much beloved by most Giants fans, but personally not a player I ever really warmed up to for some reason)
I’m sure the boss here knows that one.
I had high hopes for Litton, too but the guy I thought would be a batting champ was Aldrete…
Pretty sure Riles was traded to Oakland for Darren Lewis but I have no recollection of how we got him.
Didn’t see your post when I posted up above, Jeffrey Leonard.
Kevin Mitchell?
Ahh it was my 2nd guess . . .
Hell no on Kevin Mitchell, he was traded to the Giants with Dave Dravecky,and Craig Lefferts in a total heist for Mark 10 cent brain Grant,Chris sprained eyebrow can’t play skip Brown, and my High School pitching bro, Keith Comstock the pride of San Carlos..
Who did we get for trading Mitchell? All I can find is we traded him and Mike Remlinger to the Mariners for 3 pitchers.
Unbelievable how this series with the Cubs is setting up. In my opinion, the GMen are playing with house money so to speak and all the pressure is on the Cubs (with that 100 year plus WS “ZERO” anchored around their collective necks). In many ways, I’m seeing a “Steve Bartman” type incident in either our series against them or further down the line (if they get past us). I just don’t see them as having the Giants type panache or savoir faire we’ve had in our 3 WS runs. Just my take, but that trumps (God, I dislike that word) talent, which admittedly, they have in abundance.
And Cueto (beside Bum) is the perfect guy to throw out there. Cubs are going to be super tight. Cant wait for Cueto to start giving them the shimmy shakes and fuck with their heads. I wont call it, but I feel very good about tonight…
There would some symmetry and history to playing the Fodgers for the first time in a 7 game series but what if we lost and they moved on to the WS…F THEM. Go Nats. I think we would handle them easier…
And of course, needing the Rangers or Sox to move on, they both lose their openers. I did not see that.
I’m seeing the Giants hunt down Steve Bartman from the underground world and deck him out in Giants swag and have him throw out the 1 st pitch at ATT !!
Phenomenal idea!
Yeah, great idea AK . . . However, afterwards the FBI would have to put him in the Witness Protection Program, with the Giants funding the cost.
Otherwise, he’s dead meat – especially if the Cubs lose.
Cubs are a very very very good team, top to bottom. They are, and should be, favored. It’s the obnoxious arrogant fans that I’m hoping get quickly put in their place, kinda like when the Giants went into KC for game 1 of the ’14 Series, against a team that hadn’t lost a game yet in the playoffs… Playoff reality sometimes wears a San Francisco uniform….
Oh yeah…of course Will Clark and his grand slam are mybfirst memory of ’89, but was at the pennant clincher with the Thrill hitting one up the middle against Wild Thing.
The great unterchange with Kevin Mitchell and Thrill on deck circle as Wild Thing came in.
Mitchell: “We’ve got a job to do!!”
Thrill (with obvious nodding head dude authority): “It’s done!!”
I loved Mitchell as well. The baare-handed catch was that year as well as Dravecky’s awful injury. My ither highlight was being at the Stick in late Sept for a huge 9th inning comeback against the Fodgers..
Two lefties the Giants were chasing with varying degrees of interest are in the post season. Hamels got shelled yesterday and Lester’s 2015 performance was good but not as dominant as past years. It will be interesting to see how Moore, the lefty that Booby finally landed, performs. Samardzija in game two has a lot of backstory and drama. I wonder what he’s doing to prepare? Going into the cone of silence with his VanHalen & Def Leppard catalog? Mixing some Crue in there, maybe some Aerosmith?
Cueto has decent numbers at Wrigley. Taking the first game and playing downhill would be huge.
Obviously, it would be nice to at least get a split in Chicago, but I don’t think it’s an absolute necessity.
If Bum beats ’em in Game 3 it’s 2-1, which any series that isn’t over after 3 games has to be.
And then the media will start dredging up the Cubs ’84 choke job vs. Padres and the SF comebacks of 2012…
Well, I think we have a pretty good chance tonight with Johnny C going. We just beat Kershaw so we can certainly beat Lester . . .
12:20am Saigon time, time for bed, just saw that the game will be on here in the comfort of my living room on Fox Sports Asia at 8am when I wake up. Enjoy your day, Flappers, looking forward to this….
Is it still yesterday there or is it already tomorrow?
Hey Clown, how are you looking in regards to Matthew? Sounds like it might not turn east as quickly as they hoped and the Carolina’s could be getting some serious storm surge.
Yeah Joe, I just saw that a bit ago. We have a few more items to secure (mostly just chairs and tables on the front porch that we’ll just put in the house). I know we’ll get flooding no matter what (the canoe is at the ready). We’ve been hit with a few storms recently and the ground is pretty saturated so with the wind some trees might come down, but I think we’re in pretty good shape.
Thanks for asking.
NLDS roster:
OF (5)
Blanco
Hernandez
Pagan
Pence
Span
IF (6)
Belt
Crawford
Gillaspie
Nuñez
Panik
Tomlinson
Pitchers (12)
Blach
Bumgarner
Casilla
Cueto
Kontos
Law
Lopez
Moore
Romo
Samardzija
Smith
Strickland
Catchers (2)
Brown
Posey
I don’t understand how Blach is eligible. I thought you had to be on the roster prior to September 1st.
Maybe he was, although I see he didn’t debut till Sept. 5th…
Why Blach over Okert, Osich and even Guerrin?
No .000 too.
I guess they just really like Blach since he “pounds the zone”. He may get raked out of the pen but at least he’ll throw strikes. Bochy seems to have lost all confidence in Guerrin. Too bad as he was a key guy early in the year. Maybe he’s out of bullets or injured.
Maybe Blach is insurance if Cueto aggravates his injury. I still don’t get it…
I hated the Mitch trade at the time, but we got back Billy Swift, Dave Burba, and I think even one other arm. Swift was amazing for a couple of years and Burba had his moments, so it ended up being a good deal.
I have said this on here before, but Mitch’s younger brother DeAngelo played football at SDSU when I was there and we used to hang out and party some together. He was a good dude and every now and then Kevin would send him a nice stack of cash to have fun with.
Mike Jackson?
Anyone thinking of heading to the yard next week for games 3 & 4?
I guess the thought with Blach on the roster is that they know almost every game with the Cubs this year has been tight so would not be shocking to see one of these games go 14 plus innings. Well now we have a lefty who can 3-4 innings plus in relief. So I like the idea.
Still don’t like Smardjaramjam going Game 2.
I agree about Smardj, would much rather see him pitch at home.
Loo-Nice call on Mike Jackson. Shit, then that was a helluva trade. He was pretty damn good for us too and Dusty used him a ton.
Yeah, Jackson was one of the many keys to the success of the ’93 team. He missed part of that season with an injury, though, when he and Will Clark collided at first base on a freak play. Clark had botched a difficult short hop, and Clark, ball, baserunner, and Jackson all arrived at first base at the same time, and Jackson took the worst of it. That injury alone may have cost the Giants the division that year. Easy to play the “what if” game, though.
Zum… The big what if that year was SD trading Crimedog McGriff to the Braves. Without picking him up no way they beat the Giants for 1st place.
103 wins and you don’t make the playoffs. We could win 10 more rings in my lifetime and that would still bug the fuck out of me.
Shit, Dawg, that was the Billy Swift trade? I half-heartedly looked that up and couldn’t find out who we got for Mitchell. That ended up being a great deal for us. Al Rosen was pretty pissed of at Mitchell and couldn’t get rid of him fast enough.
My favorite Al Rosen story is when my brother and I were listening to an interview with him and he was talking about a player (I always forget if it was Dan Driessen or David Green) in the past tense, as if he was no longer on the team—-even though he WAS still on the team. It was obvious Rosen was done with the guy and he didn’t care who knew it A couple of weeks later he was gone. I think it was Green.
Al didn’t play around. In my opinion, he is one of the most significant figures in the history of the San Francisco Giants. The franchise made a major u turn under his watch and has never since sunk to the depths we experienced at times in the 70’s and 80’s.
The Smardj thing makes me wonder if it’s mainly a Bryant righty/righty thing. The Giants are determined to keep Bryant quiet in this series.
Cueto is either shit or great in the post season. I have no feeling about how he’s going to do tonight.
LA up 4-0 early…
Dogs up 4-0. I tell ya all the pressure is on these home teams. It may be better to start on the road. Scherzer getting rocked.
Be Good Johnny will be fine. 4-1 Giants.
I don’t think any of us were expecting the Nats to put up much of a fight in their series. They just can’t overcome their Nat-ishness. For all of Harper’s pre-season bluster, he laid an egg this season. Dusty can never seem to get over the hump, as a manager.
It would have been nice to have won the division and gotten the Nats in the first round. A missed opportunity.
I’m not rooting against the Dodgers because I almost think they would be easier than the Nats but with Kershaw at 51 pitches in the third inning already, their game is FAR from over.
Kershaw already at 51 pitches with 2 on and 1 out in 3rd…
GHead has it right. Blach on roster for long man or extra innings purposes. So said Bochy this morning in 15 min talk on KNBR. Check that audio replay on the website– best interview I’ve heard from Bochy, real look at hoe he does things. Funny bits, too…
I was hoping Noonie would be ready. We need to get Gorkys on and running and as much as small ball as we can…
Gorkys Hernandez (R)
Brandon Belt (L)
Buster Posey (R)
Hunter Pence (R)
Angel Pagan (S)
Brandon Crawford (L)
Kelby Tomlinson (R)
Conor Gillaspie (L)
Johnny Cueto (R)
Kershaw coughs up 2!
4-2
Ker-plop laboring again…
SPECS!!!! Spec yes!
If Nunie was ready, would he have started over hero Gillaspie?
I’d say probably yes – Bochy gets less sentimental in the postseason…
absolutely with lefty on the mound
I’m fine with Gorkey’s leading off. Just get on base, auto steal vs Lester.
Yup. Good to see Gorkys up there as well. Although Span has actually been hitting well lately. He’s inching out of the dog house.
Ker-plunk has nothing…
Ker-splat! 4-3.
Hard not to pull for Dusty. . . . Even more so against the dogs.
I thought Hep C was some kind of energy drink…
I bet you say that to all the girls . . .
Dirt, a dude at work might be getting tix. I’m not going to find out til Monday.
I’ve learned not to count on those “might be getting tix” dudes…
Well, that’s my shot, so . .. .
David Price looking to go 0-8 in postseason play. Down 6-0 top of the 8th.
It’s nice to achieve your goals…
Bochy said this am that Noonie not quite ready to start, but could PH and should be ready to play maybe by game #2 — and Gillaspie swinging bat really well anyway…
Why not just bunt on Lester a few times? With that phobia of throwing to first, WTF not? Or is that only on pick off throws?…
Gork should bunt in his first at bat.
this game is fucking interminable. What channel they put our game on when this one isn’t over by 6:00?
Murphy hasn’t played since mid-Sept. and he’s trying to steal second.
did Harold Reynolds tell us enough times that Murph didn’t have a big enough lead? I think he said it 9 times.
Volume is off, I can’t hear a thing, which sounds like a good thing.
He had a shitty lead as well. Dusty’s a little too aggro there.
The game is on MLB Network here…
Then they switch to Fox Sports 1 when LA game ends if I understood that right…
The great Billy Williams…
Too bad Greg Maddux couldn’t throw out the first pitch.
PSYCHIC FLAV STRIKES AGAIN!
that one seemed obvious to me.
A bunt..cant believe it…
Terrible jump by Dorky.
Was that a bad jump or just slow after his ankle was plowed into at first base???
Both
Nats lost.
I hope Cueto didn’t hurt his hand…
Cueto was just toying with them…
Time to string some together.
Damn.
Great catch!
Wow, a reverse Agee grab!
lotsa wasted chances
I don’t think Buster forgot how many outs there were. He was watching the play unfold in front of him, if Zobrist short hops that ball he could have also thrown him out at third base. Smart base running, IMO
He must’ve. He was just reaching third when Zobrist picked up the ball. Nobody’s that slow, not even Posey.
go look at the replay. He does a quick hesitate stutter step just as he hits second base. As he was approaching 3rd Kelly was clearly giving the stop sign
Agree Flav….
SPECS.
Come on Specs, get it started
John – how are you in relation to the hurricane?
Great snag by Specs to end the 4th!
Gorky did it like I said, the fast guys ought to bunt their asses off on this Lesterphuck. Make HIM make a play…
Maybe the key is to take Ross out…
Cueto is throwing harder than he has in a while.
I was thinking that earlier, LJ. I guess the rest helped…
Clown – how you doing in regards to the hurricane?
Hey Chi, like I mentioned above I think we’ll be OK. The tracking on Matthew has changed about a million times, so that has been frustrating. We have had so many storms recently that the ground is really saturated so we will flood no matter what the fucker does. One local report said we are expected to get a foot of rain and anywhere from two to six feet of flood surge, sustained winds anywhere from 45 to 70 (not a problem here except that the ground is so wet that trees can uproot). Again, the predictions have been all over the place with this bastard. All I know is I will either have a strong Tropical storm or a cat 1 or 2 hurricane tomorrow afternoon (or evening) and I’m not to worried about it.
Thanks for asking. Go Giants…
The Dreadlock Dandy is dealing…need to get him a run or two…
Cueto has already done his job.
Gyros need to score. Let’s get a dinger here…