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1/2 Season Review: The Best Games

This post, along with its brother (the worst games), serves as a recap of the best Giants games of the year so far at this halfway point. Please feel free to read up, look at the box scores, and vote copiously for the game you feel was the best so far.

Star-divide

April 7th, 2009 (Opening Day) – Giants 10, Brewers 6  – Travis Ishikawa hit a 3-run triple, and Randy Winn, Bengie Molina, and Aaron Rowand all homered. Only bad part was Lincecum staying in for only 3 innings. Notable: one of only four games this year where the Giants have been able to score 10 or more runs.

April 17th, 2009 – Giants 2, D-Backs 0 – Jonathan Sanchez actually pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball, Andres Torres hit "the world’s fastest home run," and the Giants pulled themselves out of their season-opening 2-7 slide.

April 19th, 2009 – Giants 2, D-Backs 0 – Randy Johnson, Bob Howry, and Brian Wilson combined on a 1-hit shutout. Pablo "Sanchez" Sandoval went 3-4 and Fred Lewis was still hitting .395.

May 12th, 2009 – Giants 9, Nationals 7 – Pablo Sandoval hit a walk-off 3-run HR on a 2-2 pitch with two outs, complete with iconic bat-flip, and the Giants scored 7 of their 9 runs with two outs.

June 4th, 2009 – Giants 5, Nationals 1 – Randy Johnson won his 300th game, and Brian Wilson struck out 4 Nats for all of his 4 outs, preserving what was once a close 2-1 game.

June 12th, 2009 – Giants 3, Athletics 0 – Tim Lincecum pitched a complete game shutout and the offense was good enough.

June 23rd, 2009 – Giants 4, Athletics 1 – Timmy pitches another complete game and strikes out 12 A’s, Nate Schierholtz rips three hits.

June 29th, 2009 – Giants 10, Cardinals 0 – Some guy named Tim Lincecum pitches a complete-game 2-hit shutout, and the Giants offense explodes, touching a mysterious white pentagon many times.

First two games of the Astros series, July 3-4th, 2009 - Giants 22, Astros 0 - Tim Lincecum and Ryan Sadowski combine for 14 shutout innings, the Giants offense becomes suddenly potent, as Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa each go yard and 27 hits are produced, and the Astros sputter in every possible way, creating a perfect storm of delicious baseball.

Preset_tim-2-748708_medium

via www.mlbfrontoffice.com


Poll
What was the best Giants game of the first 81?
April 7th vs. Brewers (Opening Day)
2 votes
April 17th vs. D-Backs
1 votes
April 19th vs. D-Backs
1 votes
May 12th vs. Nationals
76 votes
June 4th vs. Nationals
1 votes
June 12th vs. Athletics
8 votes
June 23rd vs. Athletics
6 votes
June 29th vs. Cardinals
39 votes
July 3-4th vs. Astros
17 votes
Not Represented (I can add more if the need arises)
6 votes

157 votes | Poll has closed

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

1 recs  |  Comment 31 comments

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Open GDT III

Sep 2009 by jponry - 1062 comments

Comments

Display:

This

makes me :)

The San Francisco Giants: Where old men go to die.

by GrahamCrakalaka on Jul 5, 2009 4:09 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

May 12 v. Washington

That game holds personal significance for me

Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
McCC = McClain Chronicles

by Useful_Idiot on Jul 5, 2009 4:16 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

That also seems like the day that Panda broke out

The San Francisco Giants: Where old men go to die.

by GrahamCrakalaka on Jul 5, 2009 4:27 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

May 12th easily

followed by June 29th

Chris Dominguez: Bringing dingerz back to The Bay (In a while)

by CB30 on Jul 5, 2009 4:20 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

motherfucking Panda

Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.
PABLO SANDOVAL AM STEAL DEATH, DESTROYER OF WORLDS.

by jponry on Jul 5, 2009 4:56 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

The Panda walkoff was definitely the most exciting, but the Timmy CGSO was the most consistantly entertaining. I spent most of the Nats game swearing out the Giants for even being tied with the Nationals that long. It wasn’t exciting until the end, when Pablo launched the walkoff. The Cards game, on the other hand, was more thoroughly enjoyable because Tim cornholed the Cards the entire game. And so did the Giants offense. The Cards went home that day very, very sore.

Semi-proud adoptive father of Scott "Aaron" Barnes.

by boonitez on Jul 5, 2009 5:48 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

June 12th because it shut up some A’sshole fans.

BTW, the photo above may need to go. You can’t have a 15 year old dressed like that. That is pretty close to child porn.

by SFGuy on Jul 5, 2009 6:06 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

better?

44-36 - Giants Series Record: 15-7-4, 11-2 at home

Adopted Giant: Daryl "Dealio" Maday - 3.63 ERA, .259 BAA, crappy 1.68 K/BB ratio in Norwich. OK.

by rhys on Jul 5, 2009 6:09 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Where's the Matt Cain love?

The shutout (although not a CG) against the Mets was pretty cool. I voted for the June 12th game though, since I was at that one.

by Natto on Jul 5, 2009 6:28 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Also

Matt Cain’s CG against the Mariners since it was the only game the Giants won in that series, and it was the first CG for the Giants for the season (I think).

by Natto on Jul 5, 2009 7:50 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I vote for the Matt Cain shutout of the Mets, but mainly because I was there and snagged a Timmy bobblehead.

"He is Tim Lincecum...the Most Interesting Pitcher in the World."

by Kitspool on Jul 6, 2009 2:44 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yeah

You being there made the game so much better.

My adopted Giant: "Raptor Jesus" Guzman

by Goofus on Jul 6, 2009 2:48 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

With me there, Kevin Frandsen played a solid SS and hit some hard grounders. Without me there, Kevin Frandsen is playing in Fresno. To quote Grant, “That’s not me talking; that’s science.”

"He is Tim Lincecum...the Most Interesting Pitcher in the World."

by Kitspool on Jul 6, 2009 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Sounds like voodoo that you do

My adopted Giant: "Raptor Jesus" Guzman

by Goofus on Jul 6, 2009 3:37 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I voted June 12

Tim was magic that game.

I didn’t vote for the Panda walkoff game b/c the game kinda sucked until that moment. We had a 5-1 lead going to the 7th and allowed 6 friggin’ runs in the 7th and 8th. But I guess we just recall the spectacular ending.

Bonds stands alone.

Neal before Zod!
Official Sponsor of the 1997 San Francisco Giants

by nostocksjustbonds on Jul 5, 2009 7:09 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

The shift from complete failure to euphoria is what made it special in my mind

Chris Dominguez: Bringing dingerz back to The Bay (In a while)

by CB30 on Jul 5, 2009 7:52 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I voted for the Panda game, but I have to stick up for RJ’s 300th Win, in part because I was there and it was really a fun atmosphere (for the couple hundred there) and it was also pretty consistently entertaining, especially the 8th inning with the controversial strike 3 call on Dunn. So yeah for Randy.

A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.

by Roger on Jul 5, 2009 7:37 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I voted 6.29

Timmy best start ever + offensive explosion. No drama, just dominance.

by positiveuphemism on Jul 5, 2009 8:39 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

May 10

I just like beating the Dodgers.

The timing couldn’t have been better for the San Francisco Giants, who came into Dodger Stadium for a three-game series just one day after Manny Ramirez(notes) received a 50-game suspension for using a banned drug.

The Giants took two of three against their archrivals, who were off to their best start in 26 years. In Sunday’s series finale, Randy Winn(notes) hit a tiebreaking two-run single with the bases loaded in the 13th inning and finished with four hits in San Francisco’s 7-5 victory.

The defending NL West champion Dodgers are 1-3 since their slugging left fielder was suspended.

by paboperfecto on Jul 6, 2009 5:35 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

this

On 5/7, the best part of waking is up LOLDGERS in my cup.

by GameSix on Jul 6, 2009 7:56 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I believe this was also the game with Casey Blake’s tying HR off Brian Wilson, followed by Blake’s dugout mockery of Wilson’s post-save gesture.

Disfrute Los Gigantes every day at www.leftymalo.com

by leftymalo on Jul 6, 2009 1:30 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Dude...

That game totally should have been added.
That was a crazy exciting game, and they beat the bums.

by AmorVincitOmnia on Jul 6, 2009 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

June 23

I was there with my #55 jersey!

For two of the last three trips I made to San Francisco, the Giants were on the road the entire time. At least this last trip I got to see them – and Tim! – in Oakland.

by North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan on Jul 6, 2009 9:10 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

We were in Jamaica for the Panda walkoff, but I saw the highlights on ESPN without knowing the outcome. Even seeing it like that, I was hollerin’ with excitement.

My adopted Giant: "Raptor Jesus" Guzman

by Goofus on Jul 6, 2009 12:17 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I didn’t know there were pandas in Jamaica.

"He is Tim Lincecum...the Most Interesting Pitcher in the World."

by Kitspool on Jul 6, 2009 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

yea man!

My adopted Giant: "Raptor Jesus" Guzman

by Goofus on Jul 6, 2009 2:49 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yah mon!

NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?

by victor frankenstein on Jul 6, 2009 5:54 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Did you partake in Jamaica’s national uhhhh “plant”???

by SFGuy on Jul 7, 2009 1:22 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

It's too bad

that Panda’s best offensive games were ones that the Giants lost.

If the Giants would have ended up beating the Angels and the Brewers in those games, they would have definitely been added to this list.

by AmorVincitOmnia on Jul 6, 2009 2:11 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

June 23...

Timmy got back to back double plays to end the inning in consecutive innings on the way to a complete game 12k performance.. you have no idea how much i was talking while i was at that game." DOUBLE PLAY AGAIN?? HEARTBREAAAAK IN OAKLANDD, HEARTBREAAAAK IN OAKLANDD "

by dez4o8 on Jul 6, 2009 2:13 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

After the cheers for Giambi’s HR, I started chanting “WE’RE STILL WINNING.” The GIDP by Garciaparra was the best – they brought him in to pinch hit. AthLOLtics

by North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan on Jul 6, 2009 3:45 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

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