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What a difference a decade makes...

It’s the 10-year anniversary of this article I found in the course of looking for a different article.

By Bryan Murphy
San Francisco Giants v Los Angeles Dodgers Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

Daniel Brown, who rather recently gained some fame national after writing this story, once wrote the following for the Mercury News:

50 years, 0 rings: The golden goose eggs of Giants’ half-century in S.F.

With due respect to all the thrills, the city has held precisely as many World Series victory parades as it did before the Giants arrived from New York in 1958, which is to say: zippo. The Dodgers, who moved west the same year, made Los Angeles wait mere months; they won it all in ’59, and have tacked on four more championships.

In honor of this golden anniversary, we look back at all the golden opportunities the Giants let slip away. Here, with help from an expert panel of orange-and-black grief counselors, are the 50 most frustrating experiences in San Francisco team history.

It’s a fun read and it’s nearly impossible to be as upset reading it now as it was back in 2008. Championships are Baseball’s aspirin. A lot happened in the years since and you could definitely write up a list of 60 Awesome Things About the Last 10 Years, which... I... guess... I will try to do now... but before I get to that (which won’t have explanations for each headline because I’m tired and I think everyone can remember vividly a lot of this recent history) I will say that we were angry Giants fans back then and Brown very capably channeled all of that into one helluva list. This will only be a helluva list because, my god, a lot has happened in just 10 years.

(Oh, and if I just mention a player signing or draftee, my intention is to simply say, “And remember everything that came with said player”)

  1. Dodgers hire Don Mattingly (2008)
  2. Bill Neukom becomes managing general partner (2008)
  3. Giants draft Buster Posey (2008)
  4. Giants draft Brandon Crawford (2008)
  5. Pablo Sandoval becomes a force of nature (2008)
  6. Tim Lincecum wins the Cy Young Award (2008)
  7. Edgar Renteria signs a 2-year deal (2008)
  8. Juan Uribe signs minor league deal (2009)
  9. Giants draft Brandon Belt (2009)
  10. Jonathan Sanchez pitches a no-hitter (2009)
  11. Giants trade for Freddy Sanchez (2009)
  12. Tim Lincecum wins the Cy Young Award (2009)
  13. Sign Santiago Casilla to a minor league deal (2010)
  14. Aubrey Huff’s inside the park home run (2010)
  15. Sign Pat Burrell (2010)
  16. Andres Torres becomes a thing (2010)
  17. Trade for Javier Lopez (2010)
  18. Bruce Bochy reminds Don Mattingly of the mound visit rules (2010)
  19. Brooks Conrad (2010)
  20. Jeremy Affeldt stays in the ‘pen, stays calm in relief (2010)
  21. “Lights” becomes part of the AT&T Park experience (2010)
  22. Giants win their first World Series in San Francisco (2010)
  23. Ryan Vogelsong returns (2011)
  24. “The Franchise” TV show, because it gave us Andres Torres throwing cinder blocks (2011)
  25. Draft Joe Panik (2011)
  26. Trade for Carlos Beltran (2011)
  27. Release Aaron Rowand (2011)
  28. Trade for Ángel Pagán (2012)
  29. Matt Cain pitches a perfect game (2012)
  30. Trade for Hunter Pence (2012)
  31. Buster Posey vs. Mat Latos (2012)
  32. Giants stun the Reds (2012)
  33. #RallyZito (2012)
  34. Marco Scutaro’s NLCS and that pose in the rain (2012)
  35. Pablo Sandoval homers 3 times in the World Series (2012)
  36. Sergio Romo strikes out Miguel Cabrera / Giants win World Series (2012)
  37. Buster Posey is the MVP (2012)
  38. Angel Pagan’s walk-off inside the park home run (2013)
  39. Tim Lincecum pitches a no-hitter against the Padres (2013)
  40. Marco Scutaro rain globe (2013)
  41. Giants beat Dodgers @ Dodger Stadium 19-3 (2013)
  42. Tim Lincecum pitches a no-hitter against the Padres (2014)
  43. Trade for Jake Peavy (2014)
  44. Brandon Crawford’s Wild Card Game grand slam (2014)
  45. Brandon Belt’s extra inning home run (2014)
  46. Upsetting the Nationals (2014)
  47. Michael Morse’s game-tying home run (2014)
  48. Literally Travish Ishikawa (2014)
  49. Madison Bumgarner becomes a playoff legend (2014)
  50. Giants win their third World Series in San Francisco (2014)
  51. Tim Flannery (2007-2014)
  52. Chris Heston pitches a no-hitter (2015)
  53. Brandon Crawford has 7 hits in a game (2016)
  54. Skeeter [rest in peace] (2015)
  55. Full Clubhouse (2015)
  56. Giants sign Johnny Cueto (2016)
  57. Conor Gillaspie nearly wins it all for them (2016)
  58. Madison Bumgarner hits two home runs on Opening Day (2017)
  59. Joe Panik beats Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen to open the season (2018)
  60. The best show on TV, FX’s The Americans, makes a reference to the 1987 team (2018)

And I bet there’s so many more I’ve missed. The point is... my goodness, we are spoiled.

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