PROGRAMMING NOTE: NBC Sports Bay Area is looking back at the Giants' 60 Memorable Moments since the franchise moved from New York to San Francisco. Tune into Giants Pregame Live at 6 p.m. to see the next two moments you can vote on! Then, after the Giants and Cardinals conclude, tune into Postgame Live to see which moment will move on.
1. Matt Cain's Perfect Game in 2012 (Two-time winner -- Defeated Will Clark's grand slam off Greg Maddux in Game 1 of the 1989 NLCS)
(From Matt Cain - Giants Pitcher from 2005 to 2017)
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The Perfect Game was one of the most memorable nights of my playing career.
I had always dreamed of throwing a no-hitter. I had come so close so many times throughout my career and in my younger years, but never had one.
The ballpark was so electric that night. We had the TaylorMade guys out hitting golf balls. Dustin Johnson hitting monster drives into McCovey Cove, and I snuck one good swing in there as well.
Pretty surreal day. I still think back to all the plays and pitches during that game. To have every single player on the same wave length and all realizing what was unfolding is truly something special. Everyone likes to say I pitched a perfect game and I get the credit for it but I’m in debt to everyone of the guys who made a play behind me , one that still doesn’t make sense in right center field, and I owe the most to the guy who called 125 perfect pitches behind the plate.
San Francisco Giants
Thanks to all the fans that have come up to me and shared there story about that night. So fun to hear them all!!
VS.
2. Giants' 2012 NLDS Game 5 win against the Reds featuring Buster Posey's grand slam and Sergio Romo's battle with Jay Bruce
(From Alex Pavlovic)
Ryan Hanigan is now a Triple-A catcher for the Giants, which means there's a good chance he's up in September to provide depth. If that's the case, Hanigan will share the clubhouse with a fellow catcher who made Hanigan one of the defining images of a huge moment in Giants history.
The Giants overcame a two-game deficit to force Game 5 against the favored Reds in the 2012 NLDS. Buster Posey put an exclamation point on the comeback in the fifth inning. With the Giants leading 2-0 and the bases loaded, Posey, the National League's MVP that season, crushed a Mat Latos fastball deep into the left field seats. Latos and Hanigan knew it right away. The pitcher walked off the mound immediately and Hanigan dropped his head in disgust, walking away from the plate, where Posey took a couple of slow steps before going into his jog.
The Giants led 6-0, but the series wasn't over. The Reds scored two in the bottom of the inning and one in the sixth, setting the stage for an epic showdown. Sergio Romo came on for the bottom of the ninth and ran into trouble. With one out and two on, Jay Bruce represented the winning run, and Bruce and Romo had a 12-pitch battle that ended with a harmless fly ball to left.
"With Romo, there was obviously a ton of tension just because you knew the guys they had coming up, and with one swing of the bat the game could have been over," Posey said recently. "That definitely added to the angst."
Romo then struck out Scott Rolen, and the Giants became the first team in MLB history to wipe out a two-game deficit in a best of five series by winning three straight on the road. They were on the NLCS, where there would be another comeback en route to a second title in three years.
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