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 6pm to see the next two moments you can vote on! Then, after the Giants and Nationals conclude, tune into Postgame Live to see which moment will move on to the next round! Make your vote count!
1. Cody Ross' two home runs off Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the 2010 NLCS (Four-time winner -- defeated First game in San Francisco -- An 8-0 win over the Dodgers at Seals Stadium in 1958)
(From Cody Ross)
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'Best memory out of the 60 hands down'
In Game 1 of the NLCS we had the hardest matchup that we were going to face the entire playoffs. We were staring down the Late Roy Halladay, who in my opinion was the best pitcher I’ve ever faced. He threw a Perfect Game against me when I was on the Marlins earlier in the year and was coming off a no-hitter in the NLDS against the Reds in his previous start. Not to mention he’s a 2x Cy Young award winner and an 8x All-Star.
As I walk to the plate in the 3rd inning of a 0-0 game I’m realizing Roy has not given up a hit yet again. He was one of those pitchers who had a chance to throw a no-hitter every time he took the mound. That’s how good he was. Up until this point, I had tried every approach with little-to-no success against him. I tried to work the counts and see pitches, stay inside the ball and hit it the other way, stay up the middle, etc etc... none of these seemed to get the job done. Finally that cold October night I said to myself, “Just try and hit a home run”... and all of a sudden on a 1-1 count I swung as hard as I could and “Bang! A HR!” The best contact I’d ever had against Roy and I was just as surprised as anybody in the ballpark or the millions watching on TV. I couldn’t feel my legs running around the bases and couldn’t believe what just happened. It was the first hit he had given up in the playoffs and it was a go-ahead home run to put us up 1-0 with Tim Lincecum also throwing a gem.
As I stepped up to the plate in the top of the 5th the game was tied 1-1. At this point I had a ton of confidence and felt like nobody could get me out. I went with the same approach of trying to hit a home run and on a 2-0 pitch the unthinkable happened again! Hard contact and I see the ball flying over the left field fence. I took a peek at Roy and he was in disbelief just as I was.
San Francisco Giants
There are many memorable playoff HR stories but it’s hard to find one against one of the most dominating pitchers in this era. It will definitely go down as one of my greatest baseball memories. I hope all the Giants fans enjoyed it as much as I did.
VS.
2. Mike Ivie's grand slam off Don Sutton in front of record crowd at Candlestick in 1978
(From Alex Pavlovic)
The Giants sold out AT&T Park for 530 consecutive games this decade, but those crowds didn’t compare to the one that was on hand when Mike Ivie led a thrilling win over the Dodgers on May 28, 1978.
In front of 56,103 at Candlestick Park, Ivie hit a grand slam off Don Sutton. With the Giants trailing 3-1 in the sixth, Ivie pinch-hit for shortstop Vic Harris. Darrell Evans, Jack Clark and Larry Herndon had all singled to load the bases before Ivie’s slam, which was the big blast in a 6-5 win.
The pinch-hit homer was part of a trend. Ivie, a former first-round pick of the Padres, was 12 for 31 as a pinch-hitter in 1978, with four homers and 20 RBI. Ivie had a more consistent role the next season and hit 27 homers.
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