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 Pregame Live at 6pm to see the next two moments you can vote on! Then, after the Giants and Padres 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 (Defeated Chris Heston's no-hitter against the Mets in 2015 on Thursday)
(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. Juan Uribe's two home runs in one inning against the Cubs in 2010
(From former Giants third base coach Tim Flannery)
With a week left to play in the 2010 season, we chased and caught the first place San Diego Padres, We couldn’t afford to lose any games.
At Wrigley Field facing the Cubs and veteran pitcher Ryan Dempster, Juan Uribe took matters into his own hands in the 2nd inning.
He went deep with a 2-run home run. It got us rolling. Then after batting around in the inning and chasing the veteran Dempster out of the game, it was Uribe again in the same inning hitting his second home run, lifting a curveball up and out of the “friendly confines” for a grand slam that gave him 6 RBI in the inning and the Giants nine runs. We went on to win the game, and the Western Division.
Juan Uribe ignited us that day and made us all believe we couldn’t be stopped. Uribe went on to hit the deciding homer in Philly to get us in the World Series and hit another in Texas to help us win it all. Together in 2010, we became the first team in San Francisco Giant history to win a World Championship. They called us “a bunch of misfits.” Uribe and the boys wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
VOTE HERE: Which #SFGiants 60th Anniversary moment was more memorable?
The winning moment will move on to the next matchup next week.