April 17-Giants 4 Cubs 3

Dick Dietz drew a based loaded walk with two out in the bottom of the ninth to complete a three run inning and lift the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.

The Giants entered the inning down 3-1 against Chicago closer Phil Regan,but used four consecutive singles to tie the game before Dave Kingman's strikeout set the stage for the Dietz walk.
Don McMahon moved to 2-0 on the season with a scoreless eighth and ninth.
The Giants improved to 8-3 on the season and will play a doubleheader tomorrow to finish the series against the Cubs.....

April 16-Giants 5 Cubs 4

A pitchers duel was broken up in the ninth inning by both the San Francisco Giants and the visiting Chicago Cubs and when the smoke cleared a 2-1 Giants lead had become a 5-2 Cubs lead before the Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth off Chicago closer Phil Regan.
Two out singles by pinch hitter Fran Healy,Tito Fuentes and then the game winning walkoff hit by Ken Henderson gave the Giants the win..
Fuentes finished with three hits on the day with a stolen base as well
The Giants took a blow to the lineup when first Willie McCovey pulled a leg muscle and will miss the next five games.
Dave Kingman is expected to take the place of the lefty slugger at first base during those five games.
Juan Marichal went the distance for the Giants in evening his record at 1-1 with striking out eight batters.
Game two of the set continues at the Stick......

April 15-Giants 1 Astros 0

Bobby Bonds fielders choice in the seventh inning scored Ken Henderson from third for the only run of the game as the Giants dropped Houston 1-0 at the Stick.
Henderson had led off the inning with a double for the only extra base hit and then moved to third on a Willie McCovey fielders choice.
John Cumberland improved to 2-0 with a four hit shutout and struck out two.
Ken Forsch was the hard luck loser for the Astros in allowing the only run on just two hits.
6-3 San Francisco will be welcoming the Chicago Cubs to the Stick for a four game series...

April 14-Astros 5 Giants 4

The Houston Astros scored all five of their runs off Ron Bryant (0-2) in the sixth inning and held off a late Giants rally for a 5-4 win at Candlestick Park.
The Giants scored a run in the eighth and two runs in the ninth to toss the scare into the Astros.
Jack Billingham was the winner for Houston pitching into the ninth before Fred Gladding finished the game in earning the save.
San Francisco drops to 5-3 on the season with the loss.
The series continues at the Stick.

April 12-Giants 2 Padres 1

Over 13 innings,the San Francisco Giants corralled just two hits off three San Diego Padres pitchers.
Both left Candlestick Park and that was enough for the Giants to win their home opener 2-1.
Dick Dietz broke up Clay Kirby's no-hit attempt with his solo homer in the eighth (1) and Bobby Bonds hit the game winner (1) off Al Severinsen in the thirteenth.
Frank Reberger picked up the win in relief with two scoreless innings (1-0),
Gaylord Perry pitched eleven innings and allowed just four hits,with one of them a solo homer to the Giant killer-Nate Colbert.
Clay Kirby allowed just the Dietz run/hit and struck out eight Giants for San Diego.
Apparently,the next game against the Padres was cancelled as this is the only game in the game by game recap.
The Giants host the Houston Astros next series.....

April 11 Game 2--Giants 5 Cardinals 1

The pitching matchup between Juan Marichal and Bob Gibson proved to be all that was anticipated as both threw nine innings and allowed just one run and neither was involved in the decision as the second game of the doubleheader went to extra innings.
The Giants took game two with a four run 12th inning that was led by Willie Mays drilling a two run double to take the lead followed by Willie McCovey's two run single.
Willie McCovey finished the game with four hits for San Francisco to lead the Giant offense.
Juan Marichal pitched nine innings allowing just one run,scattering eleven hits and struck out five to counter the Cardinals Bob Gibson.
Gibson pitched the same nine innings and allowed just one run off seven hits.
Gibson struck out seven Giants before leaving the game.
Steve Hamilton pitched the tenth and eleventh to gain his first win of the season (1-0) and Jerry Johnson fired a scoreless twelfth inning for the save (3).
The 4-2 Giants finally make their home debut against San Diego in their next game.....

April 11 Game 1-Giants 9 Cardinals 6

Tito Fuentes smashed a two run RBI triple to lead a four run Giant ninth off Cardinal closer Frank Linzy and lift the San Francisco Giants to a 9-6 win over the St.Louis Cardinals in the first game of the doubleheader in St.Louis.
The Cardinals scored five runs in the first two innings off spot starter Steve Stone before the Giants tied the game with a five run fourth inning.
Shortstop Chris Speier's triple cleared the loaded bases to pace the Giants in the fourth.
Don McMahon relieved Stone with a scoreless eighth inning to pick up the win (1-0) and Jerry Johnson pitched the ninth for his second save of the season.
Joe Hague homered for the Cardinals in the loss.
The Giants improve to 3-2 on the season before game two of the twinbill with the marquee' matchup of Juan Marichal vs Bob Gibson .

April 10-Giants 1 Cardinals 0

The San Francisco Giants scraped up one run against the St.Louis Cardinals.
It was enough to win as Tito Fuentes' RBI single that scored Dick Dietz in the second inning held up and evened the Giants record at 2-2 on the season.
John Cumberland (1-0) went the distance for San Francisco,allowing just six scattered Redbird singles in the shutout.
Jerry Reuss was the hard luck loser for St.Louis as Reuss went eight innings and struck out 12 Giants to go with allowing the single run.
The teams will hook em' up in a doubleheader tomorrow.

John Cumberland is in the 1971 set,but his hat is without a logo and airbrushed,so I chose the 1972 card that shows him in a Giants uniform.....

April 8th-Padres 2 Giants 1

The San Francisco Giants dropped the rubber match of their three game series in San Diego as the Padres dropped the Giants 2-1.
Steve Arlin was the winning hurler for San Diego allowing just one run in seven and two thirds innings with eight strikeouts.
The Giants scored their only run off Arlin in the eighth inning on a Bobby Bonds sacrifice fly that scored Ken Henderson from third.
The Giants loaded the bases later in the eighth and chased Arlin before Al Severinsen retired Dick Dietz on a flyball to Ivan Murrell to end the inning.
Ron Bryant was the loser (0-1) allowing the first Padre run in a six inning evening.
The Giants travel to St.Louis for a three game in two days series before their first homestand of the season...

Whenever possible,I'll be using pictures from the 1971 Topps set.
Steve Arlin was not in that set,so we will use the best available card in these situations.....

April 7th-Giants 8 Padres 2

The San Francisco Giants scored seven runs in their final two at bats to rally to their first win of the season over the San Diego Padres in San Diego.

Tito Fuentes and Ken Henderson each drove in two runs in the late stretch to lead the Giants.
Fuentes led the Giants with three hits on the night.
Gaylord Perry struck out eleven over seven innings in earning the win to move to 1-0.
Jerry Johnson pitched the final two innings to earn the save

The Padres scored their only runs with Nate Colbert's second homer in two days off Perry in the bottom of the first.

The series finishes tomorrow in San Diego before the Giants travel to St.Louis for a series against the Cardinals....

April 6-Padres 2 Giants 0

The 1971 season kicked off in San Diego as the Giants were shut out by Dave Roberts and the Padres 2-0.
Roberts tossed a complete game that saw the Giants nick him for just four hits.
Willie Mays tripled with two out in the first,but a follow up strikeout by Willie McCovey ended the threat.
The Giants would fail to have another runner reach third against Roberts.
Juan Marichal was the loser (0-1) as he allowed two runs in a seven inning outing.
Marichal had some control issues as he walked four Padres along with striking out five.

The series continues with Gaylord Perry for the Giants against San Diego's Clay Kirby...

Welcome !

This is a spot for me to document my Strat O Matic replay season of the 1971 San Francisco Giants.
Why the Giants?
Well,the Pirates won the World Championship and the Giants won the National League West although they did not run away with the division for sure.
That is unless you consider a one game margin over the Dodgers to be a runway win.

The Giants feature four future Hall of Famers in Willie Mays,Willie McCovey,Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry and the season is essentially the last hurrah for both Mays and Marichal as well as the Giants.

The Giants would finish 69-86 in 1972 and would post just two winning records in the remaining seasons of the 1970's as well as being threatened consistently with being moved from San Francisco,including a near miss with becoming the Toronto Giants.

I'll be updating when I play games,I will be writing a short summary,but no box scores and a running total of the season record with each game.
Some times I play a lot,others not so much,so the updates will ebb and flow with these times
I am not sure how many stats I will be adding for each game,perhaps a stat update every seven to ten games or so.

Hope this is fun,I always enjoy my replay seasons and I am looking forward to this one!

Shawn