Today is the 15th anniversary of the “Brian Johnson Game”!
Were you there?
I was at Candlestick that day, upper deck, left-center field with three friends from work. To this day it’s the most exciting baseball game I’ve ever been to. One of those friends is now my wife and we celebrated our 10th anniversary this year. At that game, we weren’t dating yet.
I will paste a game summary I wrote, and the box score (text only, poorly formatted - sorry), below my signature.
So, where were you? Share your experiences. We might even hear from some Marlins fans :smack:
Go Giants!
Signed,
echo7tango
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(Summary and box score follows)
“The Brian Johnson Game”
LA Dodgers @ SF Giants
1305 Thu 18-Sep-1997
Leading off the bottom of the 12th inning, Giants Catcher Brian Johnson hits the first pitch off of Mark Guthrie into the left field bleachers to win the game @ Candlestick (3Com).
==> Roy, Theresa, Laima, Carl (upper deck, left center field seats)
Game Summary: The Giants trailed the 1st-place Dodgers by 2 games when LA came to Candlestick Park (okay, then called 3Com Park) for a 2-game series. The Giants won the first game, 2-1, to close to 1 game behind.
Game 2 of 2:
End of 1st: 1-1 tie
End of 5th: 5-1, SF leads
End of 7th: 5-5, Dodgers tie it
10th: SF closer Rod Beck gives up three consecutive singles to Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, and Raul Mondesi to load the bases with no outs. Manager Dusty Baker leaves Beck in the game. Beck then strikes out Todd Zeile. With future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray at bat, Murray grounds into a 4-2-3 double play to end the inning (Jeff Kent to Brian Johnson to JT Snow).
11th: Beck pitches perfect inning
12th: Beck pitches perfect inning
Bottom of 12th, score is still 5-5: Brian Johnson homers on Mark Guthrie’s first and only pitch of the game. GAME OVER - the crowd went WILD!!
Rod Beck pitched three scoreless innings to get the win, but that 10th inning was a nail-biter.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C – R H E
LA 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 – 5 15 1
SF 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 6 12 1
3Com Park
Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants
September 18, 1997 Box Score
Starting Lineup, LA Dodgers:
P: Tom Candiotti
C: Mike Piazza
1B: Eric Karros
2B: Eric Young
3B: Todd Zeile
SS: Juan Castro
LF: Darren Lewis
CF: Otis Nixon
RF: Raul Mondesi
Los Angeles Dodgers AB R H RBI
Young 2b 6 1 2 0
Nixon cf 6 2 1 1
Piazza c 6 0 3 2
Karros 1b 6 1 3 1
Mondesi rf 5 0 2 0
Zeile 3b 5 0 2 1
Lewis lf 3 0 0 0
Dreifort p 0 0 0 0
Radinsky p 1 0 0 0
Osuna p 0 0 0 0
Murray ph 1 0 0 0
Worrell p 0 0 0 0
Guthrie p 0 0 0 0
Castro ss 0 0 0 0
Guerrero ph 1 0 0 0
Gagne ss 2 0 0 0
Candiotti p 2 0 1 0
Reyes p 0 0 0 0
Ingram lf 0 0 0 0
Hollandsworth
ph,lf 3 1 1 0
Totals 49 5 15 5
Starting Lineup, SF Giants:
P: Terry Mulholland
C: Brian Johnson
1B: JT Snow
2B: Jeff Kent
3B: Bill Mueller
SS: Jose Vizcaino
LF: Barry Bonds
CF: Darryl Hamilton
RF: Glenallen Hill
San Francisco Giants AB R H RBI
Hamilton cf 3 1 1 0
Lewis, Mark ph 1 0 0 0
Powell, Dante cf 0 0 0 0
Benard, Marvin ph,rf 1 0 0 0
Mueller 3b 5 1 2 0
Bonds lf 3 2 2 3
Hill rf 2 0 1 1
Javier,Stan ph,rf,cf 3 0 0 0
Kent 2b 5 0 1 0
Snow 1b 5 1 1 1
Vizcaino ss 5 0 1 0
Johnson c 5 1 3 1
Mulholland p 3 0 0 0
Tavarez, Julian p 0 0 0 0
Hernandez, Roberto p 0 0 0 0
Cruz, Jacob ph 0 0 0 0
Henry, Doug p 0 0 0 0
Berryhill, Damon ph 1 0 0 0
Beck, Rod p 0 0 0 0
Totals 42 6 12 6
LA Dodgers IP H R ER BB SO
Tom Candiotti 4.1 10 5 5 1 3
Dennys Reyes 1.0 0 0 0 4 0
Darren Dreifort 1.0 1 0 0 2 3
Scott Radinsky 1.2 0 0 0 2 0
Antonio Osuna 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
Todd Worrell 2.0 0 0 0 1 2
Mark Guthrie 0.0 1 1 1 0 0
L (1-4)
Totals 11.0 12 6 6 10 10
SF Giants IP H R ER BB SO
Terry Mulholland 6.0 8 3 1 0 6
Julian Tavarez 0.1 2 2 2 0 1
Roberto Hernandez 0.2 1 0 0 0 1
Doug Henry 2.0 1 0 0 0 3
Rod Beck 3.0 3 0 0 0 2
W (6-4)
Totals 12.0 15 5 3 0 13
E–Zeile (25), Snow (6).
DP–Los Angeles 2, San Francisco 3.
PB–Piazza (10).
2B–Los Angeles Zeile (17,off Mulholland).
3B–San Francisco Bonds (4,off Candiotti).
HR–Los Angeles Nixon (1,1st inning off Mulholland 0 on, 1 out), San Francisco Snow (26,4th inning off Candiotti 0 on, 0 out); Bonds (35,5th inning off Candiotti 2 on, 0 out); Johnson (10,12th inning off Guthrie 0 on, 0 out).
SH–Mueller (6,off Reyes).
IBB–Johnson (7,by Reyes); Bonds (33,by Reyes); Kent (6,by Radinsky).
SB–Young 2 (44,2nd base off Hernandez/Johnson,2nd base off Henry/Johnson); Hill (5,2nd base off Candiotti/Piazza).
WP–Mulholland (3).
BK–Reyes (1).
IBB–Reyes 2 (3,Johnson,Bonds); Radinsky (5,Kent).
U-HP–Mark Hirschbeck, 1B–Brian Gorman, 2B–Charlie Williams, 3B–Bruce Froemming.
T–4:08. A–52,188.