September 9th, 2012 at 9:16 am 
by Ron Cervenka We all know that there are few absolutes in life – death, taxes, and the Cubs winning a World Series title. Well there’s another one that you can add to this list – Dodgers vs. Giants one-run games. And while I make light of this phenomena, it is pretty much a fact.
The Dodgers vs. Giants one-run game phenomena really popped up on everyone’s radar last season when eventual 2011 Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw defeated former two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (’08 and ’09) in all four of their 2011 meetings. It was the absolute highlight of an otherwise dismal 2011 season for the third place Dodgers (except for that Matt Kemp fellow, of course). The final scores in those four remarkable games were 2-1, 1-0, 2-1, and 2-1 respectively.
According to Dodgers-Giants.com, in the 128-year history of these two bitter rivals, there have been exactly 697 games decided by one run. And get this – Saturday’s 3-2 win by the Dodgers gave them a 349-348 record in one-run games against the hated ones – yep, a one-game edge by the Dodgers in one-run games… go figure. In fact, out of the 2,369 games played between the Dodgers and Giants, 30% of them have been decided by one run.
Although every Dodgers vs. Giants one-run game is extremely intense and undoubtedly takes years off of their respective fans’ lives (or in my case, hair off my head), perhaps none was greater than the epic “shot heard ’round the world” game on October 3, 1951 when Giants slugger Bobby Thomson hit his historic bottom of the 9th home run off Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds in New York to beat the Dodgers 5-4 and steal the 1951 NL pennant from the Dodgers. (A trivia question – Do you know who was on deck behind Thopson in that historic game?).
Bobby Thomson’s “Shot heard ’round the world” led to what is unquestionably the most famous one-run victory in Dodgers/Giants history – and the most painful for Dodger fans.
Even though the Dodgers have never had a dramatic one-run, come-from-behind, pennant-deciding win like the historic Thomson-Branca game, they did have one equally exciting come-from-behind, division-clenching win over the Giants on October 2, 2004 when Dodgers journeyman outfielder Steve Finley hit a 9th-inning walk-off grand slam home run to beat the Giants 7-3. This incredibly exciting and unlikely win in which the Dodgers trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning is ranked 6th on the all-time greatest moments in Dodger Stadium history by LasordasLair.com.
Although not a one-run game winner, Steve Finley’s walk-off grand slam to steal the 2004 NL West Division title from the Giants is the closest thing that the Dodgers have for revenge of the Thomson home run.
With four Dodgers vs. Giants game remaining in the 2012 season heading into Sunday’s action (three of which will be at Dodger Stadium for the final series of the 2012 regular season), there is a very good chance that at least one of these games (or more) will be decided by one run. And depending on how well (or poorly) the Dodgers play in their remaining 22 games, there is also a good chance that the final 3-game series against the Giants at Dodger Stadium could be of Bobby Thomson/Steve Finley proportion.
Posted in 
Willie Mays was the on deck hitter. Not sure that Branca would have approached the at bat the same way if he had to face Willie.
Willie Mays was 20 years old at the time, so I doubt that Branca would have known how to pitch to him, but it is as moot of a point as there has ever been – especially for Dodger fans. 🙂
Oh…and tonight’s final score will be 4-1 Dodgers. Zito doesn’t make it out of the 6th. Kershaw goes 71/3 scoreless but gets into trouble in the 8th. The run is charged to him.
I know you expected to see a comment from me down here. I was 13 years old when Thompson hit that HR off Branca and I’ll bring the memory of it to my grave. It took a long time to lesson that blow, in my mind.
One thing I’ll always remember about the Finley game was that (MLB On-Demand),the forerunner of (MLB Extra Innings) did not have that game on it’d schedule and it was before I had a computer. I remember seeing it come across a bottom of a screen on a sports program but I forgot which one, before seeing replays most of the night.
But the subject here is one-run games which I hope we’ll see less of them now that we have a more potent line-up. Maybe if things go as planned the Dodgers will win more laughers and we won’t have to go through to many of those nerve-wracking, nail biting closing situations.
To be truthful, I only found out, some years ago that Mays was on deck when Thomson (correct spelling) hit the HR. I don’t think I would’ve care one way or the other, even if I knew it then.