Barry Zito was the San Francisco Giants' Opening Day starting pitcher in 2007 and 2008.

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball franchise based in San Francisco, California. They moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958.^[1] They play in the National League West division. The Giants have used 28 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 52 seasons since moving to San Francisco. The 28 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 24 wins, 13 losses and 15 no decisions.^[2][3] No decisions are only awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game.^[4]

The first Opening Day game for the San Francisco Giants was played against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 15, 1958 at Seals Stadium, the Giants' first home ball park in San Francisco.^[5] Rubén Gómez was the Giants' Opening Day starting pitcher that day, in a game the Giants lost 8–0.^[5] That was the Giants' only Opening Day game at Seals Stadium. They also played in two other home parks in San Francisco: Candlestick Park from 1960 to 1999, and AT&T Park, previously called PacBell Park and SBC Park, since 2000.^[6] The Giants' Opening Day starting pitchers had a record of seven wins, three losses and seven no decisions at Candlestick Park and have a record of two wins, one loss and one no decision at AT&T Park. That gives the San Francisco Giants' Opening Day starting pitchers a total home record of ten wins, four losses and eight no decisions. Their record in Opening Day road games is 14 wins, 9 losses and 7 no decisions.^[2]

Juan Marichal holds the San Francisco Giants' record for most Opening Day starts, with 10.^[2] Marichal had a record in Opening Day starts of six wins, two losses and two no decisions. John Montefusco, Mike Krukow, John Burkett and Livan Hernandez each made three Opening Day starts for the Giants. Sam Jones, Vida Blue, Rick Reuschel, Mark Gardner, Kirk Reuter, Jason Schmidt and Barry Zito have each made two Opening Day starts for the Giants.^[2] Marichal has the most wins in Opening Day starts for San Francisco, with six. Reuschel and Burkett are the only pitchers to have won more than one Opening Day start for San Francisco without a loss. Both have records in Opening Day starts of two wins and no losses. Burkett also has a no decision. Zito has the worst record for San Francisco in Opening Day starts, with no wins and two losses. Zito and Marichal have the most losses in Opening Day starts, with two apiece.^[2] The Giants have played in the World Series three times since moving to San Francisco, in 1962, 1989 and 2002.^[7] Their Opening Day starting pitchers in those years were Juan Marichal in 1962, Rick Reuschel in 1989 and Livan Hernandez in 2002.^[2] The Giants' Opening Day starting pitchers won all three Opening Day starts in those seasons.^[2] The most recent Opening Day starer for the Giants was Tim Lincecum, who had a no decision against the Milwaukee Brewers in a 10–6 team win on April 7, 2009.^[3]

[edit] Key

AT&T Park, formerly called Pac Bell Park and SBC Park, has been the Giants' home field since 2000 and has been the site of three Opening Day games through 2008.

[edit] Pitchers

Tim Lincecum was the Giants' Opening Day starting pitcher in 2009.

Kirk Rueter was the Giants' Opening Day starting pitcher in 2003 and 2004.

Jason Schmidt was the Giants' Opening Day starting pitcher in 2005 and 2006.

[edit] Footnotes

• ^a  Johnny Antonelli had one Opening Day start for the San Francisco Giants in 1959. He also had three Opening Day starts for the New York Giants, in 1955, 1956 and 1957, giving him a total of four Opening Day starts for the Giants' franchise.^{[8][65][66][67]}

[edit] References

General

"San Francisco Giants Opening Day Starters and Results". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SFG/opening.shtml. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 

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