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After 13 seasons in the big leagues, Randy Winn has hung up his jersey.
Randy Winn's career ended like this. 110 HR, .284 BA, 662 RBI. Not too shabby.
For Giants fans, nobody will forget the impact he made back when he was acquired in 2005 from Seattle. The Giants were looking for any sign of life while they waited for Barry Bonds to return from his knee injury -- and they got it from Randy Winn.
Winn went on a tear in August and September of 2005, bringing the Giants back into contention despite their under .500 record.
As Bonds returned, the Giants found themselves four games behind the Padres in the NL West with a week to go. As fate would have it, the Giants had a four game showdown series in San Diego that year.
The Giants were down 2-1 in the ninth inning of Game 1 against the great closer, Trevor Hoffman. With two outs and Jason Ellison at first, Winn stepped in.
Winn battled Hoffman and found his pitch to hit.
As the ball floated to dead center, the ball seemed to carry in the San Diego breeze -- a rarity.
The seemingly routine fly ball sent the center fielder, Brian Giles, all the way to the wall. As he made a desperation leap against the wall to try and haul in the final out of the crucial game, the ball hit the pocket of his glove.
Fireworks went off in San Diego, and for a brief moment, it seemed like the Padres took a healthy five-game lead in the division. Not so fast.
As Giles ascended down, the ball knocked lose from his glove and hit the ground. Within a blink of an eye, a Padre victory turned into a game-tying RBI triple off the bat of Randy Winn.
J.T. snow would then single in the winning run. The Giants trimmed the NL West deficit to three games, but that would be as close as they would get.
Such was the excitement Randy Winn often brought in a Giants uniform.
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