The Giants get 2 men on against Michael Wacha, the MVP of the previous year's NLCS, and then Travis Ishikawa -- with considerably less pressure, as the Giants lead the Cards 3 games to 1 -- does what Bobby Thomson did, 63 years earlier and 2,910 miles to the east: He hits a home run that means, "The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! And they're going crazy! They're going crazy!"
Of course, unlike the Giant Pennant wins of 1951 with Bobby Thomson, and 1962 in far less dramatic fashion, this one was not against the Dodgers, in either New York (Manhattan vs. Brooklyn) or California (San Francisco vs. Los Angeles). But it was still dramatic.
Isikawa's father was a 3rd-generation Japanese-American. His ancestry and this home run made him the 1st player of Asian descent to hit a walkoff home run in an MLB postseason game.
*
October 16, 2014 was a Thursday. The American League Championship Series was decided the night before, when the Kansas City Royals completed a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.
There was an NFL game that night: The New England Patriots beat the New York Jets, 27-25 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands.
The NBA season started 12 days later. There were 7 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 in a shootout at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Washington Capitals, 6-2 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 6-4 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-3 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the Consol Energy Center (now the PPG Paints Arena) in Pittsburgh.
* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues, 1-0 in a shootout at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.
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