SAN FRANCISCO -- The members of the Core Four combined for thousands of appearances, more than 200 saves and nearly 100 dominant relief outings during three title runs. But on Saturday, they experienced a first.
For a ceremony to put the four relievers on the Wall of Fame, the Giants had them come out of the bullpen, as they did for so long. But because the home bullpen has been moved from the third base line to center field since they finished up as Giants, this was their first time making the longer walk together. That was necessary, because Giants fans had a lot of love to deliver.
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Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo entered together and went on the wall together on Saturday during a ceremony that was, predictably, full of laughs. But there were no smiles on the other side years ago when those four got into a game, especially in October.
The four appeared in the same postseason game nine times and the Giants went 8-1. In the lone loss, the bullpen didn't allow a run. Overall, the four relievers combined for 78 2/3 innings during the 2010, 2012 and 2014 title runs with a microscopic 1.14 ERA. Those runs were fueled in part by clutch homers from the Giants, but their four go-to relievers allowed just two balls to leave the yard while facing 296 batters.
"We all as baseball players go through ups and downs together, and there's a lot of stuff that we experience on the field but also behind the scenes and in the clubhouse," Buster Posey said in his speech Saturday. "Man, these guys just kept the bullpen going and strong all the time."
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Posey has said in the years since that everyone probably took that bullpen success for granted as it was happening, but on Saturday, the relievers were in the spotlight. They gave short speeches during an on-field discussion with Dave Flemming and threw out the ceremonial first pitches. Naturally, Camilo Doval, Ryan Walker and the Rogers twins caught them.
Posey and Ryan Vogelsong paid tribute to the relievers and several former Giants showed up for the event, including Hunter Pence, Brian Wilson, George Kontos, coaches Dave Righetti and Mark Gardner and legendary clubhouse manager Mike Murphy, one of the few non-players on the Wall of Fame.
The Giants previously had a standard that you had to play nine seasons with the organization or play five and make an MLB All-Star team, but as president and CEO Larry Baer put it Saturday, they made an exception for the relievers. The Giants might not have won one title without the group, let alone three, and Saturday was all about them.
During his speech, Vogelsong pointed out that there was a sign in the clubhouse that said "25 guys, one common goal, win today." The Core Four, he said, put a twist on that. "Four different guys, one common goal," he said. "Dominate."
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