When discussing just how the Giants dropped their car keys into the bottom of a houseboat bathroom and were forced to rummage around, arm extended, for several months if they wanted to leave the lakeside resort, the 1993 Giants often come up as a comparison. It makes sense at first. The Giants had a nine-game lead on Aug. 11. They were 81-40 through Aug. 19. Then they lost nine of 10, including eight in a row, in the beginning of September, and they missed the playoffs entirely. It was a brutal letdown.
Except that version of the story misses a few points.