Today, we come to praise Kirk "Woody" Rueter, not to bury him. For yesterday, the Giants gave the long-time Giants pitcher and winningest left-handed pitcher in franchise history his walking papers.

We knew it was inevitable but we're still sad to see him go. Along with J.T. Snow and Barry, Woody was the last hold out from the great run the Giants had between 1997 and 2003 and his departure is one more reminder that these days are not those days. Not only was he one of the few players left from those teams, but also he was one of the integral pieces. He was Mr. Reliable, Mr. Steady, the guy you were pretty much sure of at least getting five or six good innings out of when the Giants really needed a good five or six innings. Sure he had his inevitable cough-up of a game, but he was never injured, never prone to mental breakdowns (see Estes, Sean), and always seemed to come up big when the Giants needed him most. Lest we forget, Dusty received more than his share of criticism for starting Livan in the ill-fated Game 7 over Kirk. And lest we forget too he came up huge in '97 winning that first game of the two game set against the Dodgers (the Brian Johnson Series). That game also gave us our favorite Woody Moment (not to mention one of our fave Giants’ moments) when he walked off the mound "screaming like an eared banshee" after striking out Todd Zeile.

Screencap of Rueter in Game 7 of the 2002 Series from Jake's Brainpan