Close your eyes for a minute. Clear your mind.

I’m going to say something, and, without taking time to think, you’re going to tell me the first thing that comes to your head.

Okay, here we go:

The three defining Giants of this decade.

What comes to your mind?

Tim Lincecum is my favorite Giant. Matt Cain is a legend in every way. Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence are responsible for more of my positive memories than most of my childhood friends. Brandons Belt and Crawford are exquisite.

But there’s only one answer: Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Bruce Bochy.

Those are the defining figures of the last ten years, which, in case you needed a reminder, serve as the best decade of Giants baseball. By a wide margin.

It was fitting, then, that in the penultimate game that they’ll all play in together, something special happened: Posey and Bumgarner, battery mates and best friends for so long, both hit home runs.

Yes, on Tuesday, MadBum and Gerald both smacked balls over the fence. It was the third time they’ve done so in the same game, which is not the most statistically likely scenario, considering that Bumgarner only has 19 career dingers, and Posey isn’t exactly known for his power. But that’s fitting and poetic.

So let’s remember each time.

July 13, 2014

It’s safe to say 2014 was a magical season of Giants baseball. And this game was as magical as they get, with both Posey and Bumgarner hitting grand slams.

My goodness that Posey swing is perfection.

June 6, 2016

2016 was significantly less magical than 2014, but we didn’t know that in June. The Giants were pretty magical then, and they had extra magic in this game, where two-run shots by Bumgarner and Posey bookended one by Joe Panik, giving the Giants a trio of two-run home runs in the same inning.

September 24, 2019

Let me repeat what I said earlier: This has been the best decade of Giants baseball, by a wide margin.

It’s easy to forget that after three straight years of mostly non-competitive ball.

It’s poetic - and now we are served the harsh reminder that poetry is rarely joyous - that the third time that Bumgarner and Posey homered together came in a loss.

They weren’t both grand slams, like in the first game. They weren’t both in the same inning, as in the second game. There was minimal magic, at most. They didn’t win.

But they did hit home runs. And Bruce Bochy did smile. And it is a happy memory.

This decade of baseball ends in a week, and when it does, the trio that stood at the forefront of it will be broken up.

What a fitting Tuesday it was, then.