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Message #: 26773
In a series played online (thanks, Jon!) the Cincinnati Reds defeated the New York Mets 3 games to 0 and advance to face the Seattle Mariners in the 1990 World Series. Boxscores & stats for the 2 league championship series are here: Game 1: Facing a New York rotation consisting of *FOUR* Cy Young award winners, the Reds had their work cut out for them and the series opened very poorly for Cincinnati. Frank Viola took the mound and had almost no trouble in his first 6 IP aside from the Reds loading the bases in the 3rd with 1 out, and scoring not at all. Noted clutch choker Eric Davis came up with 2 outs and left all runners in place. By the time that rally was extinguished, the Mets already had a 2-0 lead against surprise starter Norm Charlton, who was busy fooling nobody. The Mets singled Charlton nearly to death, many of those singles of the surgical split card BP variety. Charlton exited after 5 innings, and it took Randy Myers just one batter to make the score 3-0 for the Mets via a Mark Carreon homer. Myers wound up with a nice pair of gopher bookends, allowing another one to the final batter he faced, HoJo's 2-out shot in the 7th being good for 2 runs and a 5-0 lead. And then somebody threw a magical switch which caused the breaks to suddenly turn 180 degrees. Von Hayes got a BPHR leading off the CIN 7th to finally break the shutout. In the 8th, the first 2 Cincy batters reached base and Frank Viola left in favor of Jeff Innis. Davis' sac fly made the score 5-2. With 2 outs and Hayes coming up, lefty Mark Thurmond came in but allowed consecutive singles before leaving with score now 5-3. Wally Whitehurst wild-pitched 2 runners into scoring position but Gary Ward rolled a near-miss to end the inning. Pinch-hitter Darrin Jackson led off the CIN 9th with a double and ex-Red John Franco was brought in to close it out. Franco fanned Bill Doran and Howard Johnson made a great play on Barry Larkin's sharp grounder. With just 1 out to go, John Kruk singled home Jackson to cut the deficit to 1. Davis then stepped in and on Franco's 5th pitch rolled a HR 1-17 -- and got it! -- to complete the shocking 6-5 comeback win. The W went to Greg Harris, who tossed 2 scoreless innings which, at the time, didn't seem likely to have much significance. ================================================== Game 2: David Cone opposed Jose Rijo. Darryl Strawberry greeted Rijo with a home run in the first inning but Doran led off the bottom of the first and matched Darryl. Three batters later, Davis notched his second homer in as many at bats. Hal Morris' homer in the 3rd, the fourth solo round-tripper of the day, would end up completing the scoring. Rijo went 8 innings and scattered 3 hits & 1 walk, losing a complete game only because the Reds loaded the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th and Rijo due up. Pinch-hitter Eddie Williams failed but Rob Dibble retired the top of the NYN order on 8 pitches to seal the 3-1 victory. Cincy had several other chances to score, but LOBbed 9 to New York's 2. ================================================== Game 3: After an off day, the series moved to Shea Stadium where Doc Gooden faced off against Tom Browning. Gooden was fatally sabotaged by some porous defense, in particular 2 errors by normally sure-handed shortstop Dick Schofield. Four hits sandwiched an E6 in the CIN 1st and the Reds took a quick 3-0 lead. The Mets immediately replied with a run in their half of the frame but Jeff Reed gunned down HoJo trying to steal to end the threat. The Reds went up 4-1 in the 3rd via two doubles and another Schofield error seemed to unravel Gooden completely: a 4-pitch walk to pitcher Browning loaded the sacks and a free pass to Doran forced in run #5 and Larkin then plated one more with a single. Mark Thurmond took Gooden's place and walked in another run and Davis' single made it 8-1 before Kruk whiffed to end the inning. Gooden was charged with 8 runs in 2.2 IP, but 5 were unearned. The game wound down from there, and the Reds came away with an 11-2 win and stranded *16* more runners in the process. Six NYN pitchers combined to allow 13 hits and 11 walks. Browning struggled at times, but went the distance on a 9-hitter with 3 walks. Davis homered for the 3rd straight game, taking Ken Dayley downtown in the 9th. Despite the Reds' somewhat convincing performance after the first 6 1/2 innings of the NLCS, the early odds show the Mariners as 6-5 favorites to win the World Series. Alan |
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