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Message #: 29591
The most underachieving pitching staff in the N.L. gave the Giants quite a shock for 3 games by simply performing up to its actual talent level for the first time in 20 weeks; at that point HAL finally had enough and put us back in our customary place with some typically brutal vengeance in the finale. Despite the 3 extremely well-pitched games, don't get the mistaken idea that the unluckiest team in the majors actually managed to win the series.... Game 1: Cy Young candidate Bill Swift wasn't much of a mystery to the Cincy batters, but we bailed him out repeatedly with perfectly-timed GIDPs (3, to be exact). San Francisco took a quick lead in the first on a Barry Bonds home run, his 39th of the season and TENTH against his favorite punching bag -- who else but the Reds? In his first plate appearance for his new ball club, Tony Fernandez came through with a 2-out RBI double which tied the score (and then, more appropriately, hit .200 the rest of the series). Cincy scored what proved to be the winning run in the 4th when Jeff Branson singled home Kevin Mitchell, who had doubled, then we aborted rallies with DPs in 3 of the next 4 frames. CIN starter Kevin Gross was chased after Willie McGee singled to open the bottom of the 9th, but Todd Jones escaped without damage to save the day (an accident that would be rapidly atoned for). Final score: 2-1. =============================================================== Game 2: A couple of non-Cy Young candidates, John Smiley and Erik Hanson, engaged in a duel for the ages and kept the contest completely scoreless through 7 innings. With 2 outs and nobody on in the 8th, Barry Larkin singled and went to third on a single from pitcher Smiley (who is now batting .295). Significantly, Smiley hustled into second as Larkin beat the throw to third. That caused monster underachiever Chris Sabo to be walked intentionally for some reason, to load the bases. Felix Jose promptly battled Hanson for a walk which forced in the first run of the day. Hal Morris then fanned against Mark Dewey to LOB 3. Surely that wouldn't be important. Smiley matched Hanson's sudden wildness in the bottom of the 8th but then got tough and retired Martinez, Sharperson and Bonds without the ball leaving the infield. Mark Carreon singled with 1 out in the dreaded bottom of the 9th, thus ending Smiley's day and bringing on Todd Jones for an encore performance. And what an encore -- he certainly sent the crowd home happy! After getting Robby Thompson to fly out in order to set up the drama of the Giants being down to their final out, Jones did what so many Cincy pitchers have done before him. It took just one more pitch to choke up the inevitable game-losing gopher. Final score: 2-1. Nobody, but nobody, does it better than the Reds. =============================================================== Game 3: Though HAL laser-beamed in on Jose Rijo's 4-column as he has done ceaselessly all season long (FOURTEEN TIMES today), the only run the utterly luckless Cincy starter allowed was an unearned marker in the SFN 4th which halved the 2-0 lead we had taken seconds earlier. Three straight singles in the CIN 6th terminated Jose Mesa, but all we got was a sac fly. That made the score 3-1 and, amazingly, that's how it ended. Rijo came one batter away from going the distance; Bobby Ayala faced Royce Clayton with 2 on and 2 out in the bottom of the 9th -- and didn't choke!!! Rijo, who (given his awesome card) would be a Cy Young candidate on any other team but the Reds, raised his lackluster 1993 record to 9-9 and lowered his ERA to a mediocre 3.69. Mesa entered the game with an 8-0 record but suffered his first blemish of the year. Three more timely GIDPs averted a larger victory for the visitors. =============================================================== Game 4: The Reds blew early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but came back to lead 3-2 at halftime. The hits were coming fast and furious for both teams (SFN 15, CIN 13) but so were the LOB (10 apiece). Nobody should be surprised that the Reds choked for the 10 millionth time, but given the narrow margin in the other stats at least it was another close contest, right? Sure, if you consider 14-3 to be "close". HAL gave the Giants 1000% of the breaks, not to mention a couple of touchdowns, while holding the Reds to a field goal and shutting us out in the second half. Dave Burba tossed a complete game for San Fran, effectively scattering a mere 13 hits. Tim Belcher died during 6th inning surgery, and hilariously atrocious (as always) John Roper was wheeled to the morgue after suffering identical dismemberment in the 8th, as HAL added insult to injury when the score was already way out of hand before Roper even took the mound. Alan |
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