‘37 Reds upset ‘87 Padres in 3 game sweep

GAME #1 - 10/1 - Jack Murphy Stadium
Reds 4, Padres 3
San Diego entered this series with the best record in the NL.  Cincy qualified as the #2 wild card after finishing 2nd in the NL West.  Cincy would start Paul Derringer (5-4, 3.89) and San Diego would go with Ed Whitson.  Both teams scored solo runs in the first.  Cincy's run came via the long ball thanks to "the Schnozz" Ernie Lombardi cranking one out.  The Friars would manufacture a run with Tony Gwynn working out a walk, stealing second and scoring on a John Kruk Sac fly.  Cincy took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd when Myers led off the inning with a solo blast.  Solo runs in the 4th and 5th by the Padres gave them a 3-2 lead, which they held until the top of the 9th.  Goose Gossage came on board to lock down the win like he had done so many times before.  With 1 out Ival Goodman double down the left field line.  Lombardi would be up next and after striking out in the 4th and 6th innings he was ready to redeem himself.  2 pitches into his at bat Lombardi crushed a 98 mph Gossage fastball that had no movement.  The only movement the pitch had was the ball flight as it wound up in the upper deck of "the Murph".  Derringer went the distance and after yielding a 1 out single to Gwynn got Brown and Kruk to line out and end the game.

GAME #2 - 10/2 - Jack Murphy Stadium
Reds 10, Padres 8
A wild and whacky slugfest at the Murph saw two pitching oriented teams unleash a huge offensive barrage upon each other.  With both teams scoring 3 runs in the 1st nobody would be shocked to see both teams combine for 18 runs and 34 hits.  The base paths began to resemble the autobahn with it's heavy traffic and fast speed.  Gene Schott and Dave Dravecky both started the game.  Amazingly they both survived to the 7th.  Neither was impressive, unless pitching batting practice impresses anyone.  Cincy scored 3 big runs in the top of the 9th off of Lance McCullers to give themselves a 2 run lead with 3 outs to go.  Cincy's 3 runs came on back to back to back homers hit by Lombardi, Alex Kampouris and Billy Myers.  All looked good for the Reds, but the Friars were not about to pull a Randy Moss and roll over and play dead.  Joey Cora led off the home half of the 9th with a pinch hit single to right.  Marvel Wynne followed that with a walk.  Randy Ready flew out to center and Gwynn looked to have grounded out at second, but Kampouris booted the grounder, so there was still 1 out.  Kruk then hit a shot that Kiki Cuyler had to leap at the wall for for the second out.  On that play Cora walked home to make it a 1 run game.  Shane Mack was then called on to pinch hit for the slumping Carmello Martinez.  Mack felt the pressure of being the possible final out and starting fouling pitch after pitch off until he found one he could handle and line into center to tie the game.  It stayed tied until the top of the 14th when Mark Davis started his 4th inning of relief.  After getting Myers to fly out to Gwynn in right Davis walked the next two batters and served up a tie breaking single to Riggs.  Phil Weintraub, pinch hitting for Whitey Moore, executed a perfect squeeze play for run number 2.  San Diego had their backs up against the wall down by 2 in the bottom of the 14th.  Joe Cascarella was on the hill for Cincy trying to save the game for Moore.  Kruk led off with a single and moved to second on a ground out by Mack.  An error by Lew Riggs at third allowed Benito Santiago to reach first and put runners on the corners with 1 out.  Then comes the turning point of the game.  Tim Flannery hit a bullet to Kampouris at second.  Kampouis flipped the ball to Myers, who rifled it over to Buck Jordan at first for the 3rd out of the game.  Cincy now was heading home with a 2-0 series lead.

GAME #3 - 10/4 - Crosley Field
Reds 8, Padres 3
The Friars season rested squarely on the shoulder of Eric Show (3- 1, 3.57), who was tapped to stem the tide.  Cincy went with Mr. Double No-Hit, Johnny Vander Meer.  The Padres offense served notice early by knocking Vander Meer out of the box with 3 big runs in the 1st.  Vander Meer couldn't even get 3 outs before he was gone thanks to 5 walks and 1 hit.  San Diego's euphoria would only last 1 inning when Buck Jordan lined a 2 run single to right center to make it a 3-2 game.  Show looked to have it all under control until the bottom of the 4th when the Reds put a dagger straight through the heart of the Padres.  8 batters later the Reds had 4 huge runs and the Padres were ready to make plane reservations to head home and clean out their lockers.  A two run double by Ival Goodman was followed by a 2 run single by Spud Davis.  Whitey Moore once again came on strong in relief (3 1/3 innings of shutout ball) and Joe Cascarella notched the rarest of saves, the 5 inning no run type.  The fans at Crosley Field were in celebratory mode after the game as their underdog Reds knocked off the heavily favored Padres to head to the NLCS.