1990 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

ClovisCougarsClovis Cougars @ Manhattan Gas Hornets

Preview: Two teams that have a bit of bad blood between them, Manhattan and Clovis, have both advanced to the final stage to find who the National League will send to the World Series. Manhattan arrives by way of an overpowering 113 win campaign during the season followed by a dominating 3-1 Division Series win over Long Beach in which each of the Gas Hornet wins were via shutouts. Clovis sneaked in through the back door, taking the first wild card spot and then defeating heavily favored Steel City in the Division Series 3-2.

Game #1: Randy Johnson #1 (11-13 4.68) vs. Greg Harris (13-7, 2.74)
Manhattan would send 13 game winner Greg Harris to the mound while Clovis would call on 11 game winner Randy Johnson. The Cougars started at a disadvantage as Rickey Henderson wasn’t available in the game with a couple of nagging issues that the brass didn’t want to aggravate. The first passed without much trouble for either team but in the bottom of the second Johnson lost the strike zone and walked Jacoby and Santiago before Schofield singled in the game’s first run giving Manhattan the early 1-0 lead.

Clovis quickly tied it up in the third when Lenny Harris singled, stole second and scored on a Tony Pena single. The score remained knotted at 1 until the 6th when McReynolds and Dawson drew back to back walks with one out, Jacoby grounded a single through that loaded the bases and Benito Santiago, the league leader in triples with 12, drove one deep to left over Gladden’s head clearing the bases. When the dust had settled Santiago was at third and the Gas Hornets had a commanding 4-1 lead. Perry then followed with a single to stretch the lead to 5-1 and force Johnson’s departure. In the meantime Harris kept Cougar hitters off balance with pinpoint control and a bewildering change-up through 6 strong innings. In the eighth with Dave Pavlas on the mound for Clovis Jacoby doubled and Perry knocked him in for his second RBI and Jacoby’s third run scored. With the score now 6-1 in favor of Manhattan Schindel could bring in Joe Magrane to get the final outs and shake of a bit of rust. Magrane performed like he was supposed to retiring three straight Cougar hitters to close it out and give the Gas Hornets the 6-1 win.
Final Score:  – Manhattan 6 – Clovis 1

Game #2: Bud Black (4-6 4.88) vs. Bob Welch (26-4 2.30)
Manhattan would send 26 game winner Bob Welch to the mound while Clovis would counter with 17 game winner Bud Black. Clovis started the scoring off quickly enough with a run scoring single from Mike Greenwell following a Lenny Harris double. It would stay that way until the sixth as both Welch and Black were dealing. In the sixth Jacoby would single bringing up Santiago who hit a screamer in the same spot as the day before and once again ended up with a triple as Jacoby scored to tie it at 1 apiece. Wheels were turning in both dugouts now with the score knotted, both starters departed despite pitching well. The game remained tied heading into the ninth when Henderson would draw a lead off walk off Doug Jones. Clovis sent Henderson with Harris hitting one perfectly into the hole vacated by Griffin covering second, Henderson motored over to third and the Cougars were in business with runners on first and third, no outs, and slugger Mike Greenwel l coming to the plate. Greenwell didn;t waste any time sending one into center over Yount;s head for a double that scored Henderson and sent Harris to third. When Eddie Murray the Manhattan fans started up with a sing song mocking chant, Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die, but Murray quickly silenced them with a long fly that easily scored the speedy Harris and sent Greenwell to third for a 3-1 Cougar lead. Smelling blood Barfield singled through the drawn in infield for the third run of the inning and a 4-1 Clovis lead. Clovis called on Lee Smith to close it out, but Yount doubled and Anderson singled with one out. Schindel decided not to test Barfield’s arm needlessly. With runners on first and third and one out Smith got Dawson to swing at one out of the zone for the second out and then retired the hot hitting Jacoby on a ground out to preserve the 4-1 Clovis win.
Final Score:  – Clovis 4 – Manhattan 1

Game #3: Mike Scott (13-9 2.82) vs. David Wells (17-6 1.89)
The series now switched to Clovis for the next three games. Clovis would send 17 game winner and the league leader in ERA, David Wells, to the mound to oppose Manhattan’s 13 game winner Mike Scott. Rickey Henderson led off the first for Clovis and immediately sent the capacity crowd into a frenzy with a blast over the left field wall for a quick Clovis 1-0 lead. In the second Dawson singled for the Gas Hornets, moved to second on Jacoby’s swinging bunt and scored on a Dave Anderson single. Anderson took second on the throw to the plate and Joyner singled him in to give Manhattan a 2-1 lead in the second. In the Clovis fourth Anderson booted a Barfield ground ball in front of Jody Reed who lofted one up and over the left field fence to give Clovis the 3-2 lead. In the fifth Reardon had taken over for Scott and left one out over the plate for Henderson who punished it, sending it way back into the stands for his second home run of the game giving Clovis a 4-2 lead. Manhattan got back into it in the sixth with a Sax single, steal, advancement to third on a ground out and scoring easily on a Dawson single to make it a one run game. In the seventh Anderson walked, was replaced by Perry to get some fresh legs on base, and Perry scored on a long double by Felder to tie it up at 4 each! In the bottom of the seventh with Jones on the hill for Manhattan Greenwell managed to get on first when Perry dropped the ball after tagging him running down the line, Murray doubled him to third and with two runners in scoring position. Dan Gladden, who took over for Barfield after he was hit by pitch twice hit a blooper down the left field line that scored both and gave the Cougars a 6-4 lead. In the Manhattan eighth Dawson sent one deep but Henderson ran it down at the wall giving the Clovis faithful a fright but Myers got out of the rest of the inning without any damage. Into the ninth Smith caught Santiago looking, retired Perry on a pop up but Yount doubled bringing up pinch hitter Jeff Reed as the possible tying run but Smith shaved the corner with a 96 MPH fastball for strike three sending Reed into a frenzy but the game was over and Clovis had improbably grabbed a 2 to 1 series lead with the 6-4 win.
Final Score:  – Clovis 6 – Manhattan 4

Game #4: Greg Harris (13-7, 2.74) vs. Kirk McCaskill (13-10 3.44)
With Clovis now leading the series 2-1 they would send team career wins leader Kirk McCaskill to the hill to face Manhattan’s game one starter, Greg Harris. The game looked like it might get out of hand right from the get go when after a Sax lead off double, McKaskill drilled Dawson in the back of the neck knocking him out of the game. Both benches cleared but no one was tossed out. Many observers thought it was retaliation for hitting Barfield twice yesterday but some people believe it may go back to the feud that began last year when Eddie Murray referred to Manhattan as the “Gas Bags”. Either way it gave an exciting start before both it settled into a classic pitching duel, scoreless through one, two, three, four, and into the fifth. McCaskill put down the Gas Hornets in his half but in the Clovis fifth Gantner delivered a seeing eye base hit and stole second in front of Dickie Thon. Thon laid down a perfect bunt sending Gant ner to third with only one out. Pena came up a dropped a surprise squeeze bunt that scored the speedy Gantner and give Clovis a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Henderson led off with a single that chased Harris but promptly stole second off of the new hurler Dave Smith. A groundout advanced Henderson to third, Murray worked a walk before Jody Reed smoked one to the center field wall that scored both runners. Reed took third on the throw home and scored moments later on Barfield’s sacrifice fly to give Clovis a 4-0 lead. In the seventh Clovis Greenwell, Murray, and Reed all added run scoring singles off of Righetti to build the lead to 7-0. McCaskill continued his mastery over the Gas Hornets until the ninth when Manhattan scored a meaningless run and McCaskill departed for Don Carmen who got the last out for the Cougars.
Final Score:  – Clovis 7 – Manhattan 1

Game #5: Bob Welch (26-4 2.30) vs. Randy Johnson #1 (11-13 4.68)
Wanting to close out the series before it had a chance to return to Manhattan the Cougars would send the big lefty, Randy Johnson to the mound. Manhattan would try to right the sinking ship with ace Bob Welch. Manhattan was playing shorthanded as Andre Dawson was unable to play after being hit in the back of the neck by a Kirk McCaskill fastball yesterday. Clovis jumped first with a run in the opening inning before Welch recorded an out as Henderson and Harris led off with back to back doubles for a quick 1-0 Cougar lead. It stayed that way until the fourth when Manhattan tied it up when Yount singled for the Gas Hornets first hit, stole second and scored on a Chris James single. In the Clovis sixth Greenwell singled and with two outs Reed doubled, Greenwell scored and Reed took third on the throw. Barfield came up and drilled a Welch fastball that just curled inside the foul pole for a two run homer and a 4-1 Clovis lead! In the seventh Manha ttan loaded the bases with one out but could only muster a sac fly off Randy Myers before he got out of the mess. In the bottom of the inning Clovis got the run back when Henderson doubled and Harris singled him home to rebuild the three run lead. Myers stayed in for the eighth and retired the side after a lead off walk. Clovis went down quickly in their half to set up the ninth. Lee Smith came in to see if he could shut the door and send Clovis to its first ever World Series. Santiago led off by working a walk but was erased on the fielders choice putting Anderson at first with one out. Huson bounced one to Thon but he threw it away putting runners on first and third with only one out. Sax got a little under one and flied out to Barfield for the second out bring up Joyner as the potential tying run. After a couple of quick fouls Smith slipped one past him for a called third strike and the celebration was on as Clovis had taken the game and the series!!!!
Final Score:  – Clovis 5 – Manhattan 2

Summary: Clovis pulls off another upset taking the heavily favored Manhattan Gas Hornets 4 games to 1. The Cougars stunned the Gas Hornets by winning four straight after dropping the opener. Clovis developed a real knack for taking advantage of nearly every opportunity to put up multiple runs in an inning while limiting the opposition to single runs. Mike Greenwell at .500 with 9 hits and Rickey Henderson who hit .429 with a slugging average of a cool 1.000 were the hitting stars for Clovis while Benito Santiago with three triples led Manhattan. Eddie Murray when asked about Andre Dawson said, “Hey, it’s just a part of the game, he (McCaskill) just came in a bit to much, I don’t think he was trying to hit him. You got to tip your cap to those guys, they won, what, 113 games and just shut down Long Beach. We just got hot at the right time”. Kirk McCaskill pointedly had no comment and walked out of the press conference when pressed fo r a comment.

Rickey Henderson was named series MVP with 2 homers and 8.1 runs created in just four games to go along with his .429 batting mark.

 

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