That First Game in 1990

One Team Does Dominate: The Reds
By JOSEPH DURSO, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: October 17, 1990
LEAD: The Oakland Athletics, heavily favored for one more coronation as the ruling family of baseball, suffered a rude jolt tonight when the Cincinnati Reds rose up, hammered Dave Stewart for four innings and bushwhacked the Athletics, 7-0, in the opening game of the 87th World Series.
The Oakland Athletics, heavily favored for one more coronation as the ruling family of baseball, suffered a rude jolt tonight when the Cincinnati Reds rose up, hammered Dave Stewart for four innings and bushwhacked the Athletics, 7-0, in the opening game of the 87th World Series.
It was the first time the defending champions had been beaten in 11 postseason games going back to last year's American League playoff and the first time Stewart had been beaten in seven postseason games going back to the year before.
It wasn't the worst beating in World Series history, but it was one of the biggest surprises. And it unfolded after Stewart was nailed for a two-run home run in the first inning to Eric Davis, who by his own estimate had lost 70 percent of his power because of a shoulder injury but who resisted a suggestion by his manager to switch from the cleanup spot to the leadoff spot in the batting order. And, hitting cleanup, he smacked the first pitch thrown to him in his first World Series.
''Did it give us a lift?'' Davis reflected later. ''It gave us a lead. But Dave Stewart is a dominating pitcher. You get the lead off him, you get a lift.'' Upstaged by Rijo
After that jarring start, Stewart was outpitched by Jose Rijo, his one-time junior teammate on the Oakland team, and he was gone after throwing 64 pitches on a night when form took a memorable beating.
''You beat the Oakland Athletics,'' said Rijo, ''and you beat a great lineup. An awesome lineup.''
''Explanations sound too much like excuses,'' said Tony LaRussa, the manager of the Oakland team. ''But Stewart is great just about every time he goes out there. Tonight, he was less than great.''
This may not have been David against Goliath, but it was close. The Reds held first place in the National League's West every day of the 162-game season, but they were considered no match for the monolithic A's, who were aiming for the most challenging goal in sports: to repeat as champions.
Their football neighbors, the San Francisc 49ers, won the Super Bowl game the last two years. But in baseball, nobody has repeated since the Yankees won the World Series in 1977 and 1978. And the Athletics, who have won the American League pennant three years in a row, opened the Series as the most accomplished team in baseball.
Even the pitching matchup suggested no contest: Stewart won 22 games this season, 20 or more for four years in a row, two in last year's World Series and two more in last week's American League playoff.
Rijo, traded by Oakland to Cincinnati three years ago, won 14 games this season. But the A's had three pitchers who won more than that, and one of them was on the mound tonight. But he wasn't on the mound after four innings, and by then the Reds had a four-run lead.
''Dave Stewart is the epitome of a professional pitcher,'' said Lou Piniella, the manager of the Reds. ''He gives you the innings and the wins. I don't know what happened tonight.'' This is what happened tonight: Laboring with his usually precise control, Stewart opened the Series by going to three balls on five of the first eight batters he faced. He also walked three of them, starting with Billy Hatcher, the second hitter in the Reds' lineup, who reached base four times eventually on a walk, a single and two doubles.
Stewart then struck out Paul O'Neill and needed one more out to keep order. But the man he had to get out was Davis, who wrenched his left shoulder last month and hit no home runs in the last three weeks. He was swinging in his customary No. 4 spot after vetoing Piniella's suggestion that he move to the top to minimize the demands on his power.
''I hit leadoff all my career until 1986,'' Davis said. ''But to be coming this far and hitting No. 4 for the last five years, and this is my first World Series, there was no doubt I wanted to stay there.''
Stewart, struggling to find his control, found it and fired the fastball over the plate. Davis hit it on the nose, driving it deep to center field and beyond the fence for two runs and a 2-0 lead for the underdog Reds. Oakland Rallies Are Stifled
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