Reds come back from 0-2 deficit to defeat Jints in 7 to take NL Flag

8/15-8/16 - Crosley Field
GAME 1 - Giants 2, Reds 1 (10 inn)
Mike McCormick dueled Joey Jay for 9 innings.  Both hurlers were splendid in only giving up 1 run.  San Fran scored first when Matty Alou sliced one down the left field line that barely cleared the wall, but still was worth 1 run.  That held up until Frank Robinson hit one over the scoreboard in left center to tie it.  Jay would start the 10th inning, but his tank was empty and it showed when Ed Bailey jumped all over a ball that was right down the middle of the plate.  There was no doubt that it was gone as soon as it hit the bat.  Stu Miller would come on to toss a scoreless bottom of the 10th to save it for Mac.

GAME 2 - Giants 7, Reds 4
Cincy jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead thanks to a 3 run shot by Wally Post off of Jack Sanford.  Harvey Kuenn would make it 3-1 with an RBI single that scored Jim Davenport in the 4th.  Cincy would bump their lead back to 3 when Frank Robinson would hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 6th.  That looked to be enough for Bob Purkey who was having his way with the Giants lineup until the top of the 7th when everything went wrong.  Joey Amalfitano was able to reach base thanks to an errant throw by Red thirdbaseman Gene Freese.  Jose Pagan would single Amalfitano home and Ed Bailey's double would put the Giants 1 back.  At this point it looked like Howie Nunn was going to come on to replace Purkey, but instead the embattled hurler talked his manager into letting him face one more batter.  That batter, Matty Alou, would be one batter too many for Purkey as the normally light hitting Alou would hit his second homer in as many days to put the Jints up by 1.  Two more Giant runs in the 8th were more than enough for reliever Bobby Bolin to protect as the Giants were heading home up 2 games to none and the Reds were in big trouble.

8/18-8/20 - Candlestick Park
GAME 3 - Reds 2, Giants 1
The weight of Cincy's season rested squarely on the shoulders of lefty Jim O'Toole.  Add to that pressure is the fact that San Fran has two big righty sluggers named Mays and Cepeda.  To say O'Toole had a tough road ahead of him was an understatement.  To make O'Toole's task even tougher his opponent on the hill was none other than the Dominican Dandy himself, Juan Marichal.  Cincy would score in the first on a Gordy Coleman sac fly and San Fran would knot it up an inning later when Cepeda went deep.  Both hurlers would then be locked in and not allow a run until the top of the 7th when Cincy had runners on the corners with 2 outs and Marichal would uncork a wild pitch that would allow Don Blasingame to score the go ahead run.  The Giants put pressure on reliever Jim Brosnan in the 8th when their first two batters singled, but Jim Davenport would pop out to short and Mays would hit one into the left field wind that held the ball up just long enough for Vada Pinson to catch it on the track.  Cepeda would brave the wind himself and meet a similar fate as Gus Bell stood with his back against the chain link fence to corral out number 3.  O'Toole would go the seven and fan 7.  Brosnan would pitch 2 perfect innings in relief to garner the save.  Marichal would go the distance and give up only 1 earned run, but come up on the short side of the ledger thanks to an error of his own and no offensive support.

GAME 4 - Reds 4, Giants 2
Game 1 starter Joey Jay was back for more.  Once again he gave up 2 runs, but this time the Red offense was able to stake him to 4 runs, so this time he wound up on the right side of the ledger.  With the score knotted at 2-2 in the top of the 5th Frank Robinson slammed a double in the left center gap to knock in Vada Pinson, who had just stolen second after walking.  Robinson had hit a 2 run homer in his previous at bat and would hit a solo shot in his next one for a huge MVP type performance.  Frank Robby knocked in all 4 of Cincy's runs off of Giants starter Bill Loes to tie the series at 2 games apiece.

GAME 5 - Giants 5, Reds 2
After jumping out to a 2 games to none lead in the series the Giants seemed to have lost all of their momentum.  Thankfully for them it was game 1 starter Mike McCormick's turn to toe the rubber.  Mac would blank the Reds until the 6th when Frank Robinson singled with one out and stole second, so with 2 out Gene Freese singled him home to make it 2-1 Giants.  Things looked very iffy for the Jints when Gordy Coleman singled home Leo Cardenas in the 8th to tie the game at 2.  That's when Bob Purkey had another one of his meltdown innings, which has been his MO in this tournament.  After getting the first 2 batters to ground out weakly Purkey let up and allowed a seeing eyed single by catcher Hobbie Landrith.  Pinch hitter Willie McCovey stroked a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.  The ever so hot Matty Alou was given an intentional pass in order to get the righty vs righty matchup against 3rd baseman Jim Davenport.  Purkey was able to run the count to 0-2, but could not put Davenport away.  Finally he threw a pitch that caught way to much of the middle of the plate and Davenport shot it into the right center gap for a stand up 3 run triple.  Stu Miller would have an easy 9th inning in relief as the series headed back to Cincy with the Jints up 3 games to 2.

8/22-8/23 - Crosley Field
GAME 6 - Reds 7, Giants 0
For a while it looked like Jim O'Toole and Jack Sanford were going to hook up in one of those edge of your seats post season pitcher's duels.  That was the case until the bottom of the 4th when the Reds unleashed an offensive barrage that tallied 6 runs.  Gus Bell led off the inning with a homer, which was followed by a clean single by Frank Robinson.  After Coleman popped out to short the reds recorded 4 consecutive singles.  Runs 5 and 6 would score on a line shot single by Vada Pinson.  By that time the Giants were looking toward tomorrow and O'Toole was locked into a groove that made him virtually unhittable.  O'Toole would go the distance and throw a 3 hit shutout as the series headed to the all decisive game 7.

Game 7 - Reds 8, Giants 1
For the third time in the series Joey Jay would take the mound for the Reds.  He would be facing the Domenican Dandy, Juan Marichal.  Early on it was apparent that Marichal could not control any of his pitches.  Solo runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings gave Cincy a 2-0 lead.  Marichal was working purely on guts and found a way in both innings to prevent the big inning from occurring.  By the 4th inning he was in deep trouble.  The Reds censed it and took full advantage of the young Latino hurler.  Cincy would bat around and post 4 runs on the scoreboard to bump their lead to 6-0.  Even Joey Jay would get a key hit.  Frank Robinson, who went 3 for 5 had his 2nd RBI double in the 7th to add another run and make it 7-0.  A Willie McCovey homer to lead off the top of the 9th was the only scar that Jay would have on the day as he went the distance and fanned 6.  Cincy worked real hard to dig themselves out of an 0-2 deficit to start the series vs a San Fran team that is dangerous.  The key reason that the Giants did not win was the 3 for 29 series that Willie Mays had.  I found it amazing that they could even get to a game 7 with their all world HOF superstar mired in such a deep slump.  Mays' 3 hits were routine singles.  Without the extra base hit power from the Say Hey kid the Jints were destined to lose.