1973 WS G1: Picking up where they (and he) left off

 The thing about C&D replays, you expect to see a different outcome as determined by the dice. In the case of the Oakland A's (and Gene Tenace) it was picking up where one left off. After Cincinnati's 1st and 2nd start of back-to-back singles by Pete Rose and Joe Morgan blew up in a Tony Perez double play, the A's went right back to work, Bert Campaneris reaching on a Denis Menke error, followed by a 2-run homer by Joe Rudi. After Sal Bando struck out and Reggie Jackson flied to center, up came the hero of 1972, Gene Tenace. Before you can say deja vu, it was 3-0 A's on Tenace's 5th home run in 8 WS games, all against a bewildered Reds team.

The A's would get additional runs in the 3rd and 8th, backing up a solid pitching performance by Ken Holtzman, who held the high-powered and certainly frustrated Reds to 6 hits. Holtzman also helped his own cause in the DH-less series by going 1-3 with a single and RBI sac fly. Don Gullett went 4 innings and was followed by effective relief by Jim McGlothlin and Pedro Borbon. The Reds will start Ross Grimsley in game 2, while the Oaklanders will counter with Vida Blue, whose last outing ended in disaster against Baltimore, failing to get out of the 1st inning. OAK 5-10-0 CIN 0-6-0