In , the Reds under new manager Lou Piniella shocked baseball by leading the NL West from wire-to-wire. Winning their first nine games, they started off 33–12 and maintained their lead throughout the year. Led by Chris Sabo, Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, Paul O'Neill and Billy Hatcher in the field, and by José Rijo, Tom Browning and the "Nasty Boys" of Rob Dibble, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers on the mound, the Reds took out the Pirates in the NLCS. The Reds swept the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in four straight, and extended a Reds winning streak in the World Series to nine consecutive games. The World Series, however, saw Eric Davis severely bruise a kidney diving for a fly ball in Game 4, and his play was greatly limited the next year. In winning the World Series the Reds became the only National League team to go wire to wire.