Wilmington Morning News - April 1, 1980

Phillies’ pitchers scattered by Yanks

By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Dallas Green keeps using the word scary to describe the Phillies' pitching. Then, in another breath, the manager says it's still early and you have to be patient.

Last night at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium, the pitching crumbled again as the Yankees exploded for a firestorm of 14 hits to bury the Phils 7-3 in the first game of a scheduled three-game trip to the East Coast.

Had it not been for another awesome batting show by Mike Schmidt, the Phils' fourth straight Grapefruit League setback would have been even more difficult to stomach.

Schmidt blasted two homers and drove in all three Philadelphia runs. The third baseman has now collected seven homers and driven in 18 runs in 12 exhibition games.

"There's not too much I can say about our pitching tonight," said Green. "I thought Lefty (Steve Carlton) started off in a good groove," said Green. "He had a bad third inning. He kept falling behind in the count and that's a difficult way to pitch."

Carlton gave up eight hits and four runs over six innings and struck out nine. The left-handed ace of the staff has pitched 23 innings, allowing 26 hits and eight runs. He has walked six and struck out 18 for a 3.13 earned run average in five games.

Lou Piniella's two-run double in the third keyed the Yanks' four runs in the inning, while Eric Soderholm's two-run single off Rawly Eastwick in the seventh accounted for two of his three RBI. New York's seventh run came at the expense of Lerrin LaGrow.

"I thought Lefty's breaking ball was not as good tonight as it was earlier this spring," said Green. "He really didn't throw any differently in the third inning than he did the others, but like I said, he got behind in the count and they guessed right on his slider."

Green was not too pleased with Eastwick, who has struggled his last two times out after pitching fairly well this spring.

"It's going to take time," the manager kept repeating. "It's too early to start worrying about the pitching. Sure, it is not where I hoped it would be, but it takes time. I have talked to Herm Starrette by the hour about it. Because of the complexities of pitching, these kinds of problems are not solved overnight."

Ron Guidry was the winning pitcher even though two of his spring streaks were ended. When Larry Bow a walked in the third inning, he became the first batter to reach base against Guidry in 21 consecutive innings. When Manny Trillo singled in the fourth, it was the first hit given up by the lefthander in 9⅓ innings. Schmidt followed, blasting a 1-2 pitch over the left-field wall, His other homer came in the sixth, an opposite-field shot with nobody on.

"That one in the sixth is what I have been talking about," said Schmidt. "Because I am stronger this year even when I don't hit the ball that well, it has a chance to go out. I put on 12 pounds with that weight program and I think eight of them are muscle. Last year, that ball to right field might not have gone out."

The Phils saw a familiar face on the mound in the seventh, former teammate Jim Kaat.

The 41-year-old lefty came to spring training as a non-roster player, but has won a spot on the Yanks' pitching staff. He blanked the Phils for two innings last night to run his scoreless string to 12 innings, the only member of the Yanks' staff who has not given up a run this spring.

EXTRA POINTS - Before the Phils left for this trip, they traded catcher Dave Rader to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later... "It's a good break for Dave," said Manager Dallas Green, who has indicated all along he plans to go with only two catchers, Bob Boone and Keith Moreland.

Owners insure against strike?

DALLAS (AP) – Major league baseball owners have assembled a strike fund and insured themselves to the point that a walkout by players might be profitable for the clubs, Marvin Miller, executive director of the players association, said last night.

"The owners taxed themselves 2 percent of last season's gate, amounting to about $3.5 million," said Miller, who arrived here for today's meeting of the union's executive board.

"We understand they also have strike insurance that will pay the 26 clubs $1 million per day after the first two weeks of a strike. There also is an override on top of that, insured by Lloyd's of London for $40 million."

Miller has said throughout 20 weeks of fruitless negotiations that he believes the owners are trying to provoke a strike.

"They see it as a time to take the players on, to dismantle the players association," he said. "They have been on the offensive for four years. During the negotiations, 95 to 98 percent of our time has been spent on owner demands."

Miller said more than nine hours of meetings that included a federal mediator have been concerned totally with owner demands. Asked what had been accomplished at that meeting, Miller smiled. "Absolutely nothing," he said. "We accomplished zero."

The executive board, armed with an overwhelming, virtually unanimous strike vote, will decide on what action to take at its meeting here. A strike seems inevitable, but Miller said he has made no recommendation yet on when to walk out. That seems to be the only question left.