New Jersey Newspapers - August 17, 1980
Camden Courier-Post
Phils’ offense crumbles Mets
By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post
NEW YORK – A week ago, the Phillies' offense was suffering from an acute case of anemia. So weak were the bats during four, straight losses in Pittsburgh, that Manager Dallas Green might have considered ordering them put out of their misery.
But the attack began recovering in Chicago and now, after three days of strenuous exercise here, a miracle recovery has been effected. Yesterday, the Phillies again mugged the Mets, this time, by a score of 11-6. The Phillies lineup transformed a wind-blown Shea Stadium into a private shooting gallery, strafing five New York pitchers for 19 hits, including home runs by Mike Schmidt (No. 32) and Manny Trillo (No. 4).
The afternoon's work brought the Phillies' production to an awesome three-game total of 27 runs and 49 hits (five homers, four doubles and one triple).
"I knew," said Green, "we weren't as bad offensively as we had shown over that period of time. I'm not real sure we're as good as we're showing right now, but we're swinging the bats real good and everybody seems to be doing it.
"FOR AWHILE, the top part of the order carried us. But, right now, the bottom half is hitting well and we're getting good run production."
Pinpointing the reason for the sudden good health of the offense is at least as difficult as discovering the cause of the malaise. Green doesn't know why... Schmidt, who currently could get a hit with a bat manufactured by Ronzoni can't figure it out... Even Pete Rose, who yesterday singled, doubled and drove in a run, is at a loss to explain the phenomenon.
"That's baseball," he shrugged. "Why did I hit in Pittsburgh and go 1-for-11 in Chicago? The unusual thing about the last three games here is, it wasn't just one or two guys. It was everybody in the lineup."
Indeed, during the last three days the entire lineup has hit... and hit... and hit. Consider the following: Lonnie Smith is 6-for-12; Rose 6-for-13; Schmidt 8-for-14; Trillo 4-for-11; Garry Maddox 7-for-14; Larry Bowa 5-for-14, and Bob Boone 6-for-13. The only guy not hitting is Bake McBride, who is 1-for-13 and, no doubt, wondering where he went wrong.
"IT IS just something that happens," said Boone, who drove in three runs with two singles in the most recent laugher.
Oh. That explains it.
In truth, the Phillies received some help from the Mets, who stumbled around the field while the Phils were handing Bob Walk, now 9-2, a 7-2 lead after four innings.
"We caught a couple breaks early that really helped turn the game around," said Green.
Agreed Boone: "It was really kind of an ugly game all the way around. The infield was really hard and the ball took some crazy bounces."
THE FIRST four innings contained more gaffes than a Jimmy Carter acceptance speech. The two third basemen, Schmidt and Joel Youngblood, divided four errors equally, but their fielding problems were not isolated cases.
Hits fell in front of, and beyond, Met infielders with boring regularity. Throws – when they were made at all – generally went to the wrong bases. Put another way, the Mets outfielders – Steve Henderson, Lee Mazzilli and Claudell Washington – could have passed for Larry, Moe and Curly on this day.
Poor Craig Swan. He came off the disabled list Friday and had the misfortune of starting yesterday's game for the Mets. The righthander somehow retired the first four hitters without incident before Trillo took him beyond the wall in left center in the second. Things went downhill from there, reducing Swan's lifetime record against the Phillies to 2-9.
Perhaps the secret to the Phils' sudden success is Walk, for whom they've scored an average of 5.2 runs in each of his 17 starts.
"Every time I get out there, they score runs and play good defense," he said. "It's fun."
Today, the Phillies will attempt to continue the good times in a double-header for Steve Carlton and Randy Lerch.
PHIL UPS – Rose now needs 12 more hits to tie Tris Speaker on the all-time hits list with 3,515... Maddox finished the afternoon 4-for-5... Trillo went 2-for-2 and now is hitting.325... Schmidt was 3-for-4... Washington had four hits for the Mets... Islanders beat Flyers, 8-5, in a post-game softball meeting… Phils have won five of six and are 5-5 on road trip... Mets pitchers this afternoon are Ray Burns and Roy Lee Jackson.
The Press of Atlantic City
A Change of Scene Aids Phils’ Cause
Phila. 11, New York 6
NEW YORK (AP) - The Philadelphia Phillies only needed a change from Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh to Shea Stadium in New York to make a complete changeover in their offense.
In sweeping the first three games of the series, the Phillies pounded out 49 hits, 19 of them Saturday when Garry Maddox’s four safeties and Mike Schmidt’s three led them to an 11-6 romp over the New York Mets.
“I knew we weren’t as bad as we looked in Pittsburgh,” said Phillies Manager Dallas Green. “And we're not as good as we’re looking now offensively. Everybody’s doing it, particularly the bottom half of the batting order.”
Maddox, who had been slumping, went four-for-five and reached base every time up, scoring two runs and knocking in two.
“Hitting comes and goes, but batting Coach Billy DeMars gave me a couple of tips which straightened me out,” Maddox said after the game.
Pete Rose, who went two-for-four before being rested, said, “We got chewed out good after Pittsburgh. We’re swinging the bat now. Different players are hitting and this is unusual because everybody is contributing.”
Bob Boone, who had three RBI, added, “The law of averages caught up with our batting and everyone is loose and confident now."
Boone’s first RBI came on an infield grounder in the second inning after Manny Trillo had opened the frame with his fourth homer of season off righty Craig Swan, 5-9.
New York tied the game in the second with two unearned runs off Bob Walk, 9-2. Both runs scored on an infield single by Joel Youngblood with the second coming across when third baseman Schmidt threw wildly past first on the play.
Schmidt’s homer followed a fourth-inning double by Pete Rose, capping a three-run Philadelphia fourth and knocking out Swan. Swan, making his first appearance since July 16, allowed seven runs on 10 hits before being relieved by Dyar Miller with two out in the fourth.
Philadelphia scored two more runs in the fifth on Boone’s bases-loaded single and two more in the sixth on Garry Maddox’s two-run double. The Phillies collected 19 hits off four New York pitchers.
Walk gave up nine hits struck out four and walked three before needing relief help from Kevin Saucier in the eighth, when the Mets scored two runs. New York scored two more runs in the ninth one on a triple by Claudell Washington, before Saucier shut the door.