Phillies lose, fall to 3½ games out

By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – Had the Phillies' 6-2 loss to the Giants last night been as straightforward as the score makes it seem, it could simply be chalked up as another Believe-It-Or-Not performance by Allen Ripley.

The San Francisco righthander seemed appropriately named back on June 9, when he was the winning pitcher in that utterly forgettable five-hour, rain-delay game. Ripley needed no help from the heavens to add to his legend last night, however, pitching a seven-hitter and tripling home two insurance runs that represented the first RBIs of his major-league career.

But Ripley and his Giant teammates were not solely responsible for a defeat that sent the Phillies 3½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East Division standings. No, the Phils themselves contributed to this one.

"If I could explain how we can turn things off like a faucet, it wouldn't happen," said Manager Dallas Green. "How we can play so well, then go back to nonchalant, non-concentrating, non-thinking baseball...

"That's where we are at this point. Not just here (in this series, only the second the Phillies have lost since the All-Star break). It has happened in a couple wins. It has happened since New York. We've overcome some of our mistakes, which a good team will do, but we're in a pennant race right now and you'd think we'd be thinking more baseball."

A particularly vexing lapse occurred with two out in the second after Larry Christenson, now 4-1, had given up a double to Mike Ivie and walked Rennie Stennett intentionally after falling behind the Giant second baseman, 3-0.

Johnnie LeMaster, who would haunt Christenson again in the sixth, grounded a ball to second baseman Manny Trillo. It should have been an easy force out at second and the end of the inning, but Trillo got his signals crossed with shortstop Larry Bowa. With Bowa nowhere near the bag, Trillo tried to outrun Stennett to second. When Trillo realized it was a race he would not win, he gunned a blind throw toward first and beyond Pete Rose, allowing Ivie to score an unearned run.

"Every play is important in baseball, and that's what we seem to have a tendency to forget," said Green. "The mistakes we've made the last few games shouldn't have been made. The guys should know where we are... We're in the pennant race… in August."

Whatever the circumstances, this game was decided in the sixth, Darrell Evans and Milt May opening with back-to-back doubles to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

With May on second, Christenson got Ivie to pop up before again intentionally walking Stennett to get to LeMaster, who seemed to play right into the Phillies' hands by bouncing a potential double-play ball to third baseman Mike Schmidt. LeMaster, however, beat Trillo's relay to keep the inning alive.

"We didn't turn a double play I thought was possible, then he (Christenson) makes a bad pitch to the pitcher," moaned Green.

Ripley, who was with the Boston Red Sox before the Giants purchased him in April, sent a 1-2 Christenson pitch into left-center. It was a line drive leftfielder Lonnie Smith valiantly attempted to catch, but he stumbled and fell as the ball rolled to the wall for Ripley's first major-league extra-base hit.

The Phillies' only runs, both unearned, came in the fourth, tying the game temporarily, at two. Ripley, who is 3-0 and has allowed only one earned run in 21 innings against the Phils this season, would have retired the Phillies in order had not Stennett's error been sandwiched between two of Ripley's 14 ground-ball outs.

An infield single by Garry Maddox and a flared double near the left-field foul line by Bowa accounted for one run. Christenson singled in the other.

PHIL UPS – Smith had his hitting streak stopped at 12 games... Phillies went into the game leading the National League in hitting... They had hit 21 home runs to the opposition's eight this month going into last night... Giants were without slugger Jack Clark (injured hand) for the second straight game... Tug McGraw, who had been ill with the flu, was in uniform last night... Trillo, who went 1-f or-4, was the NL batting leader at.328 after going 3-for-4 Friday. Since the All-Star break, opposing teams have stolen 37 bases, been caught 30 times against the Phils... Bob Boone threw out two would-be stealers last night.

Phillies go over 2 million again

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies last night surpassed the two-million mark in attendance for the fifth straight year by drawing a crowd of 38,541 fans to Veterans Stadium for their game against the San Francisco Giants.

Last night's crowd gave the Phillies a total of 2,021,774 on their 60th playing date. Last year, the Phillies passed the two-million plateau on their 53rd date. The club first drew more than two million fans in 1976, the year the Phils began a string of three straight National League East Division championships.

The only other National League team to draw more than two million so far this season is the Los Angeles Dodgers with an attendance of 2,336,562.

Unthinking Phils Ripley Believers

San Francisco 6, Philadelphia 2

By Harry Hoffman, Press Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia Phillies Manager Dallas Green hopes he won't have to go through another yelling and screaming session with his players to get them thinking and playing pennant baseball.

“They certainly should know by now they are in a pennant race and that this is late August when each game becomes extra important,” Green said Saturday night after his club turned in its second straight subpar performance while wilting before San Francisco 6-2 at Veterans Stadium.

Two weeks back after the Phils dropped four staright in Pittsburgh and apparently droppped out of the National League East race, Green closed the clubhouse doors and vocalized his contempt about the way his players were approaching their daily assignments.

Whether it was because of the lengthy and loud oration or because they were facing the dregs of the league, the Phillies bounced back from Green’s raucous session to win three straight series and nine of their next 11 games and climbed back into contention.

“Apparently our guys don’t realize that you have to keep your concentration up every day to remain pennant contenders,” Green said emphatically. “Lately our defense has lost its zip and the hitters go up there swinging but not thinking. I find it tough to believe they don’t realize just how important each one of these games is.”

Saturday night, the Phils gave up only one unearned run. However, they failed to turn over a double play that could have made the four-run sixth inning a one-run frame that would have left them down 3-2 instead of 6-2.

“The little things are the big things in baseball. And we are failing to execute the little things properly, which is costing us,” Green said.

Saturday night, the 38,541 fans brought the attendance over the two million mark for the fifth straight season. But by night’s end, the Phils had dropped 3½ games behind Pittsburgh and 1½ games behind Montreal, both winners.

It also was a night when they let another no-reputation pitcher, Allen Ripley, continue his domination of them. Ripley is 7-6 this season and 12-12 for his major league career. However, the righthander is 3-0 this year against the Phils. He has two complete games, both against Philadelphia. He also beat the Phils once in relief and has allowed only one earned run in 21⅔ innings of work against Green’s non-thinkers. That means Ripley’s earned run average is below 0.50 against them.

“Don’t ask me to explain it, ask them” Green said. “He is not a bad pitcher. But obviously he is not as good as we make him look. We seem to do that against a lot of pitchers. That’s just another part of the concentration bit.”

Larry Christenson made his second start since coming off the disabled list and suffered his first setback of the season against four victories. Last outing, he beat New York while working six strong innings. Saturday night he allowed three hits and two runs in the first five innings and only one of the runs was earned.

The Giants, who went over the .500 mark for the first time this season, started the sixth inning with back-to-back doubles by Darrell Evans and Milt May. After Christenson got Mike Ivie to pop out, he walked Rennie Stennett intentionally. Johnny LeMaster hit a ground ball toward third base. Mike Schmidt made the play to second to get Stennett, but Manny Trillo’s relay was late to complete the inning-ending double play.

Ripley followed with a punched hit to left field which Lonnie Smith played into a two-run triple. The pitcher scored on an infield single by Bill North to complete the damaging four-run inning.

The Phils, who had scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning, managed only two harmless singles off Ripley the final four frames and thus lost for the sixth time in eight meetings with the Giants, fourth in the National League West.