Escondido Times-Advocate - August 31, 1980
Padres bounce back to gain a split with Phillies
By Greg Sidders, T-A Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO – Generally, professional baseball teams enjoy entertaining guests at their home.
San Diego Padre manager Jerry Coleman pondered that fact in a very quiet Padre lockerroom after the Philadelphia Phillies had beaten the Padres, 6-1, in the first game of a twi-night doubleheader.
At the same time he pondered the fact that the Padres had just lost their ninth consecutive home contest.
Finally, he said, “It doesn’t matter whether you play at home or on the road – if you play badly, you don’t win. We’ve been playing badly.”
The Padre loss evened San Diego’s home record at 30-30 and dropped their season mark to 53-76.
The Padres bounced back in the second game to snap that nine-game San Diego Stadium losing streak by dropping the Phillies 5-1 behind John Curtis four-hit pitching.
Broderick Perkins went 3-for-3 and drove in three Padre runs in the nightcap. The losing pitcher was Nino Espinosa, now 3-5.
The Padres finally got a combination of good pitching and good hitting, but that wasn’t the case in the first game.
“You can’t win if you can’t score,” Coleman said. Then, after a pause, he added, “You can’t win if your pitchers aren’t doing well, either.”
Both were problems for the Padres in game one last night.
San Diego scored once in the first inning, and then went scoreless for eight straight.
Meanwhile, left-hander Bob Shirley wasn’t having the best of outings. In his five innings of work, he gave up five runs – all earned – on 10 base hits.
With the score 2-0 in the sixth and the bases loaded, he was relieved by rookie right-hander Mike Armstrong. He had filled the bases by giving up a pair of singles – to Greg Luzinski and Manny Trillo – and walking Garry Maddox.
Armstrong did not do well in his one-third inning of work. He went 3-0 on Larry Bowa before the Phillie shortstop popped out to third baseman Luis Salazar, then walked Bob Boone on four straight pitches forcing in a run.
Then Phillie starter Dick Ruthven, a .200 hitter, doubled off the centerfield wall to knock in a pair of runs. Lonnie Smith then walked on a full-count pitch and Armstrong was pulled in favor of lefty Dennis Kinney.
Pete Rose grounded out to second on Kinney's first pitch, but Boone scored.
Salazar ended the inning with a diving stop of Greg Gross hard grounder, with the score 6-1.
In the sixth, officially, the Phillies scored four times on three hits. They also walked four times.
The Padres scored in the first when Gene Richards doubled, reached third on Salazar’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a Dave Winfield ground out.
The Padre offense was virtually non-existent the rest of the way. The closest the team came to scoring again was in the fourth when Winfield led off with a triple to the Phiily bullpen.
But he was stranded on third as Willie Montanez grounded out, Jerry Mumphrey popped out and Bill Fahey grounded out.
The winner Ruthven is now 13-8. He gave up just seven hits in his complete game performance.
Ruthven worked with a lead from the third inning on. After the Phillies scored once in the second, they took the lead in the third when Mike Schmidt doubled and scored on a Luzinski line drive single to center.
“That was darn good pitching,” smiled Philadelphia manager Dallas Green. “He kept on top of them. He had control all the way; he had no problems. He pitched a very strong game.”
Except for Cy Young Award candidate Steve Carlton, who has a glossy 20-7 record, Ruthven is the only other Phiily pitcher with more than nine wins. The Padres, on the other hand, do not have a single 10-game winner.
With their win in the first game the Phillies raised their road record to 30-30, the same as San Diego’s home mark.
It was their seventh road victory in a row and their eighth win in 10 tries against the Padres this season.
Philadelphia’s win in the opener kept them hot in pursuit of Pittsburgh and Montreal in the National League East division race.
The two teams will wrap up the four-game series this afternoon at 1 when the Padres send Juan Eichelberger (3-0) to the mound against Philadelphia’s rookie right-hander Bob Walk (9-3).