Allentown Morning Call - August 7, 1980
Sykes enjoys himself again as Cardinals rout Phillies, 14-0
By March Markowitz, Call Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA – On Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Phillies waited and watched for 1½ hours as two inches of rain deluged Veterans Stadium. Fun-loving St. Louis pitchers Bob Sykes and Pete Vuckovich, along with about 200 fans enjoyed the storm, belly-flopping across the wet tarp.
Sykes enjoyed himself again last night and the Phils prayed for rain. They got a storm all right, but it came in the form of thunder and lightning from the Cardinal bats.
When Hurricane Cardinal subsided, St. Louis had stormed past Philadelphia 14-0 before 31,869 at the Vet.
"Where was Giles and his damn radar when we needed him?" asked Phils' Manager Dallas Green after the blowout.
The reference was to executive vice president Bill Giles, the man in charge of the innovative promotions at the Vet, He was rumored to have placed a long distance call to heaven last night, but evidently he dialed a wrong number.
"It was just one of those things," said Green. "There's not much to explain. They were on today, there's no question about that."
That was somewhat of an understatement, but the old problem of making young, untested pitchers look like Cy Young continued.
This time it was Bob Sykes, he of the 20-24 lifetime record. Sykes entered the game with a 4-8 record and 5.01 ERA, having given up 112 hits and 49 earned runs in 97 innings.
But that record doesn't even Indicate how poorly Sykes has pitched because included in that is a 10-lnning gem of a 1-0 win he pitched against Philadelphia on the Fourth of July.
"I guess I've just been lucky against them," said Sykes. "They're a free-swinging club that usually gets its hits, Today they just weren't hitting."
No, the Phils weren't hitting. Sykes stopped Philadelphia on three hits and the Phils simply went through the - . motions after the Cardinals had batted around for the second time in the third inning for a 12-0 lead.
Even Sykes enjoyed himself, simply throwing strikes and watching many Phils swing at the first pitch. It's easy for Sykes to enjoy himself even when he isn't going so well.
If anybody knows about the misery James Rodney Richard is going through It's the Sykes, who had a blood clot in his left shoulder a year ago and was sidelined for six months.
"I had it when I was In Detroit, but it hadn't been diagnosed and wasn't until I got here (prior to the 1979 season)," said Sykes. "It got to the point where it totally blocked the artery and they had to cut It out.
"Fortunately, it was in my arm and I wasn't paralyzed like J.R. I was able to come back in six months. I don't see flow there's any way he will come back and pitch even next season."
The injury's behind Sykes and he's trying to get a lackluster career straightened out. The only time, however, he looks anything like the consistent starting pitcher the Cardinals were hoping for has been against the Phillies.
Last night the job was made easier thanks to a 16-hit attack. Ted Simmons fot four straight hits and four RBI and om Herr from Lancaster scored three ; runs. Everyone in the starting lineup except Sykes had hit safely by the end of the third inning.
"But I pitched like it was a one-run lead instead of a 12-run lead," said Sykes. "I was able to concentrate the whole game which is sometimes difficult when you have that big a lead."
By the sixth inning every Phillie regular except the Phanatic had been booed, including Lonnie Smith, who was thrown out stealing in the sixth when the Phils were trailing by 13.
For 2½ months, it all came so easy for Bob Walk. Life in the big leagues was a deliciously dull routine of going out every fifth day and chalking up what seemed to be an automatic "W."
Last night, nothing came automatic to Walk except for frozen ropes, the term managers have for hard-hit balls.
"I don't believe In a pitcher being due for a bad game, but Bob had pitched very consistently for us," said Green. "His ball was up and it just got away from him early."
The loss was the second worst by shutout ever suffered by the Phils. Only a 16-0 thrashing by the Chicago Cubs on May 4, 1929, surpassed this one.
Where was the rain when the Phils needed it most?
Smith making it tough for Luzinski
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia Phillies manager Dallas Green says he won't decide until shortly before Greg Luzinski is judged fit to play whether the home run slugger has lost his leftfield job to speedy Lonnie Smith.
A 24-year-old rookie, Smith has hit in eight of his last 10 games, batting .348 overall with 45 runs scored in just 59 games. He has stolen 10 straight bases and 17 in his last 18 attempts.
"When 'Bull' (Luzinski) gets back you have to think of the threat he is with the long ball. He puts power in the lineup," Green said Tuesday night prior to a rain postponement of the Phillies game with St. Louis. Luzinski is out of action with an injured knee.
On the other side of the coin, Green noted. "Lonnie adds a new dimension, one I've preached, encouraged, fought for. I'd hate to see that destroyed or put in the background.
"At the same time I can't afford to forget what Luzinski has done in the past. It's a pleasant problem. I'll just have to have patience and deal with it two or three days before it happens."
The manager's dilemma is still a couple of weeks away, and Green said somewhat philosophically, "Baseball has a way of working out our problems."
But, he added, "I've never backed off making a decision… If nothing else is accomplished in 1980, it will be the thought on this team that this is a 25-man team.
"Whoever the manager puts out there, there is a good reason. It's for the team's sake. That guy is there because he can help us win. Everybody wants to play. I understand that as a baseball man. But production is the name of the game.
"If a kid or extra man produces there should be no question about the manager making a change. It's been a very difficult thing to accomplish on this team."
Maybe baseball will solve Green's problem. The National League meets in Detroit Aug. 11-12 and one of the items on the agenda will be the designated-hitter rule. The American League has it and the National doesn't.
But opposition to the DH appears to be rapidly disappearing in the National as teams consider what to do with oldsters such as Rose, Willie Stargell, and Johnny Bench and defensively weak players such as Dave Kingman and Jeff Burroughs.
The rule would enable Green, for instance, to make Luzinski the DH and leave Smith in leftfield.
It only takes seven votes from the 12-team league to approve the DH and those perennially against it are weakening – Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles.