Philadelphia Daily News - July 12, 1980

Phils Get Drug Probe

By Bill Conlin

The Speedscam investigation is proceeding. Quietly.

Phillies President Ruly Carpenter released the following terse statement to the media before last night's 7-2 victory over the Cubs:

"Philadelphia Phillies players and their wives were contacted today by officials from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation of persons not employed by the club.

"Each individual interviewed cooperated fully and was assured that he or she was not suspected of any criminal involvement.

"The officials from the Commonwealth requested that none of the details of the interview, including the indentity of the individuals interiewed, be disclosed at this time.

"I trust that this request will be honored by the media. Any further comments will have to come from the Commonwealth."

End of statement. Carpenter met with the Phillies behind locked doors shortly before the statement was distributed.

Phils Walk into 1^st

By Bill Conlin

Bob Walk is 5-0 and last night he reached a plateau in his very brief big league career where he could talk about how he won on a night when he didn't have his best stuff.

That's progress.

The rookie righthander didn't have the pinpoint location with his fastball he had in St. Louis. He didn't have the sheer stuff that dazzled the Expos through eight shutout innings in Montreal.

But he had enough to battle the Cubs into the seventh, enough to keep his manager from going immediately to the bullpen after Ivan DeJesus lined a shot off his right thigh in the seventh for a base hit which became a jam when he balked the shortstop to second and intentionally walked Bill Buckner after striking out Lenny Randle.

WALK HAD A 2-2 count on Mike Vail when Dallas Green popped from the dugout and waved for Ron Reed. Big D does not let the count stand in his way when he sees something out there he doesn't like.

The Phillies were clinging to a 3-2 lead at the time, so it wasn't as if Green had a long-ball to play with.

"Yeah, I would have taken him out then (after the line drive off his thigh) but he wanted to finish the ballgame," Green said after the 7-2 victory pulled the Phillies into a dead heat for first with Montreal on Jesus Figueroa Night at the Vet. "I talked to Boonie after he got hit and he said he was still popping some pitches and not popping others. When I went out to get him I figured I was down to one pitch with him. I wanted to give the fresh pitcher two shots at Vail."

Reed ran the count to 3-2 before Vail flied out to Bake McBride in right and the Phils put it away with three runs in the bottom of a seventh Cubs Manager Preston Gomez would just as soon forget.

In the rich history of the game, a lot of bad left field has been played. But the paid mob of 50,209 had to wonder if the position has ever been played less artfully than Figueroa, a 23-year-old rookie from the Dominican Republic, played it last night. Jesus should have been armed with a red cape and a muleta. Unfortunately, they do not send picadors out on horseback to insure the baseball will charge in a true line. They do not award the ears and tail for baseballs waved at, even when the wave takes the form of a classic Veronica.

NOBODY EM THE crowd hollered, "Ole!" although Gomez might have said. "Oh, God," several times.

The Phillies rifled eight balls in Figueroa's direction and he managed to catch one of them. One out of eight ain't bad. He lost a third-inning liner by Pete Rose in the lights. It got by him for a double and the Phils had a 1-0 lead. A ball in the lights we'll give him.

Jesus warmed up for the seventh by studying the actions of Vail, who does about as good a job of impersonating a rightfielder as Dave Kingman does of impersonating Red Smith. Vail broke in on Mike Schmidt's leadoff liner to right and watched it sail over his glove. By the time he was finished folding, spindling and mutilating the baseball, Schmidt had belly-flopped his way to a triple. And Garry Maddox broke the 2-2 tie with a sacrifice fly which was not nearly as exciting as his dash from first to third on Manny Trillo's infield out in the fourth.

The Carpet Sweeper, Lonnie Smith – he runs lower to the ground than a push broom – led off the seventh with his second hit of another exciting performance. A single to left, of course. He stole second despite stumbling on his second explosive step and blazed to third when the throw skidded into center.

ROSE SMOKED A line drive to left. Figueroa assumed a stance on the order of an NHL goalie faced with a Rick McLeish breakway. Shot on goal . . . Scooooore! The kid never laid a stick or glove on it until dropping it several times on the warning track. Rose had the second of his three doubles for the evening and the Phils led, 4-2.

Nor did Jesus save on the liner Schmidt smoked on a short hop. But at least he managed to get enough leather on it for a deflection into the gap in left-center. Jerry Martin appeared in position to hold Schmidt to a double. But nooooooo. Figueroa insisted on fielding it and was forced to make an end run around the stunned centerfielder to launch his throw. Schmidt tumbled into third with his second triple. Manny Trillo scored him with a single to right.

The Phillies scored their seventh run in the eighth on back-to-back doubles by John Vukovich and Rose, who drilled this one into the right-field corner.

It was a virtuoso offensive performance by the Phils – 14 hits, seven of them for extra bases aided and abetted by the Cubs' wretched outfield defense.

THE PRETTIEST RUN of a game which evolved into the Phillies' clinic vs. the Cubs' emergency ward was the one Maddox and Bowa collaborated on in the fourth. Garry Lee was on first with one out after singling to left off starter Lynn McGlothen. Trillo hit a high chopper the righthander was forced to bare-hand. He got Manny in a photo at first, but Maddox kept right on going and churned into third head-first. The play rated an E for effort, but there were two outs and Bowa was the hitter. However, the shortstop dropped an artful bunt to the third base side of the mound, a play that Lenny Randle makes with the worst of them. He legged it out and Maddox loped home.

"It's a play I've been encouraging Bowa to try more with some of our better runners like Garry or Bake on third," Green said. "It's a tough play to stop if he gets the bunt past the pitcher."

The Cubs remembered how Walk labored in his first big league start against them when he created a slow tempo for himself. They spent a lot of time in the early innings stepping out of the box, double-checking signs and making Bob stand there.

"I think they were trying to slow me down," said Walk, who has been terrific since Green and Herm Starrette speeded him up. "I noticed that about Buckner. He usually doesn't take that long when he hits."

OF 10 HITTERS Walk faced in the first and second innings, two singled, two walked and one lined out. Oh, yes, the other five struck out.

"I was struggling all through the ballgame," Walk said. "I know what it's like to win now, but I got to adjust when I don't have my best stuff. I wanted to stay in there, wanted to finish the ballgame. But when he took me out I was starting to knot up where the ball hit me. I was going to reach back at 2-2 on Vail. Who knows, I might have favored something and hurt my shoulder or something. The important thing is Ronnie got them all out and we're in first place."

Steve Carlton goes against 11-1 Pirates ace Jim Bibby tonight. And that's what first place is all about.

4 Win Tickets In Home Run Payoff

There were four winners in last night's Daily News Home Run Payoff.

In the fifth inning of the Phillies-Chicago Cubs game at Veterans Stadium, Roxanne Guss and Dorothy H. McGinnis of Philadelphia, Gene Monte Caloo of Egg Harbor, N.J., and M. Downing of Rio Grande, N.J., all won four tickets to a Phillies game.

So far the Daily News has paid out $10,135.