New Jersey Newspapers - July 2, 1980
Camden Courier-Post
Phillies only a game off lead
By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post
MONTREAL – For the first five innings, the Phillies sprayed hits with an uncommon regularity around Olympic Stadium.
They had 11 of them before the first out was recorded in the fifth and, by the time that inning had ended, were outhitting the Montreal Expos, 12-3. That should have been more than enough to provide some working space for lefthander Randy Lerch. But no. All those hits produced were two runs, just enough to keep even with the Expos.
"It looked," Manager Dallas Green would later say, 'like it was going to be one of those struggle nights where we get a lot of hits and not many runs."
AS THINGS turned out, it was well worth the struggle. The Phils remained deadlocked with Montreal until the 11th, when they scored twice and hung on for a crucial 5-4 victory last night.
The win moved the Phils to within a game of the Expos in the National League East Division standings and gave them the opportunity to leave here tonight with a sweep and tied for the lead.
Pete Rose and Bob Boone delivered the key hits in the 11th, but it was an error by Montreal third baseman Larry Parrish that gave the Phils their third straight win.
The 11th began with Keith Moreland, who started at catcher and homered for the second consecutive night in the eighth, slapping a single to right off reliever Woody Fryman.
GREG GROSS, who started in right in place of Bake McBride, was sent to the plate with orders to bunt, moving Lonnie Smith, pinch running for Moreland, into scoring position. Gross failed, eventually forcing Smith at second and seemingly killing a fine scoring opportunity.
"Gross didn't get the job done on the bunt," said Green. "Fortunately we were able to keep the rally alive."
The man who resuscitated the rally was Boone, who has watched Moreland catch the last four games, was hitting only .223 and was six-for-his-previous-44 when he pinchhit for Lerch, ripping a single to left.
That gave Rose a chance to single for the fourth time, scoring Gross, who challenged the arm of leftfielder Ron LeFlore. LeFlore had thrown out Rose at the plate in the fifth and robbed Greg Luzinski of extra bases with a leaping catch at the wall in the ninth,
BUT LeFLORE'S throw was well off the plate, forcing catcher Gary Carter to go down the first base line. When Boone saw LeFlore's errant throw, he headed for third and Carter fired to Parrish, who let the ball get through him for an error, Boone scoring what proved to be the deciding run.
Lerrin LaGrow, another in a long line of weary Philly relievers, could protect only half of the 5-3 lead in the home 11th, relinquishing a lead-off homer to Warren Cromartie. LaGrow got the next two hitters out, but walked Chris Speier before retiring pinchhitter Tommy Hutton to end the game.
"We couldn't get anything going early," said Rose. "And in the 11th, I was the last hope. I was it. I hit that time the same as I always do. I just happened to hit it in the hole.
"I was just trying to hit the ball out in front, drive it somewhere. There's a lot of holes out there. You just hope you don't hit it at somebody."
ROSE MANAGED to miss everybody by LeFlore, much to the relief of Green, who watched Lerch put together 10 strong innings. Green displayed more than the usual confidence in his 2-10 lefthander, allowing Lerch to hit in the ninth inning of a 3-3 game.
"I thought I was out of the game," said Lerch, now 3-10 and gaining some much-needed confidence. "I looked in the dugout when I was on the on-deck circle and said, 'What's going on?' He (Green) said 'You're hitting.'
"I thought he'd get a hitter in there, but I'm glad he didn't.”
The Phils were fortunate enough to have Mike Schmidt return to the lineup. But it might have been too soon to bring the slugger back, since he restrained the hamstring muscle that kept him out of four games. Nevertheless, Schmidt, who yesterday was named to the All-Star team for the fifth time, managed to drive in a run with two singles.
PHIL UPS – Phillies yesterday reactivated righthander Nino Espinosa, who has not pitched since last September and began the season on the disabled list... Espinosa probably will pitch Friday in St. Louis, taking the place of Dickie Noles in the rotation... At the same time, the club placed lefthander Tug McGraw on the 21-day disabled list, backdating it to June 26... McGraw developed some tendinitis in his left arm after experimenting with a sidearm delivery... Luzinski has gone hitless in his last 14 at-bats Steve Carlton and Steve Rogers, who are 4-4 in 12 previous matchups, face each other tonight in the series finale.
Lerch and Phillies don’t follow script
By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post
MONTREAL – From the beginning, it had all the trappings of a typical Randy Lerch game. You know, a lot of deep counts, flurries of hits sandwiched between occasional outs, less support than Teddy Kennedy gives Jimmy Carter…
Lerch is the resident luckless pitcher of what remains of the Phillies' staff. He could be called a mirror image of Steve Carlton because, just as it seems there is no way Carlton can lose, so it seems there is no way Lerch would win.
So when Lerch's first two pitches to Andre Dawson in the first inning of last night's game against the Expos in Olympic Stadium were balls, it was all but preordained that Dawson would hit Lerch's next pitch out of the ballpark. Dawson did, springing the Expos to a 1-0 lead.
And, when the first 10 Phillies' hits - failed to produce a run off Scott Sanderson, who beat Lerch, 1-0, last week, it seemed only a matter of time before the sky would fall.
This time, however, neither Lerch nor the Phillies followed the script. The lefthander pitched well – sometimes brilliantly – and the Phillies won a critical game from Montreal, 5-4, in 11 innings to move to within one game of the Expos.
"Herm Starrette (the Phils' pitching coach) has been telling me all year, 'Randy, don't worry about your record. You're going to win a big game for us,'" Lerch said after winning for the first since June 7.
Lerch's 10-inning performance was crucial for reasons not reflected in the won-lost column.
Perhaps its highest value was to Lerch, himself. Lerch went into the game with a 2-10 record that was only marginally deceiving. He had endured a confidence-shattering period of exile in the bullpen. Indeed, had another healthy arm been available, Lerch might now be in Oklahoma City, his pitching was so poor.
"This is a big boost for me and the team," Lerch allowed. "The key has been finally forgetting about being 2-10 and just going out there and throwing. You can't just say that you're better than your record, you have to think it.
"Everybody in the world knows I'm not (as bad as) 3-10. Well, maybe not everybody... But the fans know it; they're still booing me like hell."
The truth is, Lerch is somewhere between 3-10 and, maybe, 6-7. In three of his last four starts, lie has been effective, going 10 innings against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, losing to the Giants and dropping last week's 1-0 decision to Sanderson.
"I don't believe he's a – what? – 2-10 pitcher," said Keith Moreland, who caught for the fourth straight game and homered for the second time in two nights. "His last six, seven starts. Randy has pitched his game, kept ahead of the hitters. You look and you'll find that games he's gotten in trouble are the games where he falls behind hitters."
Another reason Lerch's performance represents something more than a casual night's work was the ragged condition of the bullpen. Manager Dallas Green had to have Lerch go deep into the game because there were no usable arms in the bullpen.
Tug McGraw became the latest pitching casualty yesterday, going on the disabled list with tendinitis of his left arm. Ron Reed barely survived the final three innings of Monday's game. Kevin Saucier also had been used Monday. Indeed, the only person who possibly could've given the Phillies more than two innings last night was Nino Espinosa, who had just been activated. And Espinosa has not pitched since last Sepember.
Had the circumstances been different, Lerch probably would've been pulled when he ran into trouble in the seventh, or for a pinchhitter in the ninth, moves Manager Dallas Green insists he would not have made.
"He just had complete control of the game, in my opinion," said Green. "I don't take pitchers out in that situation unless I think they're losing some stuff. He hadn't lost anything."
Nevertheless, Lerch had two on and two out in the seventh with Ron LeFlore at the plate. It turned out to be Lerch's finest moment, because he caught LeFlore looking at a mean slider for a called third strike.
"That," said Moreland, "was probably ' his best breaking ball of the night. He wasn't lazy on it and LeFlore was completely fooled."
So were a lot of other people who thought for sure it was going to be another typical Randy Lerch game.
The Press of Atlantic City
Phillies Rally In 11th
Philadelphia 5, Montreal 4
MONTREAL (AP) — Pete Rose drove in Greg Gross with an 11th inning single and the Philadelphia Phillies added another run on an error by third baseman Larry Parrish to defeat the Montreal Expos 5-4 Tuesday night.
Gross reached first on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a single by pinch-hitter Bob Boone against reliever Woodie Fryman, 1-3. Gross scored on Rose’s single, Boone raced to third then scored when catcher Gary Carter’s throw got past Parrish.
Randy Lerch, 3-10, scattered 10 hits over the first 10 innings to record the first victory by a lefthander against Montreal since April 27.
He was relieved in the 11th by Lerrin LaGrow, who gave up a leadoff homer to Warren Cromartie but held on for his third save of the season.
The Expos grabbed a 2-0 lead against Lerch. Andre Dawson hit his 10th home run of the season in the first inning. Montreal got another run in the third when Ron LeFlore singled, stole second, continued to third on a throwing error by first baseman Rose and scored on Rodney Scott’s sacrifice fly.
Montreal starter Scott Sanderson, who had tossed a two-hit shutout against the Phillies last Thursday, was tagged for seven hits over the first four innings and knocked from the mound after a five-hit barrage in the fifth allowed Philadelphia to tie the score 2-2 on RBI singles by Mike Schmidt and Garry Maddox.
L.A. Dominated All-Star Voting
NL stars have Dodger blue tint
NEW YORK (AP) — Dodger fans will have plenty of chances to root for the home team at baseball's All-Star Game in Los Angeles next Tuesday night. Four Dodgers – second baseman Dave Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell, first baseman Steve Garvey and outfielder Reggie Smith – have been named to the National League's starting lineup.
"Obviously, we have some outstanding players on this team and the fans have shown it by the way they have backed their club," said Tommy Lasorda, who manages the Dodgers but will surrender the dugout helm to Pittsburgh's Chuck Tanner for the 51st All-Star contest.
The rest of the National League starters, elected in fan balloting announced Tuesday by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn: Catcher Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds, third baseman Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies and outfielders Dave Parker of Pittsburgh and Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs.
The Boston Red Sox have the most starters (three) on the American League team, one that hopes to break the NL's eight-game winning streak. Outfielders Fred Lynn and Jim Rice join catcher Carlton Fisk as elected starters for the AL, though Fisk continues to suffer elbow miseries and Rice is on the disabled list with an broken wrist.
Rice isn't the only disabled AL star. Second baseman Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers and third baseman George Brett of the Kansas City Royals also may be missing; Molitor has a pulled muscle in his ribcage and Brett has an injured ankle.
If none of the injured players can compete, the league office will name replacements. Tanner and Earl Weaver (of the AL) will name their alternate players and their pitching staffs later this week.
It isn’t likely, though, that Tanner will name St. Louis shortstop Garry Templeton to the squad. Templeton, who last year said, “If I ain’t startin’, I ain’t departin'” for the game, said Tuesday he would decline the invitation if Tanner offers it.
Templeton finished 500,000 votes behind Russell in the voting for shortstop, labelled the balloting “a joke” and said “I just want the days off." Tanner said he would take Templeton’s views into consideration but added he would do all he could to convince Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons to become part of the NL squad.
“I demand that he be on the team,” said the manager. Simmons, who started last year but finished third this year, replied he would decide Tuesday whether he would accept.
There was no question in Lopes’ mind after the Los Angeles second baseman earned the most votes in the majors — 3,862,403. “I’ll be there,” he said. “I’m gratified that many people put the time into voting. It’s nice to know you’re that popular.”
Many of the Dodgers were that popular. Twelve NL players received two million votes or more, and seven of them play for Los Angeles: Lopes led them all with his total; Garvey got 3.009.005; Cey got 2.320.959; Smith 2,283,416; Russell 2,123,488; Yeager received 2,119,196 to finish second to Bench among catcher, and Dusty Baker — who finished fourth in the outfield voting — got 2,108,727.
Garvey, aside from being the only other National Leaguer to amass three million votes, beat out both of the circuit's co-Most Valuable Players in earning the start. Willie Stargell of the Pirates finished second with 1,872,434 while Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals was next with 1,517,081.
Brett Unable To Play in All-Star Game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Third-baseman George Brett will not play in the All-Star game in Los Angeles next week because of an ankle injury, the Kansas City Royals announced Tuesday.
Brett, the American League's starting third baseman since 1976, injured ligaments in his right ankle three weeks ago.
Graig Nettles of the New York Yankees finished second behind Brett in third base balloting.