Philadelphia Inquirer - July 2, 1980
4 Dodgers, Schmidt join NL All-Stars
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK – Dodgers fans will have plenty of chances to root for the home team at baseball's All-Star Game in Los Angeles 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 yesterday by baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn: catcher Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds, third baseman Mike Schmidt of the 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 miseries to his right elbow and Rice is on the disabled list with a broken left wrist.
Rice isn't the only disabled AL star. Third baseman George Brett of the Kansas City Royals will not play because of an injured right ankle and second baseman Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers may also be missing; Molitor has a pulled muscle in his ribcage.
Also on the AL squad: first baseman Rod Carew of the California Angels, shortstop Bucky Dent of New York and Yankee teammate Reggie Jackson, who won the other outfield starting spot.
If none of the injured players can compete, the league office will name replacements. Tanner and Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver (who will skipper 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 he would not accept an invitation if he is not a starter, said yesterday 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 he wanted the days off. Tanner said that he would do all he could to convince Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons to become part of the NL squad.
Carlton goes for big No. 14
The Phillies conclude their three-game stand in Montreal tonight (7:35, Ch. 17) with Steve Carlton on the mound, so their chances are pretty good.
Carlton will be trying for his 14th victory, facing the Expos' Steve Rogers, who has a 9-6 record. If both pitchers allow their earned-run averages, the score will be 3.08 to 1.93, Phils.
BASEBALL
PHILLIES at Montreal (TV-Ch. 17; Radlo-KYW-1060, 7:35 p.m.)
Phillies top Expos in 11; Lerch wins
By Jayson Stark, Inquirer Staff Writer
MONTREAL – Randy Lerch must have felt like a donor on a Save The Bullpen telethon.
"Pledge a couple innings," he could hear the man saying, "and the sore arm you save might be that of a Phillies relief pitcher."
Inning after inning, Lerch went out there in the Phillies' 5-4, 11-in-ning win over the Expos in Stade Olympique last night. He had trouble in the fifth and trouble in the sixth.
Then more trouble in the seventh and almost game-losing trouble in the eighth. Still, not a toss was made in the Phillies bullpen.
Along came the ninth inning of a 3-3 game. Lerch was scheduled to be the first Phillies hitter. He strolled back to the dugout after surviving the eighth, packed up his stuff and started heading down the tunnel.
"I thought I was out of there," Lerch said later. "I walked past Dallas. I didn't have a helmet or anything. He said, 'You're hitting.'"
So out went Lerch again. The Expos got the winning run to second with one out in the ninth. Lerch turned around. The bullpen was as empty as the Sahara Desert. He turned back and got John Tamargo to bounce out.
Up came Ron LeFlore. Lerch already had gotten him out two straight trips with the go-ahead or tying run in scoring position. But it hasn't always worked that way.
"I'll tell you what," Lerch said. "Ron LeFlore has always killed me. I pitched a lot to him in the Instructional League and in Puerto Rico. And he always gave me a lot of trouble."
He got LeFlore to 1-and-2. He came back with a big slider that suddenly snapped past LeFlore onto the inside corner. LeFlore looked at it, frozen. End of inning.
"Phew," said Lerch. "That thing just exploded."
Lerch eventually went 10 save-the-bullpen innings last night. But finally, in the 11th, the Phillies began what would be a game-winning, two-run rally. Finally, when it became apparent that Lerch would have to bat, Lerrin LaGrow got up in the bullpen.
Finally, Lerch sat back and watched as Pete Rose knocked in the winning run with his fourth hit. And then LaGrow went out and saved Lcrch's third win of the year. Randy Lerch wasn't 2-10 anymore.
Dallas Green said he was grateful that Lerch had pitched so long. "The bullpen," Green said, "was thin."
But Green said that wasn't why he let Lerch pitch so long.
"He had complete control of the game, in my opinion," Green said. "I don't take people out in that situation unless I think they've lost some of their stuff. He hadn't lost anything."
Lerch was touched for an Andre Dawson homer in the first. It was a 3-and-1, don't-walk-him fastball, and he was "just hoping we could keep him in the park," catcher Keith Moreland said. "We didn't."
In the third, Lerch was touched for an unearned run, set up by Rose's throwing error after Lerch had picked LeFlore off first.
From then through the 10th, he allowed only a game-tying run in the eighth. He made it tough on a bunch of strong fastball hitters who had beaten 14 lefthanders in a row, dating back to April 27.
"The key was getting my breaking stuff over and being a little more aggressive," Lerch said. "The key was finally forgetting about being 2-and-10, and going out and just saying I'm 0-and-0. And you can't just say that. You have to really deeply think it and believe it."
In Lerch's last start, he went nine excellent innings and got beat by a Scott Sanderson two-hitter, 1-0. Last night he was paired against Sanderson again, and for four innings, he watched the Phillies reach Sanderson for seven hits and a walk without scoring or getting more than one runner to second.
"Damn," Lerch said. "It was funny, wasn't it? But actually, I felt that was a positive thing. It meant he wasn't as sharp as he was in Philadelphia."
The Phillies finally knocked Sanderson out with a two-run, five-hit fifth. Lerch, Rose, Manny Trillo and Mike Schmidt (who later left after re-injuring his hamstring) singled for one run. Garry Maddox drove In the second.
The Phillies' first 13 hits were singles, and all it got them was a 2-2 tie. But in the eighth, Moreland took the alternate approach. He handed Lerch a 3-2 lead with one swing, crunching an Elias Sosa "breaking ball that didn't break" over the wall in left.
But the Expos tied it in the bottom of the eighth, on Dawson's single, Gary Carter's double and Warren Cromartie's sacrifice fly. Lerch got Larry Parrish with two outs and Carter on third, so they kept going.
Moreland led off the 11th against Woodie Fryman with the Phillies' 14th single (and 15th hit) of the night, a looper to right.
Lonnie Smith ran for Moreland and prevented Greg Gross' bouncer to short from being a double play with a barreling take-out slide. Gross had failed twice to bunt Smith over.
Ramon Aviles made the second out. But Bob Boone, pinch-hitting for Lerch, lined a single to left, making it first and second for Rose, who was already 3-for-5. Rose ripped the Phils' 16th single of the night between short and third.
Gross challenged LeFlore's lame arm and scored the fourth run. The fifth scored when Parrish let Carter's throw to third go through him, making sure that Cromartie's homer off LaGrow in the 11th wouldn't stop the Phillies from charging to within a game of the first-place Expos.
NOTES: Tug McGraw's stiff shoulder turned out to be tendinitis, so the Phillies put him on the 21-day disabled list yesterday and activated Nino Espinosa. McGraw was placed (reluctantly) on the list, retroactive to June 26, so he will be eligible to come off July 17. Dallas Green said McGraw's injury comes from the sidearm pitches he has been working on. He first felt it in San Francisco, then told Green about it after allowing the winning run against the Expos on a sidearm pitch last Tuesday. Espinosa goes to the bullpen temporarily. But he may start Friday in St. Louis (instead of Dickie Noles) if Green can get by without using him before then. Green didn't exactly rave about Espinosa's stuff after watching him throw on the side. But, he said, "I've seen Nino win with even less stuff.”... Paul Owens says he will talk to the Expos about infielder Billy Almon, who is in designated-for-assignment limbo.... The only Phillie to hit .300 for June was Lonnie Smith (.359). The Phillies pitcher with the second-best ERA, behind Steve Carlton, for June was (surprise) Dan Larson (2.57).... Other Phillies averages for June: Trillo .296, Bowa .286, McBride .284, Gross .278, Rose .275, Maddox .260, Schmidt .244, Boone ,226, Moreland .222, Aviles .222, Luzinski .177, J. Vukovich .118, Unser .105, G. Vukovich .000.... Carlton and Steve Rogers hook up tonight for the 12th time. Each has won four, with three no-decisions.