Wilmington News Journal - July 27, 1980
Phillies, Walk help to solve nemesis Niekro knuckler 6-3
By Rod Beaton, Staff Reporter
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies pummeled Phil Niekro last night for the second time in eight days. Now they're really in trouble.
Last night's 6-3 decision over their onetime nemesis should have been heartening.
Bob Walk won his seventh game in eight decisions, pitching well before tiring. Manny Trillo continued to sizzle at the plate and in the field and Lonnie Smith, whom you'll be seeing lots more of, did the same.
But the last time the Phils didn't knuckle under to Niekro was Friday before last, winning 7-2 in Atlanta. They followed that with the late, hardly lamented six-game losing streak that ended in the first game of last Friday's twi-nighter.
They hardly expect a repeat performance of the extended skid, but news that Greg Luzinski would, go under the knife, rather arthroscope, tomorrow doesn't inspire visions of charges at the first-place Pirates.
But Luzinski or not, the Phils did make a move yesterday, one small step for a third-place club, but a giant move in the right direction – they gained a game on the Bucs, who lost 4-3 to San Francisco.
While Trillo and Smith solved Niekro's flutterball, the Braves' impressive array of sluggers could not solve Walk's heat.
The 23-year-old right-hander threw seven shutout innings in pursuit of his first Major League shutout. He was kayoed in three-run eighth, sparked by Brian Asslestine's solo homer, but Ron Reed cleaned up for the save, his sixth.
"Bobby had the real good stuff," said Manager Dallas Green, an unbridled Walk fan. "His location was real good. It looked like he got a little tired when the ball started getting up."
Niekro enjoys a 23-15 lifetime mark against the Phils, compiled, remember, with the woeful Braves. But he was showering by the time Walk tired.
In the second inning, Trillo doubled in Garry Maddox, who'd walked and stolen second standing up, for the Phils' first run. Walk lifted a hit to right to score Trillo.
Manny the Mauler reached out for a knuckler again in the third, doubling down the right-field line to score two.
The Braves threatened to get one or more back in the fourth. Mike Lum cracked a two-out, two-on single to left. Hefty Chris Chambliss, a graduate of the Bob Boone school of overaggressive baserunning, tried to score from second.
His mistake.
Smith, not known for his arm, fired a rocket to Boone, who decoyed Chambliss, and applied the tag.
Smith than showed his more-renowned side in the bottom half, scoring from first on Pete Rose's two-out single. Smith was running on the pitch, and when Garry Matthews momentarily juggled the ball in right, Smith kept running. He didn't stop until the dugout.
"Lonnie made a helluva throw," said Green. "He's looking more and more comfortable out there."
If he was any more comfortable at the plate, he might take out a lease.
"Lonnie, Manny, they can get real hot and go on a tear, too," said Green. Funny, but with Smith hitting .348 and Trillo at .323, it looks like they're already on a tear.
Comfort and confidence were the key words for Walk, just one year ago a Class AA-ball prospect riding buses in Reading, Bristol and Winter Haven.
"He has kept us in ball games," crowed Green. "He's a steadying force on our pitching, along with Steve (Carlton) and Rufus (Ruthven)."
The performance wasn't Walk's "steadiest". In 7⅔ innings, he yielded 10 hits, but four came in the upstart eighth.
After Asselstine's one-out homer, he recorded his fourth strikeout, Chris Chambliss. Then the Braves attacked.
Matthews and Bob Horner singled and Mike Lum walked. When Jeff Burroughs scored two with a hard single to left, Reed came in.
That Burroughs was on the bench was a surprise move by Braves Manager Bobby Cox. Burroughs was 2-for-2 against Walk in his previous appearance against Atlanta, his only loss, 3-2 last Sunday.
Dale Murphy, another in the Braves' stable of young power hitters, was bench-ridden too. He came out to bat for light-hitting Luis Gomez against Reed.
The big right-hander retired Murphy on a force, watched Boone hit his seventh homer for an insurance run, and 1-2-3'd the Braves in the ninth.
With Niekro down, the Phillies must now be vigilant their next countdown isn't another six-gamer, at least not on the bad side of the ledger.
PHILS FACTS - Today's 1:35 p.m. start is the last game of the season with the Braves. Steve Carlton, 15-5, against Rick Matula, 6-8... Houston is in tomorrow night for the start of a three-game series... At Oklahoma City, second baseman Jay Loviglio leads the league in runs, 79, and is 28-for-32 on stolen bases... At Reading, outfielder Bob Dernier leads the league in steals, 43.
Luzinski faces knee surgery
By Rod Beaton, Staff Reporter
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies may have to chase the National League East title without the services of slugger Greg Luzinski.
Luzinski is scheduled for surgery tomorrow when Dr. Phillip Marone takes an arthroscopy on his ailing right knee. If the damage is severe enough, Luzinski may have extensive surgery performed.
The arthroscopy will bore into the right knee to survey the damage. The prognosis is not good.
"It means looking into the knee and depending on what I find, I'll do at that time," said Marone.
"He'll be back in a week, if I find nothing. If I find something, it could take up to six weeks."
Last year, when he tipped the scales at over 225 pounds, all Luzinski heard was how the pounding from carrying all that surplus suet would shorten his career.
So the Bull went out, worked hard, dieted and reported to preseason camp as a new, sleeker Luzinski, no gazelle, but no Bull, either.
Apparently the wags who promoted the restorative powers of weight loss were wrong.
Luzinski's knee, supposedly on the mend since Marone tint drained 90 cc's of fluid from it July 8, began acting up again Friday, after workouts he'd undertaken to return to action.
"I knew he had arthritic changes in the knee the last three years," said Marone. "When he had more fluid Friday, I decided it was something more than arthritis.
"He's not in a lot of pain. It's discomfort, a strange feeling of something slipping in his knee. It's a sign of something more ominous than I'd have thought a week ago.
"He does have loose pieces in his knee," Marone said, noting it was possible to remove some material through the arthroscope, but that a bigger incision and more elaborate procedure were possible.
"I'd say there's a 75-80 percent chance of surgery and taking more," said Marone, clearly suggesting that the arthroscopy will reveal enough loose chips to keep the Bull penned until into September.
Manager Dallas Green put up a brave front.
"I still think well come with the players we've got," he said, heartened by a well-timed starring effort by Luzinski fill-in Lonnie Smith.
"This will put added pressure on Schmitty."
Schmidt will have to shoulder the bulk of the team's power production, something he has managed before when Luzinski has been sidelined or slumping.
"Don't forget what Schmitty can do for you on a tear," said Green. "I hope we can surround him with enough smokin' bats so he can just play.”
But for some time, the Bull will not. Green claimed it's worth it to get the knee problem cleared up, hopefully, once and for all.
“I don't want him playing with that on his mind or with a chance of it hurting him," said Green.
"If it does need surgery and they can just flush it out, pick a couple chips out, we can handle that with no problem."