Camden Courier-Post - July 7, 1980

Phillies 2^nd half tied to Green’s philosophy

By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post

Baseball has come to its traditional halfway point, toasting the juncture with an All-Star game and a three-day respite.

It is, then, an appropriate time to assess the Phillies; to look at where they have been and attempt to define where they are going. Satchel Page once warned us never to look back, but in the case of the Phillies, the past may be a window to the future.

"I think," Manager Dallas Green was saying, "they were under one guy (Danny Ozark) for so long and during that period they had some great individual success. But those successes were two, three years ago. I understand that we have to have great individual successes, but we've got to convince ourselves that the only way to win is as a team."

WE not I. That was to be the credo of the 1980 Phillies. The slogan was from the gospel according to Dallas Green, a new manager for a new season and a man convinced the word "team" could be found in "individual."

Green might have been the only member of the Phillies who believed in "WE not I" when he first hung that motto on a club house wall in Clearwater during spring training. And now, as the club begins the season's second half, Green remains one of its few followers.

WE not I. A cynic might suggest that a closer characterization of the Phillies would be "WE have met the enemy… and he is ME. Actually, the Phillies have been neither the totally unselfish team of the former, nor the completely uncaring bunch of ego maniacs of the latter. Rather, they've fallen somewhere in between. They are a team more of talent than determination, just as they are a club with greater unity than some others in the National League.

"We have to put aside our individual problems, our individual pettiness and our own struggling to do something for the team," said Green, still believing in his spring training motto. "To change the way we have done things for seven years (under Ozark) to the what I think is the correct way, is difficult. I see strides and I see setbacks. Hopefully, in the second half we will be able to make greater strides and not slip back."

It is a myth that the Phillies are a towering talent in the National League East baseball's most competitive division. There's little doubt they are the division's finest defensive team. Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Manny Trillo, Pete Rose and Garry Maddox all are having outstanding seasons with the glove. But the Phils' pitching is surpassed by both Pittsburgh and Montreal, and their offense is easily equalled by the Pirates, Expos and St. Louis Cardinals.

So the Phils' current second-place status is a triumph of sorts. They've survived chronic pitching problems and, at times their own ennui, to be among the contenders in the East. Surviving something and overcoming it are two different things, however. And if the Phils are to emerge the winner of what promises to be a mad, scrambling pennant race, they'll have to do something more than merely survive.

"We have stayed competitive even though we have not been consistent," Green said. "Right now, it looks like our pitching staff is getting its act together. But we have to pitch better... We have to play more aggressively."

Indeed, aggressive base running was supposed to be one of the hallmarks of the Dallas Green Phillies. They were going to make a dramatic departure from the sit-back-and-wait-for-the-long-ball style of the past But there hasn't been much difference, really, in the number of times they have run under Green and the number of times than ran under Ozark. In fact, at the All-Star break last year, the Phils were attempting a nearly 1⅓ steals per game. This year, they've barely averaged one attempted steal per game.

"We haven't stolen enough bases," said Green. "That comes because Schmitty and Bull (Greg Lnzinski) have hit so well (36 home runs, 99 RBIs between them).

"I've been encouraged with our fundamentals. I'm still not satisfied with the character of this club. I'm pretty good at handling peaks and valleys, but this has been the most frustrating thing for me. I'm still not satisfied the players understand that they cannot win on talent alone."

Only Schmidt, who has hit .280 with 21 homers and 57 RBIs, and Steve Carlton have been consistent. Carlton became something of a mystical figure en route to a 14-4 record, including yesterday's 8-3 victory over the Cards.

"I've been fortunate to have Steve Carlton," said Green, "but I don't think any manager could work through the pitching problems… You don't know half the pitching problems we've had.

Not as severe have been problems at the plate, an area that was of little concern to Green during spring training. The offense has been, at best, sporadic.

"Aside from the character thing," said Green, "I've been most concerned about our offense. Except for a streak of about a month and a half when we had offensive production, there has not been much satisfaction in that department."

Schmidt, second baseman Manny Trillo and rightfielder Bake McBride have hit with authority, but Rose, Bowa and Maddox all have been up and down. Catcher Bob Boone had a troubled first half, Luzinski a bittersweet one. Boone never really got his stroke going, hitting .220. The Bull had a fine May, hitting .312 with eight homers and 18 RBIs, but a had a horrendous June, his figures plummeting to .177 (.245 overall), three and 14.

"If we're not going to get the consistency out of those guys," said Green, "we're going to have to play better team baseball."

As a manager Green has, as he called it, "hung in there." He has been no tactical genius, but strategy in specific situations rarely determines the outcome of a ballgame. He has handled the pitching staff well, juggling a patchwork rotation and getting results from an underrated bullpen. He remained patient, refusing to panic, while others clamored for a trade that would have mortgaged the future of the team.

Perhaps his chief failing has been in converting his players to his We not I philosophy. Green was to be the stern disciplinarian who would run a tight ship. Instead, at times, it seems he has just been along for the cruise.

After a particularly nervewracking doubleheader loss. Green warned, "After the All-Star break, I'll lay it to them: 'From now on, it will be done this way.'"

But, no matter how many laws Green lays down, the Phils fortunes over the second half will be determined largely by pitching. If righthander Nino Espinosa lives op to his shutout promise of last Friday; if Randy Lerch reverses his 3-11 first half; and if Dick Ruthven continues to pitch well enough to win 15 games, the Phils will be part of the pennant race.

Those, of course, are a lot of ifs.

"Really, the key right now to our pitching is Randy Lerch," said Green. "We're going to need him as a fifth starter the second half. If he doesn't get straightened out, we're going to have to make some kind of move."

Other variables – injuries chief among them – will come into play as the season's final three months unfold. The Phillies are quite capable of winning the division, just as they are quite capable of again finishing fourth.

The deciding factor in the direction the Phils take may well come down to the character Green spoke of; the willingness to believe in the WE not I philosophy.

AL hopes to end NL edge

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The outcome isn't reflected in any standings. It's a contest annually accompanied by controversy over the player selection process, and the game itself lacks the lingering tension of the playoffs or the World Series.

But when the teams take the field at Dodger Stadium tomorrow night for the 1980 All-Star Game, it's still the "Midsummer Classic" for fans. And the game seems somehow to bring out the best in baseball's best players.

The contest, to be nationally televised by ABC (Channel 6), is scheduled for a 8:40 start.

The game shapes up as a version of "hungry youngsters versus successful veterans," as the new-look American League squad tries to end the National League's long dominance eight victories in a row and 16 wins in the last 17 meetings.

Half of Manager Earl Weaver's AL squad is comprised of players who'll be making their first All-Star appearances, giving Chuck Tanner'sb NL contingent a definite edge in experience.

Weaver, who hopes to guide the AL to its first victory since 1971, will have just two pitchers on his staff who've seen previous All-Star duty, the Yankees' Tommy John and Rich Gossage. Newcomers are Baltimore's Steve Stone, Kansas City's Larry Gura, Toronto's Dave Stieb, Seattle's Rick Honeycutt, Chicago's Ed Farmer and Boston's Tom Burgmeier.

Tanner's pitching staff will feature Phillie strikeout artist Steve Carlton; Los Angeles' Jerry Reuss, who recently threw a no-hitter; and Chicago's Bruce Sutter, the winning pitcher in the last two All-Star Games. Houston's J.R. Richard, Pittsburgh's Jim Bibby, Los Angeles' Bob Welch, Pittsburgh's Kent Tekulve and San Francisco's Ed Whitson round out the formidable NL mound corps.

The contest will be the first hosted by Los Angeles in 21 years, and the NL lineup will have a distinct Dodger flavor. First baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and outfielder Reggie Smith of Los Angeles were all voted into the starting lineup.

Although hitting .240 this season, Lopes received 3,862,403 votes, most of any player, raising some accusations that Los Angeles fans overstuffed the ballot box.

"I didn't feel I was having an All- Star type of year," Lopes admitted. "To get more votes than anyone, that's surprising. But it's nice to know you are that popular with the fans."