Believe it or not, Ripley was there, too

By Ray W. Kelly of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – Having been held hostage for five hours by a crew of umpires, who didn't know enough to stay out in the rain, last night's baseball marathon between the Phillies and Giants resumed with a fourth inning pitch by – believe it or not – a righthander named Ripley.

Thus, continued an evening at Veterans Stadium that will forever more be ranked right up there alongside such memorable occurrences as the three-headed dog, the midget who walked backwards to Cleveland and the 500-pound potato.

It's hard to believe that four men, who earn their livings by making snap decisions, could have so much difficulty in deciding whether to keep the covers on or off the field of play. You would have thought they were maids at an X-rated motel.

We all know that into each life a little rain must fall. But somebody should have checked for Sanforized brains. If the umps had been in charge of Noah's Ark, Flipper would now rule the world.

With a little luck, Phils' southpaw Steve Carlton might have become the first pitcher in history to have a perfect game called on account of sunrise.

The big guy threw four innings of untouchable pitches through an early game drizzle that wouldn't have bothered the Tin Man, let alone rust the 28,702 fans, who watched with surprise as the umpires waved both clubs off the field.

Remember, this is the town where the league president sat through a prime-time typhoon during the playoffs with Los Angeles, proclaiming that it was a beautiful evening for baseball. Where was he when we needed him?

Carlton was nothing short of distilled brilliance through the first 12 batters, refusing to allow the bleary-eyed team from San Francisco the comfort of at least nudging a ball beyond the Phillies' infield.

Like a visiting fireman staggering through Central Park with a fistful of fifties, the Giants were begging to be taken, a no-hitter waiting to happen. Short on sleep and long on despair, they confronted Carlton in the same manner one might face a kennel of Doberman-Pinschers.

"It's a shame the umpires had to call this rain delay," said Carlton's former catcher, Tim McCarver. "Steve seems to have a tough time coming back after sitting for a long time."

Carlton always works like a man on deadline. When he has to sit and stew, that's exactly what he does. "He doesn't play bridge to kill the time," said Timmy. "Once in awhile he'll read, although I can't tell you what because I can't even understand the titles. But, mostly he stares into his locker."

After almost an hour and a half of eye strain, Carlton received word that the umpires had finished making the grounds crew do the dance of the seven tarpons and were ready to step back into the raindrops.

If their decision was influenced by the promise of a Carlton no-hitter, then bless their soggy little hearts. But why they tossed everybody right back into the locker room after Bob Boone homered, Garry Maddox singled and Manny Trillo saw three pitches is anyone's guess.

What followed was three hours and 32 minutes of confusion, indecision and frustration that bordered more on a rain sabbatical than delay. You would have thought the umpires had Thursday off and were worried that the game might be rescheduled for that off-day. Oh, they do have Thursday off!

Never mind. Surely it was Carlton they were worried about. Or, maybe it was the 500 starving, homeless, baseball fanatics, who waited around searching in vain for a hot dog and a expert, who would tell them if the grounds crew was going into the Guinness Book of Records.

While Phils' weather expert Bill Giles was upstairs wondering how his secret adviser could have a night off on the same evening his favorite radar system blew a fuse, the umpires listened to the grumbling birth of another Attica riot.

"We want the umps!", the night owls screeched. They got 'Frisco pitcher Allen Ripley instead and busied themselves by counting aloud his warmup pitches until it was announced they would be given free tickets to another game for their loyalty.

At 1:28 a.m., the fourth inning resumed. Carlton gave it a try, but the Giants, having caught up on their sleep, came back to win, 3-1.

"Just trying to get the game in," explained the umpires.

I liked the 500-pound potato better.

Luzinski, Schmidt are seeing ‘stars’

NEW YORK – Outfielder Greg Luzinski and third baseman Mike Schmidt of the Phillies have moved into commanding positions to win spots on the National League team after the latest vote count.

Schmidt leads in the voting for the third base slot, while Luzinski is is second place in voting for the outfielders, trailing only Pittsburgh's Dave Parker.

Also taking the lead in voting at their positions on the National League team were shortstop Garry Templeton of the St. Louis Cardinals and outfielder Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs.

Holdover NL leaders for the July 8 game in Los Angeles are catcher Ted Simmons of the Cardinals, outfielder Parker of Pittsburgh and Los Angeles infield teammates Steve Garvey at first base and Davey Lopes at second.

Lopes moved into the lead among vote-getters, receiving 729,045 to jump in front of California Angels first baseman Rod Carew, who had 538,500 in the last American League accounting. The latest AL figures will be announced Thursday.

Luzinski (377,134), and Kingman (372,262) took over the two-three slots among NL outfielders. Parker's 603,921 lead all outfielders, but only 67,046 votes separate the next five players – Luzinski, Kingman, Reggie Smith of Los Angeles, Cincinnati's George Foster and Dusty Baker of Los Angeles.

TEMPLETON regained the lead at shortstop from Bill Russell of Los Angeles with 474,848 to 351,753 for the Dodger player. Schmidt (511,906) holds a 75,944 lead over Ron Cey of Los Angeles (435,962).

Garvey (551,470) is seeking his seventh consecutive starting assignment at first base. He leads Keith Hernandez of St. Louis (368,057), Willie Stargell of Pittsburgh (286,621).

Carlton’s Perfect Performance Rain Delayed

Boone’s Homer Gives Phils Lead in Fourth

By Harry Hoffman, Press Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA — Baseball's number one pitcher’ Steve Carlton had an extra hitter to contend with Monday night, the weatherman. 

Carlton, who started the game against San Francisco with a 10-2 record which currently is best in both leagues, breezed through the first four innings at the Vet like a man dating destiny. 

The Giants did not hit a ball out of the infield as the first 12 batters went back to the bench meekly. 

When Bill North fanned to start the fourth inning, it was Carlton’s fifth strikeout of the game and the 100th of the season. Lefty also leads both leagues in that department.

The closest the visitors came to a base hit before the game was interrupted by a downpour was Jack Clark's ground ball toward the middle in the fourth inning. Shortstop Larry Bowa tracked it down behind the bag and his strong throw to Pete Rose at first base nipped the runner by a nose. 

Before the Phils could come to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, the rain had picked up to the point that Bob Engel, head man of the umpiring crew, had to call out the ground crew. 

It took one hour and 38 minutes for the rain to relent. However, moments after play had resumed, a steady drizzle returned. Before it got bad enough to cause Engel to motion for the return of the ground crew, the Phils made the scoreboard.

Bob Boone, lead-off man in the bottom of the fourth inning, took the count to 2-0 on righthander John Montefusco. Then the Phillies' catcher lined his fourth homer over the left field barrier to break the scoreless tie. 

Garry Maddox followed with a single to center field, Bowa’s ground ball at shortstop forced Maddox at second, but Bowa beat the relay to first. 

Manny Trillo was at the plate with a 2-1 count when the rain picked up in intensity and the tarps were pulled back into place at 9:57 p.m. At 10:45 the rain was still coming down hard. 

The Giants pulled into town Monday, a team ripe to be no-hit by a pitcher as sizzling as Carlton. The team batting average before game time was a miserly .239. That is an obvious reason they are in the cellar of the Western Division with a 21-32 record that has them 11 games behind the leading Los Angeles Dodgers. 

San Francisco came here from Houston where they had dropped a three-game series to push their losing streak to four. The Giants have also lost their last six road games. 

Meanwhile, the Phillies were trying to start a new winning streak after a four-game skein had been broken Sunday afternoon 2-0 by the Chicago Cubs.

Around midnight the tarps came off and play was resumed in the fourth inning. 

The game was expected to resume around 12:15. But the rains came again, forcing the umpires to cover the field one more time.