Allentown Morning Call - June 11, 1980

3:11 a.m. finish has fans, Green, other in uproar

By Dan Shope, Call Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA – It ended at 3:11 a.m. yesterday. Just two hours before dawn. Just three hours before decent folks awaken. And just five hours before kids start school.

Exhausted players walked slowly off the Veterans Stadium field like zombies. Some 200 fans, the sole survivors from Monday night's starting crowd of 28.702, rubbed their eyes as if awaking from a hangover and walked out of the park. 

The game was over. And that was all that mattered. Who cared that the San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1? 

Few people were awake to hear about it. And those who were wished they already hit the sack. 

But some folks were upset about the circus, which started at 7: 35 p.m. and was twtce delayed by rain for a total of five hours. The final five innings didn't even.start until 1:28 a.m. yesterday.

Especially unhappy were Phillies' Manager Dallas Green. Giants' Player Representative and relief pitcher Gary Lavelle and the fans. 

"It was mishandled." Green said about the decisions of chief ump Bob Engel. "I did not think he handled it too professionally. He was worried about being fair to both teams, but he sent 30,000 people out of here with no idea of what was going on.”

Green felt Engel should have let the game continue past the top of the fifth inning, making it official, and then make a call. Instead, after two delays, Steve Carlton lost his perfect game and the Phils lost the contest. 

The Giants' Lavelle said he planned to talk with the Players Association about the problem, but he didn't think much could be done. 

The fans had their own ideas. 

"I blew $55 taking the kids down here to see four innings of baseball," said one man, who left before the end of the final delay and missed a free coupon given by management for a ticket to an upcoming game. "By 11 15, they closed down the refreshment stands and you couldn't get even a cup of coffee." 

Now that's roughin' it.

'Hammer' keeps pounding as Luzinski, Maddox HRs spark Phils

By Jack McCallum, Call Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA – We may never know why Ron Reed has suddenly become the "hammer" that manager Dallas Green said he could be. But the Phillies hope he keeps pounding along. 

"I'm sorry, I have nothing to say," said Reed to any reporter who ventured within distance after Reed helped preserve a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants last night at Veterans Stadium. 

And, so, the list goes on of Philadelphia Phillie players who would rather not talk to those vicious minions of the Fourth Estate. Reed feels he was unduly criticized when things were going badly for him, and now that things are going good, he sees no reason why he should communicate.

"I've always given 100 percent out there, no matter what happened," said Reed in somewhat of an elaboration. "But that never seemed to be enough for some people.”

At any rate, what Reed is giving now is certainly enough. For any people. He entered last night's game in the seventh inning with the Phillies ahead 4-3 and faced only one batter over the maximum in the final three innings. And that was only because Mike Schmidt made a throwing error on Jack Clark's groundball in the top of the ninth. 

In Reed's last 24 innings (13 outings), he has given up just 15 hits and three earned runs while striking out 17 and picking up three saves. 

His ERA has been 1.13 in those games and it now stands at 2.57 for the season when at one point it was 5.73. 

The win went to Kevin Saucier who was the pitcher of record when Carry Maddox hit a two-run home run in the sixth to give the Phils the lead they never lost. And Saucier has been almost as good as Reed lately with just three hits and zero earned runs in his last seven innings.

So, it seems a safe bet that neither Reed nor Saucier will be on the block if the Phillies do indeed feel they can pick up a quality starting pitcher by offering a. member of their bullpen by the Sunday trade deadline. Green has already said that Dickie Noles won't be traded, so that leaves Tug McGraw and Lerrin LaGrow, and they haven't pitched-badly this year, either. 

With the bullpen going along at its current pace, the the Phillies are now in the position of adopting Pittsburgh's "strong-six" concept for its starters. (Except, of course, for Steve Carlton who may be leaping tall buildings in a single bound by the end of the season.)

"This bullpen has been just super for the last three weeks," said Green. "All we ask now of our starting pitchers is to keep us close, keep us in the game. The good thing about the bullpen, too, is I don't think any- I one's been overworked. In fact, I haven't given LaGrow and (rookie Dan) Larsen enough work." 

Green didn't get his "strong-six" from rookie starter Bob Walk last night but he got enough. After giving the Giants all their runs in a bad first inning, Walk made it through the fifth before giving up a double to Terry Whitfield and a walk to Jack Clark in the Enter Saucier who got him out of that inning and Reed did the rest.

The Phils got their first run on Greg Luzinski 's first home run since May 25, a bases-empty shot in the second, and their second run on Pete Rose's sacrifice fly in the fifth. Maddox's homer did the rest and he also made a fine running catch on a long shot to dead center by Darrell Evans in the ninth.

In a showcase exchange, the Phils started Lonnie Smith In rightfield (0-for-3) and the -Giants used Ed Halicki in relief (1⅔ innings, no hits, one strikeout). Though that is the most frequently-mentioned trade rumor these days, Green had essentially no comment. 

"What did Ed Halicki look like to me?" said Green. "He looked like a Giant. That's all I have to say."