Sports Illustrated - June 16, 1980

Baseball – N.L. East

By Herm Weiskopf

With Larry Parrish (sore right wrist) joining Ellis Valentine (fractured left cheekbone) on the disabled list, the Expos (6-1) seemed about to buckle under. Instead, they knuckled down. Gary Carter slammed his 10th and 11th home runs, Andre Dawson had eight RBIs, and the Expos had 12 stolen bases, six by Ron LeFlore. And three extra-inning wins moved Montreal to the top of the division, three percentage points ahead of Pittsburgh. Warren Cromartie's single in the 12th finished off the Cardinals 7-6; Bob Pate drew a bases-loaded walk in the 13th to defeat the Cubs 8-7; and Bill Almon's joy came when he singled in the 13th to beat St. Louis 2-1. In all, the fast-finishing Expos scored 23 of their 36 runs after the sixth inning. The bullpen excelled, too, with Woodie Fryman extending his scoreless-inning streak to 23; he gave up just two hits and struck out 10 in 9? innings.

Dale Berra's grand slam and five RBIs helped the Pirates (3-3) drub the Mets 13-3, and four steals by Omar Moreno led to a 9-3 victory over the Phillies. Another defeat of Philadelphia came when Willie Stargell hit his first homer in seven years off Tug McGraw to tie the score at 3-3 in the eighth and Ed Ott singled in the tie-breaker in the 10th. After league President Chub Feeney rejected Buc Third Baseman Bill Madlock's appeal of a Feeney ruling that Madlock would have to serve a 15-day suspension and pay a $5,000 fine for shoving his glove in an umpire's face on May 1, Madlock filed another appeal, with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Four days later Madlock thought better of it all and decided to take his medicine.

Steve Carlton of the Phillies (3-3) rarely talks to the media, but last week he spoke with his old pal Tim McCarver, a catcher-turned-sportscaster. After a 4-3 triumph in Pittsburgh that made him the first 10-game winner in the majors, Carlton said he recently had been stuffing cotton in his ears while pitching. "It blocks out the crowd noise," Carlton explained. Rookie Bob Walk, who had lived up to his name in his first two outings by giving up 10 bases on balls in 8? innings, was a 6-5 victor over Chicago as he lasted 5? innings and didn't issue a free pass.

"I haven't seen a guy challenge hitters like that in a long time," said Ken Reitz of the Cardinals after Craig Swan of the Mets had won 2-1 with an explosive fastball. Swan struck out eight and became a winner when Steve Henderson singled in the ninth, stole second and scored on Mike Jorgensen's pinch hit. New York (3-3) climbed past Chicago into fourth place by jolting Pittsburgh 9-4 with an eight-run second and 6-5 in 11 innings.

A two-run pinch homer by Larry Biittner carried the Cubs (2-5) past the Phillies 5-4. That helped Chicago stay safely ahead of last-place St. Louis (page 26).

MONT 27-20; PITT 28-21; PHIL 26-21; NY 22-26; CHI 21-26; ST.L 18-32