Reading Eagle - June 22, 1980

Giants Slug Phillies in Warmup for Carlton

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The San Francisco Giants, especially the hot-hitting Jack Clark, are probably as ready for Steve Carlton as they’ll ever be.

“We know ahead of time he’ll be tough but we’ve faced him once this year and I think maybe we’ve zeroed in on how he’s pitching,” said Clark after the Giants’ 9-3 victory Saturday over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Giants are on a winning streak and Clark is one of the hottest hitters in baseball.  Today they run into Carlton, the left-hander with a 12-2 record and 1.74 earned-run average.

It will be a big day at Candlestick Park, with Carlton facing Vida Blue, 9-3.

And it may be a historic day, too.  There has been speculation that Willie McCovey, the Giants’ 42-year-old first baseman, will retire, ending a career which included 521 home runs but only one this season.

“I’m not going to comment,” said Manager Dave Bristol, and no comment was the rule all around.

Clark said, “Against Carlton, if you get him on the ropes, you’ve got to score when you have the chance.  That’s what we’ve been doing lately.  We’re not leaving many runners on base.”

Sizing up the Carlton-Blue matchup, Clark said, “it should be an exciting game, probably a short one, too.”

Clark doubled Saturday to trigger a three-run rally in the fifth inning and Darrell Evans drove in three runs in the victory.

The Giants stroked four consecutive hits off Randy Lerch, 2-9, as they broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth.  Clark’s hit was his second double of the game and his 11^th hit in four games.

Ed Whitson, 5-7, who had an RBI single in San Francisco’s four-run eighth inning, allowed seven hits, three by Greg Gross, as the Giants won their fourth straight game and their ninth in the last 12.  Evans doubled for two runs in the eighth.

In the fifth inning, Clark moved to third on Rich Murray’s infield single and scored on Jim Wohlford’s single to right.  Joe Strain then doubled to left, scoring two runs.  Strain was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles in the game.

The Phillies scored a run in the second on singles by Del Unser, Gross and Manny Trillo, and scored again in the fifth when Trillo came home from second on a wild pitch that bounded 50 feet away from home plate.

Evans drove in the Giants’ first run with a bunt single in the third and Mike Sadek gave San Francisco a 2-1 lead in the fourth with a sacrifice fly.  Pete Rose had an RBI double for the Phils in the ninth.