Allentown Morning Call - June 5, 1980
Carlton tops Pirates for 10th win, 4-3
PITTSBURGH (AP) – He could hardly hear for the cotton in his ears, and he doesn't talk much, anyway, but Steve Carlton knows how to pitch a winning baseball game.
"I don't even talk to my wife," Carlton said, rejecting reporters' questions after throwing a 4-3 Philadelphia victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates last night.
Although he forbids most press interviews, the lefthander does talk to his friend Tim McCarver, Phillies catcher-turned-broadcaster.
"This was the best fastball I've had all year," Carlton said. He scattered seven hits over nine innings. He said he played the game with cotton stuffed in his ears to avoid the distraction of screaming Pittsburgh fans.
"It gets loud here and that helps me concentrate. When it's in, I can barely hear anybody."
Carlton has accounted for nearly half of the Phillies victories this season. "We've won 24 games and Steve's won 10 of them," said catcher Bob Boone.
"You're supposed to win when you pitch the best pitcher in the National League," said Phils' first baseman Pete Rose, who delivered the winning run with a two-run single in the fifth inning.
"Carlton's been tough on me for the last two years," said Pirate slugger Dave Parker. The rightf ielder, who's batting a sub-par .272, got one single in four trips to the plate. "This is probably one of my more successful nights. He's a tough pitcher. I have nothing but good things to say about the man, a phenomenal talent."
Carlton stretched his league-leading record to 10-2, scattering seven hits. Pirates starter John Candelaria, 2-5, was the loser.
The Phillies scored in the second when Boone scored from third on a double play. They got three more runs in the fifth, erasing a 3-1 Pirates lead.
Larry Bowa and Manny Trillo both singled and advanced on Carlton's sacrifice. Bowa then scored on Lonnie Smith's single to right and Rose rapped his key one-out single, scoring Trillo and Smith.
Phils sweep monthly honors
NEW YORK (AP) – Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt, both of the Philadelphia Phillies, are the National League pitcher and player of the month for May, the NL office said yesterday.
Carlton went 6-1 during May with a 1.65 earned run average. He struck out 70 batters and walked 24 in 60 innings pitched, allowing 11 earned runs on just 40 hits.
Schmidt walloped 12 home runs and drove in 29 runs during the month. He scored 26 runs and had 29 hits in 95 at bats for a .305 average. He leads the league in home runs, runs batted in, total bases and slugging percentage.
The last time teammates were chosen pitcher and player of the month was May, 1978, when Jack Clark and Vida Blue of the San Francisco Giants won the awards.