Wilmington Evening Journal - May 1, 1980

Bomback puts Phils’ bats into cold storage – again

 

By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor

 

NEW YORK - Dallas Green said it. If the Phillies cannot beat the hapless Mets, they might as well forget about being a contender.

 

Well, after four games with the saddest team in the National League East, the Phillies have won just once.

 

Last night the Mets started rookie right-hander Mark Bomback and he wobbled off the mound after nine innings with a two-hit, 2-0 shutout.

 

That's right. Mark Bomback – not to be confused with Tom Seaver or J. R. Richard – choked the Phils on just two virtually harmless singles. He walked six and struck out only one, but he baffled the once-awesome Phils on a good breaking ball and a deceptive fastball.

 

It was the 27-year-old Bomback who downed the Phils last Wednesday in Philadelphia although he did not finish the game.

 

"We're making good pitchers out of a lot of people so far this year," Manager Green said after last night's farce.

 

It was just a little over a week ago that the Mets threw Ray Burris at the Phils and he had them shaking their heads as he overpowered them.

 

Reporters filed in and out of Green's musty office under Shea Stadium last night. The questions ranged from "Are you worried?" to "Is there cause for panic?"

 

"It's too early yet to panic," Green said politely to a bashful female reporter. "There's just too much talent on this team for it to get just two hits and no runs. I'm convinced of that.

 

"And if Randy Lerch pitches as well as he did tonight he cannot help but win a lot of games. He made one mistake tonight and it cost him."

 

No matter what Green says, there has to be cause for alarm.

 

The Phils are 6-9 and have won just three of their last 10 games. The pitching has taken most of the criticism and justifiably so. Last night, Lerch allowed only four hits over seven innings, but the hitting never arrived and the defense was shaky.

 

"I think we have just run into a flat spell," said Green after the Phils hit only four balls out of the infield. "We went through a spell when we weren't getting pitching, but were scoring a lot of runs. Now, we're having trouble hitting the ball. When this happens, everything looks flat. I guess you just have to grin and bear it."

 

Lerch made a crucial mistake in the fourth inning and it cost him the only run he would give up in the game which ended in a steady rain. The Mets scored an unearned run in the ninth off reliever Dickie Noles when Mike Schmidt and Larry Bowa made errors on routine plays.

 

Catcher John Stearns led off the fourth with a double to left-center. Greg Luzinski made a good play on the ball and almost threw Stearns out at second.

 

Stearns moved to third on an infield out and up came Dan Norman. Lerch jumped ahead 1-2, then shook off catcher Bob Boone before delivering his next pitch.  It was a hanging slider and Norman ripped it through the middle as Stearns easily scored.

 

"It was a mental and physical mistake on my part," said Lerch. "Boonie called for a fastball in and I shook him off. I hadn't thrown a good slider all night, but I thought he was set up for that pitch.

 

"I had gotten ahead of him with two fastballs in and something else away, so it was 1-2. He was set up for something in, something hard in. He's a fastball hitter, so I figured if I make a mistake with my fastball he's going to hit it. It was stupid thinking on my part."

 

Green tried to defend his pitcher, saying the pitch selection was not that bad.

 

 

"Norman is a dead-fastball hitter," said the manager. "Randy had gotten ahead with fastballs and that obviously is what Norman was looking for. It was just a bad slider. Anytime you hang a slider, it's a bad pitch."

 

Even if Lerch had escaped that situation, the Phils still would have been scratching against the 27-year-old Bomback, who bounced around the minors for nine years before finally making it to the varsity. He was 22-7 at Vancouver of the American Association in 1979, a record that earned him an award as minor league player of the year. He was presented that just before he walked to the mound last night.

 

"I had a better fastball tonight than I did in Philadelphia last Wednesday," he said. "My breaking pitch was good, but I was pleased with my fastball.

 

"They (Phillies) don't think I really can throw that hard, so when I come in with my fastball it looks like it has a lot more velocity than it really has. I think that is what kept them off-balance tonight."

 

Pete Rose refused to praise the rookie.

 

"We had some good swings at him," said Rose. "The hardest balls we hit were hit at people and it seemed like we popped a lot up."

 

The best chances for the Phils came in the sixth and eighth innings.

 

In the sixth, Luis Aguayo and Lerch opened with walks. Rose blasted Bomback's first pitch back to shortstop Frank Taveras who quickly turned it into a double play.

 

With two down in the eighth ahd the rain falling, pinch-hitter Del Unser walked and Rose waited out a pass. Bomback shrugged off that threat by getting Bake McBride to ground out.

 

"I was frankly surprised they did not let Rose bunt in the sixth," said Bomback. "He is an excellent bunter, but he hit the first pitch. That really helped me."

 

EXTRA POINTS - Nino Espinosa tested his ailing shoulder by pitching batting practice last night... The right-hander, who has been on the disabled list since the last day of spring training, was encouraged… Green, however, said it will be at least two weeks before Nino is ready to return to active duty... Manny Trillo is limping as much as he was the day he sprained his right ankle in Montreal... Trillo is eligible to come off the disabled list this coming weekend, but probably will not be ready... Rose is yet to strike out this season... When Maddox stole second in the seventh, he moved out of a seventh-place tie on the Phillies' all-time list with Tony Taylor... Garry now has 137 steals... After 15 games last year the Phils were 11-4… Steve Carlton goes against Pete Falcone tonight.