Philadelphia Inquirer - May 20, 1980

Carlton collects No. 7 as Phils top Reds, 6-4

By Jayson Stark, Inquirer Staff Writer

If there's a baseball strike, Pete Rose stands to lose a lot of bucks, a lot of at-bats and, inevitably, a lot of hits. Hits may be just hits to the George Vukovichs of the earth. But to Rose they are genuine historical artifacts.

Rose collected career hits No. 3.403 and 3,404 in the Phillies' come-from-behind 6-4 victory over the Reds last nigni ai me Vet. as Kose himself probably could tell you off the top of his head, that leaves him 26 behind Honus Wagner, 226 behind Stan Mulsial's National League record and a distant 787 behind the all-time hit man, one Ty Cobb.

Rose has a chance to catch all those guys before he's done. But if there's no baseball in 1980 after Thursday, he might have to play until he is 45 to pass Cobb.

I m really not worried about that stuff," Rose said.

“I'm not worried about finances. I'm not worried about losing days and games and breaking records. I just don't want baseball hurt. I'm not just a player. I'm a baseball fan."

The bottom line is, records or no records, Pete Rose just likes to play. And last night he was the reason his team won a tough ball game.

The biggest play of the Phils' three-run, game-winning rally with two out in the seventh was Rose scoring from first on Bake McBride's two-out single in the seventh.

Sure, he got an assist from an awful throw to the wrong base by Ken Griffey. Sure, he got a head start because he was running with a 3-and-2 pitch. Sure, he got a little bigger lead than normal because the first baseman didn't hold him on.

But it still is a play only the great ones make.

The Phils had gone into the seventh, trailing the Reds' Frank Pastore, 4-2. Steve Carlton had good enough stuff to fan nine in seven innings. But he also made a lot of very un-Carlton-like pitches.

Johnny Bench rammed one 430 feet to center in the fourth. That two-run shot erased a 2-0 Phillies lead.

Then Rick Auerbach and Pastore hurt him with back-to-back RBI singles in the sixth. It was the first RBI of the year for Auerbach, a career .221 hitter. And it was the third RBI ever for Pastore, who has seven big-league hits.

"The guys who hurt us were guys who weren't supposed to hurt us," said Green.

It looked as if Carlton (now 7-2) was headed for his seventh straight loss to Cincinnati over three seasons. Pastore, who came in with a 4-1 record and a 2.76 ERA, got the first two outs in the seventh

He also had two strikes on Manny Trillo when Trillo lashed his second hit, a double to the track in left.

Pastore then made the mistake of feeding inside fast balls to Del Unser, who was pinch hitting for Carlton. And Unser drilled one to right-center for an RBI double, drawing the Phils within a run.

Then Rose took over. He jumped on an 0-and-2 pitch Pastore didn't want to make, a fastball up, and lined it to center. So the game was tied.

But not for long. With Rose running, McBride chopped a hit that barely sneaked through the right side. Rose was already at third when Griffey, the rightfielder, came up with it. When Griffey bounced a weak, three-hop throw into second, Rose just churned around third and scored.

"The key to the play was, as I was going to third, I just happened to turn around at the right time," Rose said.' "I could see the tall was gonna short-hop the cutoff man, so I just turned on the juice."

The Phils later wrapped up the game with Greg Luzinski's eighth homer in the eighth and two innings of hitless relief from Ron Reed. But it was Rose who was the talk on this evening.

Rose's two hits hiked his average to .269 – 66 points more than it was 11 games ago. If he goes 7-for-10 today and tomorrow, he can still be at .300 by the strike deadline.

Rose is predicting that there won't be a strike. He is also admitting he might be wrong. But if there is one, he will go.

"I want to play baseball," he said I’ve been playing baseball every summer for the last 18 years But if we strike, what the hell could I do about it?

"Without free agency, I would'! be standing here right now. You'd all still be talking to Richie Hebner."

NOTES: The Phillies optioned Scott Munninghoff to Oklahoma City yesterday. Munninghoff simply wasn't getting to pitch (his last outing was May 4), "and he's just too young for that," said pitching coach Herm Starrette. To replace Munninghoff on the roster, the Phillies probably will activate Luis Aguayo.... The thought of Pete Rose not having a baseball season to play in is incomprehensible. What would Rose do during a strike? "I sure as hell ain't going on no bleeping vacation, I'll tell you that," Rose said.... Nino Espinosa threw before the game and looked worse than he did a week ago. "The velocity comes and goes," Starrette said. "It's hard to understand."... Charlie Leibrandt vs. Dick Ruthven tonight.

New baseball talks called by mediator

Associated Press

NEW YORK – Hopeful that he still can get the two sides to hammer out an agreement and avert a strike, federal mediator Kenneth Moffett has summoned management and the players back to the bargaining table tomorrow in the continuing baseball contract dispute.

Moffett, who recessed talks and returned to his Washington, D.C., offices after two fruitless negotiating sessions Sunday, notified the parties yesterday of the resumption in talks.

"There is still time for a satisfactory settlement to be reached," Moffett said in a statement released by his office. "I call on the parties to do their best in the next two days and bargain in good faith. A concerted effort on the part of all concerned – the players, their union, the club owners and their representatives – can produce a contract agreement and avert a strike."

The talks between Ray Grebey and the management negotiators and Marvin Miller and the union representatives will resume at 2 p.m. tomorrow.