Cincinnati Enquirer - May 22, 1980

Phils Leave Reds 9-8 Memory

By Ray Buck, Sports Reporter

PHILADELPHIA – A bad hop double. A dropped ball in right field. Another defeat. A probable strike tonight if today's negotiations don't produce results.

It was a little too much for the Cincinnati Reds to absorb Wednesday night. They just sort of sat there, staring into space and wishing it would all go away.

Dave Collins dropped a double play line drive to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning that allowed pinch-runner Lonnle Smith who had foolishly broken off second base with only one out and was rounding third-to score the winning run off Tom Hume.

Philadelphia Phillies 9, Cincinnati Reds 8. Marvin Miller and Ray Grebey should be so close.

Mike Schmidt opened the ninth with a smash to third baseman Ray Knight that bad-hopped over his head and into the left-field corner.

"It's a routine play if the ball doesn't go haywire," said Knight, who drove in four runs, including the go-ahead run at 8-7 with his second triple of the game. "It nicked me in the ear. The worst hop I've had playing third base."

Luzinskl followed with an RBI single for the tying run and, when pinch-hitter Del Unser walked for winning pitcher Ron Reed (2-0), Lonnie Smith ran for Luzinski.

Manny Trillo hit a line drive to Collins, who had moved to right field in the fourth inning when Ken Griffey went out with a soreness in his left knee, which had surgery last August.

Collins seemed to have it, then it caromed off his chest and the game was over.

"I missed it," Collins said. "I took my eye off the ball to see where the runner was. When it came out of the lights, it fishtailed. It hit the heel of my clove. I should have had it."

Adding to Collins' misery, Phils pitchers snapped his hitting streak at 15 games. The disconsolate Collins said grimly, "I'm not happy with the way I played tonight. I didn't contribute offensively and then defensively, I cost us the game."

Hume, who followed Tom Seaver, Mario Soto and Paul Moskau to the mound – lost his fourth in seven decisions.

AFTER THE Reds scored three times off Phlllie starter Larry Christenson in the first – Knight ripping a bases-loaded triple – Seaver walked four batters in the bottom of the first, including reserve infielder Ramon Avlles, subbing for sore-backed Larry Bowa, with the bases loaded. Garry Maddox had a two-run single in the inning.

Seaver departed in the second after serving back-to-back home runs to major league leader Luzlnski – who has hit the last four of his 11 home runs during a span of six at-bats – and rookie catcher Keith Moreland, his first in the majors. It was 6-3, Phillies.

Soto served up Aviles' first major league homer in the third.

The Reds chased Christenson in the fourth with singles by Driessen and Knight, Johnny Bench's two-run double and Ron Oester's single. Following a walk, Bench scored on Junior Kennedy's groundout.

The Reds tied it at 7-7 against Kevin Saucier in the fifth. Rick Auerbach lashed a pinch-triple to right-center field and scored or Kennedy's bloop double.

Phillies like Moskau Despite Fans

By Ray Buck, Sports Reporter

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies are reportedly licking their lips over Paul Moskau and have expressed such interest to the Reds. Since the Reds have been shopping around for a backup catcher the past couple of weeks, the name of Keith Moreland has surfaced. Moreland is the Phillies' 26-year-old reserve catcher who can hit.

Moskau and Dave Tomlin were jumped by four college-aged youths just outside the hotel (located on the University of Pennsylvania campus) early Wednesday morning and a brief scuffle followed.

"They were Phillie fans and had been at the game," said Moskau, who pitched three hitless innings of relief Tuesday night. "They called to us. I thought they just wanted to say something. Then all of a sudden they started swinging. It was over in 30 seconds. The police were right there."

Said Reds' pitching coach Bill Fischer about the incident: "If Ray Knight had been there, they (four youths) would've been stacked in a neat pile and waiting for the ambulance."

Reds President Dick Wagner reported that results of Davey Concepcion's preliminary examination for a nerve problem in his right leg at Christ Hospital Tuesday were "very good."

Concepcion began feeling pain beneath the little toe on his right foot last Saturday morning. By that afternoon, it had reached his buttocks.

"If there is a strike, we'll know what to do with him," Wagner said of Concepcion. "And if there's a strike, we'll follow through on all medical attention."