Atlantic City Press - May 29, 1980
Phils’ Lerch Stop Bucs for 1st Win and 1st Place
Philadelphia 6, Pittsburgh 3
By Harry Hoffman, Press Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA — It was degrading to Randy Lerch.
"When you look up on the scoreboard and see 0-6 behind your name, you have to feel pretty bad if you have any pride at all," the lanky southpaw of the Philadelphia Phillies said Wednesday night.
The figures will look a trifle better before the next start. Wednesday night, he picked up his first victory of the season by going eight innings and beating Pittsburgh 6-3.
Lerch, who has been passed over in the rotation a couple of times after his dull start, thus helped pull the Phillies back into first place in National League East by four percentage points over the Pirates.
Once again, Mike Schmidt provided the major blow, his 14th homer with Bake McBride on first base to cap a three-run first inning. That kept Schmidt number one among home run belters in the Major Leagues and also upped his RBI total to 36, second in the National League.
“You get a real big push when your offense goes out and gets you three runs in the first inning,” Lerch said. “I'm willing to admit I started teed off at the manager, who seemed to lose faith in me. But maybe his strategy worked. I had a more aggressive attitude out there. I told myself I would not give into these guys. They’d have to hit my best stuff.”
Only two Pirates gave Lerch trouble: Lee Lacy, one of the hottest hitters in the league right now, belted a pair of homers, while Bill Madlock stroked a double and two singles.
Together they conspired to keep Randy from working the distance.
Madlock started the top of the ninth inning with a double and Lacy followed with his third homer of the season. Manager Dallas Green quickly went to right-handed reliever Ron Reed, who retired three of the four batters he faced and picked up his second save.
Lacy's first home run of the night with no one on in the second inning made it a 3-1 game.
The Phils reached Pittsburgh starter Don Robinson, 1-1, for another pair of runs in the fourth and improved their lead to 5-1. Pete Rose, who had double and scored in front of McBride’s single in the first, doubled home one of the runs and then scored the second on a double by Bake.
“My job is to get on base as the leadoff hitter because with the guys I have hitting behind me, I'll score lost of runs,” Rose said. “Bake, without a doubt, is the most productive second hitter in the league. When we both have it going, then this team has to be hard to beat.”
McBride’s two runs batted-in last night brought his total to 32. That not only is tops among the league’s number two hitters, but also makes him number three in entire circuit behind Steve Garvey of Los Angeles and teammate Schmidt.
Lerch helped himself in the eighth inning when his perfect squeeze bunt scored Larry Bowa and made it 6-1 game.
“The pitcher should be able to help himself both with the glove and the bat,” Lerch said. “Tonight, everything ten into place tor me. But i have to give Manny (second baseman Trillo) some of the credit. He made a couple of key plays behind me to ease the load.”
The second baseman turned over a fine double play on a hard-hit ball by’ Bill Robinson in the fourth inning and made a diving stop on Tim Foil’s bid for a hit in the third to save a run.
Lerch pitched his own way out of trouble in the eighth inning when the Pirates threatened to destroy his comeback. A single by pinch-hitter Manny Sanguillen and double by Omar Moreno put Bucs on second and third with one out.
“I over-pitched to Foli the first couple of pitches. The I told myself I wasn’t going to strike him out anyway, so I just relaxed and went after him with good pitches,” Lerch said.
Foil grounded to Schmidt at third base as the runners held. Then he got Dave Parker on an easy comebacker to the mound for the second out. Randy ended the inning unscathed by striking out Pirate cleanup hitter Bill Robinson.
“Randy knew what I wanted from him,” Green said. “I was not satisfied with his attitude on the mound. You have to go after hitters, make them know you mean it. Tonight he was aggressive. He’ll get another chance against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.”
The four-game series, the first crucial one of the season, ends with a 12:35 p.m. businessman’s special today. Dick Ruthven, 5-3, will work for the home team against Eddie Solomon, 1-0.
Schmidt, Bull Charge From the Dog House
Tales of Hoffman by Harry Hoffman
PHILADELPHIA – Two years ago, Mike Schmidt was the centrifugal force magnetizing the majority of Veteran Stadium boos in his direction. Plagued by various injuries, Schmidt struggled through a lackluster season in which his home run output dropped from 38 to 21 and his RBI total from 101 to 78.
Last season, Schmidt brought cheers back to the fickle throats of the local boobirds with a career high 45 homers and 114 runs batted in. Instead, however, the critics took took a contract out on the puffy body of Greg Luzinski.
The Bull, an easygoing, uncomplicated guy could not handle the villain role. As the volume of boos increased in intensity his batting average and home run output at the Vet disappeared.
The man of muscles suffered a severe pull in a thigh muscle early in May that not only was11 painful but also restricted his ability to step powerfully into pitches with his accustomed vigor. But he refused to beg out of the lineup. Danny Ozark, still manager at the time, tried to ease the burden on his left fielder by resting him now and then. But only a long rest would have given the aching thigh time to heal properly.
Although he tried to shrug off the boos, the Bull’s impotence with the bat at home indicated just how much the disloyalty of the fans was affecting him. He hit only .187 with a mere seven homers and 30 runs batted in at the Vet while swinging at a .303 clip with 11 homers and 51 RBI on the road.
To his credit, instead of sulking about the situation during the off season, Luzinski decided to push his body harder than ever before to have it properly prepared for spring training. He reported to camp about 20 pounds lighter and that may have helped him avoid muscle pulls so far this season. It also has helped him to get off to the best May of his career.
As June, usually a bombastic month for the Bull, approaches, the svelte swinger already has accumulated 12 homers and 27 RBI to go with a steady .291 average. Prior to Tuesday night when he was blanked in four plate appearances, Greg went berserk in seven straight games, going 14 for 26 with five homers and nine RBI. Last season he did not collect his 13th homer until August 1.
Meanwhile, Schmidt has not been reattracting the boobirds. In the ninth inning Tuesday he blasted the Phils into a 2-2 tie with the Pirates by stroking his 13th homer which leads both leagues. He also improved his RBI total to 34 to go with a surprising .296 average. He has hit in 21 of the last 24 games.
Between them the twin sluggers picked up the Phils from a slow start and propelled them into a two-way battle with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the lead in National League East despite the fact Manager Dallas Green’s pitching staff needs a M.A.S.H. unit to keep it in operation.
“This is what the fans have been waiting for, to see Mike and me swatting the ball at the same time. I just hope they keep seeing it all season. That should mean we’ll be right up there battling for the division crown,” Luzinski said before Wednesday night’s matchup with the Bucs at the Vet.
“I guess part of my good start has to be laid on my improved physical condition,” admitted Luzinski, who also took to wearing glasses instead of contact lenses. “However, people seem to forget I had some pretty good years here even when I weighed a few pounds more. Last year the thigh injury was tough to handle. I lost my rhythm early in the season and never really got it back. I guess the boos didn’t help. I figure my record through the years should have meant more to the fans than it apparently did.”
Luzinski and Schmidt have already produced back-to-back homers four times this season and other players have been inspired by their physical leadership.
“I've always said this team depends very much on the big bats of the Bull and Mike,” fiery shortstop Larry Bowa pointed out. “We all dig in a little harder when we see them torturing pitchers. This year it’s no secret our starting pitchers have had some problems. But here we are right up there with the Pirates because our muscle guys are bashing the ball. I think we’re going to stay right up there and surprise a lot of our critics before this pennant race is over.”
One thing is certain, during the month of May the middle of the Phillies’ batting order has been a neighborhood most pitchers would like to avoid.
Christenson Has Surgery
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pitcher Larry Christenson of the Philadelphia Phillies underwent surgery Wednesday to remove bone spurs and chips from his pitching elbow.
Team physician Dr. Phillip Marone pronounced the surgery successful and said Christenson would remain in the hospital for another day or two.
The operation was another in a series undergone by the right-hander in the last two years. Last season he broke a collarbone in a fall from a bicycle and later had a spur removed from his shoulder.
As a result, he missed much of the 1979 season, posting a 5-10 record with a 4.50 earned run average.
Christenson has been placed on the 60-day disabled list. If he pitches at all this year, it will be in the closing six weeks of the season.
He had won three games without a loss to start the season before the elbow problem developed. Christenson is the second Phillies’ starter sidelined this season. Nino Espinosa has been out since the opening day of spring training with a bad shoulder.