Reading Eagle - May 5, 1980
Phils Fast Finish Just Not Enough
By The Associated Press
The Philadelphia Phillies won the appeal, but lost the game.
Even at that, Manager Dallas Green wasn’t completely dissatisfied.
“I’ve been trying to build character, so I’ve got to be pleased to see that kind of effort,” Green said. “The easiest thing to do when you’re losing 9-0 is just play out the game and go home.”
Despite a bizarre first inning which included a backfired appeal play that netted the Dodgers four runs, Green’s never-say-die team eventually came back to wipe out a nine-run deficit Sunday.
The Phillies fell short at the end, though, losing 12-10.
“I worked like heck to keep the score down, but I just couldn’t do it,” Green kidded, referring to that upside-down first inning which ultimately provided the Dodgers with their winning runs.
With one run across, the Dodgers’ Dusty Baker hit into a force play, scoring another run. But Baker had batted out of turn in Ron Cey’s place and after the Phillies appealed, Cey was declared out and the runners sent back to their bases.
Given a second chance to hit, Baker belted one over the left field wall at Veterans Stadium for a three-run homer and a 4-0 Dodgers lead.
“It was exciting, interesting,” said Dodgers Manager Tom Lasorda.
It wasn’t an easy game for him to take, however.
“Do I look older than I did three hour ago?” he asked rhetorically. “I am. I feel it.”
Elsewhere in the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates whipped the Atlanta Braves 13-4; the Houston Astros stopped the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2; the Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 and 5-4; the San Diego Padres beat the New York Mets 4-3 in the first game of a doubleheader before losing the nightcap 6-2, and the San Francisco Giants split a pair with the Montreal Expos, winning the opener 8-4 and losing the second game 6-4.
The Dodgers decided the game when Derrel Thomas scored in the ninth on a bases-loaded passed ball and Mickey Hatcher followed with a two-run double.
With the score tied 9-9, Thomas started the inning with a single and took second on a base hit by Gary Thomasson. Steve Garvey then singled to load the bases before catcher Keith Moreland let one of reliever Dickie Noles’ pitches get by him. That allowed Thomas to race home with the lead run, and Hatcher followed with his double.
Losing 9-0, the Phillies started their comeback when Greg Luzinski smashed a three-run homer in a four-run Philadelphia sixth. They scored three more runs in the seventh and completed their rally with two runs in the eighth on John Vukovich’s two-run single.