Elyria Chronicle-Telegram - October 15, 1980

"Grand slam would be bigger" — Bake McBride

by Joe Juliano, UPI Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA (UPI) – Believe it or not, Bake McBride says his three-run homer in the third inning of the Philadelphia Phillies' 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the World Series opener Tuesday night was not the biggest of his career.

TO FIND OUT when the Phillies outfielder hit a bigger blow, McBride reaches back to Sept. 26 when his dramatic home run in the ninth inning gave Philadelphia a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Expos when both were fighting for the National League East crown.

"Any time you hit a home run that puts your team ahead it's exciting whether it's in the World Series or the regular season," McBride said after the Phillies' first World Series victory since 1915. "But I would say the one I hit against Montreal was ahead of this one.

"What can top this? How about a grand slam?"

McBride, who hit only nine homers in the regular season but batted .309 with 87 RBI, also had two other bits in the game, in which he batted cleanup, thanks to a curious method the Royals employed to pitch him.

"It really doesn't matter where I hit in the lineup," he said. "But it's been a long time since I saw any team pitch me away. I can't remember anybody in the National League who pitches me away."

MCBRIDE'S home run capped a five-run third inning off loser Dennis Leonard. The Phillies were in a 4-0 hole at the beginning of the inning, but McBride said it was just a matter of time before Philadelphia got to Leonard.

"I thought most of the guys would be drained from the playoffs — I know I was," McBride said. "I didn't know how we could come back. But we had one look at him (Leonard) and the second time around I felt we could get him."

THE PHILLIES big inning benefited rookie Bob Walk, who worked seven innings and picked up the victory despite three home runs, including a pair of two-run shots by Willie Aikens. Although he was down by four runs early, Walk said the Phillies' rally gave him new life.

"In the first couple of innings I was a little shaky," said Walk, who was pumping gas in California at this time last year. "But as the game progressed, I forgot about it and concetrated on pitching. The third inning really lifted everybody."

Move Over Jimmy The Greek!

by United Press International

PHILADELPHIA (UPI) - Baseball fans might want to drop by the Barclay Hotel's restaurant today to take a look at the duckling pate.

At dinnertime Tuesday, chef Charles Lotka displayed a dish decorated with a ball and a bat and the letters P-K in honor of the World Series opener between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Kansas City Royals.

And as a finishing touch, Lotka embellished the pate with a final score — 7-6.

Several hours later, that score was decorating newspapers in the form of bold headlines, since it turned out to the exact margin of victory that gave the Phillies a 1-0 edge in the Series.

"Jimmy the Greek might get a run for his money from the pate at the Barclay," an awed hotel spokesman said.

Philly ends 65-year drought

by Jayson Stark, Knight-Ridder Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA - Not to imply that it had been a while since the Phillies won a World Series game or anything. But the last time they beat somebody in the old fall classic, Babe Ruth played against them — as a pinch-hitter.

That was 1915 - Oct. 8, 1915, to be exact You all remember that game, don't you? It wasn't televised locally, but Grover Geveland Alexander really had it going that day.

Alexander was the winning pitcher in the first Phillies World Series victory of all time. And now, 65 years and eight straight losses later, along comes Bob (Whirlybird) Walk to follow in Alexander's footsteps.

Walk gave up three homers and six runs to the Royals Tuesday night But Bake McBride orbited a three-run homer in a five-run third inning, and the Phillies came from four runs down to beat Kansas City, 7-6, at the Vet

IT WAS like Houston all over again. Except that it didn't take extra innings, nobody left third too soon, and there wasn't even a harsh look thrown at an umpire.

It did require Tug McGraw's presence to nail it down after Walk bad allowed Willie Mays Aikens' second home run, a two-run shot with nobody out in the eighth. But McGraw. who has pitched in all eight of the Phillies' meaningful games since Montreal, gave up only a single over the last two innings. And he erased that guy in a double play one pitch later.

'It's my fondest desire to prove Howard Cosell wrong." Said McGraw, who has earned three postseason saves. "He said by going to the well once too often we'd lose. Well, Howard doesn't know enough about the game to say that."

McGraw said be could keep pitching forever if the Phillies need him.

"At this tone of the year, you reach back and look for something extra." be said, very seriously.

THOSE SIX runs don't make Walk's line look too wonderful. But he came back to pitch pretty well after he had gotten down, 4-0, in less than three innings. The idea was for Walk to go out and get through a bunch of innings so the Phillies' weary bullpen could get some rest.

And he did.

"He wasn't too bad for a rookie and a guy who hadn't been out there for a while," Dallas Green said. "He's calling himself 'Boom-Boom' after the three homers, but that's not really Bob Walk. He kept us in the ball game. He hung tough."

Walk almost didn't keep HIMSELF in the ball game around the third inning. He was fine in the first inning. But then came the trouble.

He walked Darrell Porter with nobody out in the second. But it was almost inevitable that the first duel between Porter, who once walked in 12 straight games, and the aptly named Walk would end this way.

Then Amos Otis took a one-handed swing at a 2-1 breaking ball and managed to get enough wood on it to knock it just into the bullpen in left. That made it 2-0. It also made Otis the 16th player in history to hit a home run in his first World Series atbat.

IN THE third, Walk gave up a one-out single to Royals designated hitter Hal McRae. But he fanned the esteemed George Brett for the second out and appeared to be in good shape. He wasn't.

Aikens lofted a towering shot to deep right-center that seemed to not want to come down. It finally did, but beyond the wall, and it was 4-0.

"He hit the kind of fastball you throw when you're tring to throw the ball by a guy," Walk said. "He pulled the first one I threw him foul. I thought be was looking for a breaking ball, so I tried to sneak one by him."

It's no disgrace throwing homerun balls to Aikens, though. He took a while to come around this year after off-season knee surgery. But he drove in 61 runs in his last 74 games of the regular season and two more in three playoff games.

Walk came close to self-destructing after that. He walked Porter again, and Otis beat out a slow chopper to Mike Schmidt Walk was "one batter away from coming with me back to the bench" at that point, Green said.

But Lonnie Smith saved him with a great throw from left field. Lonnie Smith? Yep. It was just Smith's way of making Green look brilliant for sticking him in left and making Greg Luzinski his DH.

Clint Hurdle bounced a single, and Porter beaded for the plate while third-base coach Gordie Mackenzie no doubt recalled Smith's legendary three-foot throw from left in Houston.

But this time Smith charged the ball nicely and whipped it to Bob Boone on the fly. Porter was dead by so much he just eased up, didn't bother to slide and trotted on in to the plate. Boone was willing to go along with the routine, so be stepped aside and tagged him leisurely.

Replays showed Porter happened to be standing on the plate as he was tagged. But when you wave the white flag as Porter did, you deserve to be called out. He certainly didn't remind anybody of Pete Rose meeting Bruce Bochy in Houston.

“I’d prefer that he'd at least slide in," Royals manager Jim Frey said. "I would not have preferred that be try and knock Boone into the seats. He might get himself hurt if be does that, and I'd prefer that not happen."

Royals starter Dennis Leonard's fun day ended in a hurry in the third. He had set down seven in a row when Larry Bowa bounced a single through the middle for the first Phillies hit. Bowa stole second, and that, said McGraw, was "just our way of saying we're not quitting four runs down. We're coming at you."

BOONE lined a double into the leftfield corner, and the Phillies were on the board. Boone Tuesday night became the first Phillies non-pitcher to bat ninth since Danny Ozark batted Steve Carlton eighth (and Bud Harrelson ninth) one day last season.

"He didn't appreciate that too much," Green said. "He won it by default." But Boone responded with three hits and two RBIs.