The Press of Atlantic City - October 16, 2024

Phils Storm Back in Eighth To Defeat Royals

By Pete Wickham, Press Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA — In a normal situation, it is Steve Carlton who comes to the rescue.  But then, what has been normal about the Philadelphia Phillies lately? Except for brilliant comebacks like the four-run explosion in the eighth inning that gave the Phils 6-4 win, and a 2-0 lead in the World Series over the Kansas City Royals.

Despite coming up with the first 10- strikeout performance in a World Series since Tom Seaver fanned 1973, Carlton struggled through eight innings and gave up six walks. The Kansas City Royals pounced on three of those walks in the sixth and flashed their speed to take a 4-2 lead in the contest.

But if Kansas City's speed is a force, the Phillies feel that they are riding The Force. And after pulling off their fifth straight comeback win in post-season play who is going to argue?

"Do I believe in what the players believe?" Manager Dallas Green asked. "We've created a feeling on this club and they have responded to it. We get the juices flowing in the dugout and it transmits to the guys on the field.

"It appeared for a while like it might be a loss, but the guys geared up, got some hits and got into the flow in the late innings. That's Philly baseball, the way we've been doing it in September and October."

Royals' relief ace Dan Quisenberry, who was 39-2 this season when ! he came in with the lead, came on for starter Larry Gura in the seventh and got the Phils out in order.

Quisenberry gave up a leadoff walk to Bob Boone to start the eighth and Green inserted lefthanded pinch hitter Del Unser to bat for Lonnie Smith.

Unser, who came off the bench to deliver to big hits for the Phils in the pennant clincher Sunday at Houston, stroked a 2-2 pitch to the gap in leftcenter for a double. Rose, who is 0- for-8 in the Series, still earned his keep by moving Unser to third with a high chopper to first.

The Kansas City infield moved in to get Unser, but Bake McBride, whose three-run homer highlighted Tuesday's big rally, chopped a ball that took one bounce and went over Frank White's head at second to drive in the tying run.

Mike Schmidt worked the count to 2-2 and stroked a liner to the opposite field. McBride chugged around third and beat the relay to make it 5-4 while Schmidt took third.

"I said that before the Series was over I'd hit a few balls hard," said Schmidt, who hit just .208 in the playoffs but had two hits last night, and a couple of long foul balls to give the Royals food for thought.

"I'm starting to get the stroke back, but there's a feeling we have. We were scared to death when we e were down 4-2, but we figured if we could get some men on base we've got t the hitters to turn it around.

"Del Unser's unreal right now. And guys like Greg Gross (who hit into a doubleplay to end the eighth) and George Vukovich give us a real lift. And Steve Carlton, even at his worst, will keep us in ball games.”

Then designated hitter Keith Moreland, who was penciled in when Greg Luzinski came down with a stomach virus before the game, stroked an RBI single to end the rally.

"Boone got the walk and the bench exploded again," said Moreland. "Just the way it has so many times in the last few weeks.

"I spent most of the time in the clubhouse watching Gura on TV to see what he was throwing and just approached it like another game," said Moreland. "I also had played with the DH in Oklahoma City, and faced Quisenberry for two years so that helped too."

With Carlton off the hook (and on his way, it turned out, to the win), Green bypassed his oft-used lefty ace Tug McGraw for seldom-used Ron Reed, who was hit for a loss in the second game of the league playoffs but came back i in the fourth game to get a key out when Houston threatened.

Reed gave up a one-out single to Hal McRae, who led the Royals with a 3-for-4 night. But Otis hit into a force play, got ahead of John Wathan quickly and caught him swinging with an outside pitch, his second K of the inning, for the save.

The Phils will now throw Dick Ruthven, 17-10 in the regular season and the winning pitcher in the playoff finale over Houston Saturday night in third game at Royals Stadium (8:30 p.m.). Young Mike Gale, 13-9, will try to keep the Royals from falling behind 3-0.

Carlton, who got a 3-1 win in the playoff opener but lasted only 5 1-3 innings last Saturday in the fourth game against Houston, struggled throughout his eight-inning stint. But Green would not lay the blame on Lefty's stuff.

"The balls he got to throw were the slickest I've ever seen," he said. "The first batch the umpires rubbed up pretty well, but the rest of the way he could not get hold of his slider. Boonie told me that Steve couldn't grip them because they're slick as ice. And for Carlton's slider to be effective, he's got to have a feel for the ball.”

In the first, George Brett (who played six innings despite the pain and itch of hemorrhoids) and McRae got back-to-back singles, with two out, only to have Otis hit into a force play.

With one on and two out in the second, Carlton fanned White with a wicked slider, only it was a little too good. The ball dropped off, and back to the wall, allowing White to take first.

No problem, though. Carlton went out and scored the second of three Ks against Wilson.

Where Trouble Goes, McGraw Will Follow

By Pete Wickham, Press Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA — And the roll continues. Unabated and, as usual unabashed.

In the last nine games that meant anything to the Philadelphia Phillies, they handed the ball, and the outcome to their slightly (?) off-kilter lefthander, Tug McGraw.

And if McGraw couldn't hold the fort, he at least managed to joke about it, then get it right the next day.

"I tell you, that's one hyper kid,' said catcher turned TV star Joe Garagiola of McGraw before Wednesday's second game of the World Series. "But right now he could thread a sewing machine when it was running."

It seemed as though he let down a bit late in the five-game grilling the Phils went through with Houston, especially when he lost a 7-5 lead in the eighth inning of the final game and Dick Ruthven had to make a rare relief appearance to bail out the pennant.

But once again he was picture perfect Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals, getting out of the eighth inning with a ball by John Wathan, and finishing play off the ninth with strike outs over U.L. Washington and .326 hitter Willie Wilson to save a 7-6 Phils victory.

"My strongest desire right now is to prove Howard Cosell wrong." said McGraw, after getting his fifth crucial save in the past three weeks in a game the Phils seemed willing to concede for the good of the pitching staff by sending rookie Bob Walk into the fray.

"He said by going to the well so often we would lose. I condition myself to go this way. The job out of the pen is to be called upon at any time."

Green even said before that last Houston game that if possible, he wanted to give McGraw some rest. Did the Phils' manager come to his relief ace, however, and ask him to dig down one more time?

"I went to him," McGraw said. "I haven't been tired, we've just faced some good hitters."

McGraw, composer of 'Ya Gotta Believe" and other classic cliches during his years with the New York Mets, has made a career of staying on edge. Or is it the fringe?

Did he ever long for the regular rotation of a starter?

"Nah, that's why I never made it as a starter," said McGraw, who once outdueled Sandy Koufax 1-0 as a 19- year-old rookie with the New York Mets. "You go every fourth day, and by the second day I'd start fidgeting. I'd rather be an outfielder."

Now he can count on only 24 hours to get his best stuff back together. McGraw has won one and saved five down the stretch.

"Monday, I came up from the airport, did a little running to get the blood going, got some whirlpool and a shoulder massage," McGraw. "Took some aspirin because I was a bit achy but hey, that's legit. Then I unscrewed my arm, put it to bed and went about business."

Pitching Coach Herm Starrette said he can't remember when McGraw was this good.

"I don't even think he remembers any time where he was this consistent," Starrette said. "Nothing really surprising about it, though. He paces himself and right now he's setting up each of his pitches as well as I've seen him.

"The only real difficulty is when he had the (tendinitis) in his shoulder just before the all-star break, and that was more of a case where we thought it would be a good time to rest him," Starrette added. "He tried sidearming a couple of lefthanders and he knows he shouldn't do that."

What McGraw has been able to do this season is improve a bit on his slider which sets up the screwball. He has a fastball that can do tricks - each of the tricks properly named. And he said that he and catcher Bob Boone are running on the same wave length.

"I let him put down the fingers," McGraw said, "because we're usually thinking of the same pitches anyway."

Besides, McGraw said there is no heavy thinking involved in all this.

"If there was," McGraw said, "I'd be soaking my head in ice right now. Besides, I've never made a nickel on my brains anyhow."

Ailment Leaves Brett On Bench After Sixth

By Tim Gillman, Press Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA — Playing third base in the World Series, especially when you have had a season like George Brett's, is tough, but it wasn't supposed to be like this.

When Brett alighted from the dugout last night before game two of the World Series, members of the press gathered like seagulls do around a dead fish. Not to ask him about the season, but about something far more personal.

The announcement Wednesday that hemorrhoids might keep him out of some or all of the Series was surprising. It put the star who bats left and throws right in an uncomfortable situation. The press followed him like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, but Brett refused to comment on his condition before the game, walking straight onto the field where batting and fielding practice were taking place.

By the end of the sixth inning, however, Dave Chalk had come onto field to replace Brett at third base.

Brett's medical problem brought mixed reactions from opponents and teammates alike. Particularly just before the game, when it appeared he would play.

"They (his teammates) have confidence in him," said Kansas City Manager Jim Frey, who saw his team lose 7-6 in Tuesday's game. "When he goes out there, there is a lot of excitement, emotion.

"George has played consistently. He can do it tonight. If it's a blowout either way, we'll get him out of there, but George is able to give the club a double and a home run in any given game, more consistently than any other player. That, plus the doctors have told us that he can't aggravate the condition any more than it was last night."

"You've gotta play," said Royals backup first baseman Pete LaCock. "Things happen to us just like everybody else. We are human beings. You just gotta play."

"He plays with pain," said Royals relief : ace Dan Quisenberry, referring to the Achilles tendon and wrist injuries that hampered Brett all season, but which didn't keep him from batting .390. "Right now there are too many things going on (for his teammates) to rib him about the problem.”

Tug McGraw talked to reporters before it was clear Brett would play in Wednesday's game, cutting up and trying to solicit a few smiles. "Can you imagine having to tell everyone," he said, mockingly grabbing his posterior, "g "fans, I won't be out there tonight'. It must be tough for him."

"No, I don't think it will be too much of a problem," said Phillies Manager Dallas Green. "George will somehow figure a way to work his way into the lineup.”

When Brett was in his most pain, he got a double in the eighth inning of Tuesday night's game, his only hit in four tries. And the first two times up last night he singled to center and right.

*        *        *

Willie Mays Aikens, you can call him Willie, or you can call him Aikens, but please don't call him Willie Mays Aikens.

The two home runs hit by the Royals first baseman in Tuesday's opener brought a flood of questions about his being named for the Hall of Famer. Especially since it was Aikens' 26th birthday.

"My mother said she named me Willie after my uncle," said Aikens, who was obtained from the California Angels for Al Cowens last winter. "The doctor who delivered me added Mays. I was born during or after the '54 Series (when the New York Giants' centerfielder made his famed circus catch against Cleveland's Vic Wertz).

"I have no problem with the name, but I would rather the announcers introduce me as Willie Aikens. I feel more comfortable that way. They don't introduce other players by their middle name."

Ironically Aikens, who had 20 homers and 98 RBI this season, has never met Mays, and he tried to alleviate the problem last weekend at the shore.

"I went to Atlantic City last weekend and tried to get a chance to meet him," said Aikens. Mays, of course, works as a special assistant-goodwill ambassador at the Park Place Hotel Casino, but he is not in town on a regular basis.

"I just hope I get the chance to meet him before he dies, or I die."

Two Down, Two To Go

Phils Win Again

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mike Schmidt blasted his way out of a postseason slump with a tremendous eighth-inning double, scoring Bake McBride with the go-ahead run as the Philadelphia Phillies, again using late-inning lightning with a four-run eighth, defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-4 in Wednesday night's second game of the 1980 World Series.

The victory gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven showdown for baseball's world championship, which moves to Kansas City for Game 3 Friday night.

Philadelphia was trailing 4-2 as the eighth inning began and the Royals had their bullpen ace, Dan Quisenberry, on the mound, trying to nail down the victory. But the Phillies, who came from behind for each of their three victories in the five-game National League Championship Series against Houston, did it again amid the roar of 65,775 fans filling Veterans Stadium.

Bob Boone opened the eighth by coaxing a walk from Quisenberry, the submarine specialist who saved 33 games during the regular season. After that, it all came apart quite quickly for the Royals.

Del Unser batted for Lonnie Smith and lashed a vicious double up the alley in left-center field. Boone, running on a banged-up leg, circled the bases to score a run that pulled Philadelphia to within one run.

By now the stadium was bedlam as the fans that had sat hack rather calmly in the early innings realized another late Phillies rally was in the making. And they were right.

Pete Rose got Unser over to third on a ground ball to first — a play right out of baseball's textbook which says you must move the runner to third in that situation. That brought up McBride, hero of the Tuesday night's 7-6 opening victory by the Phillies with three hits, including a three-run homer. This time McBride settled for a single, which delivered Unser with the tying run.

Now that it was tied, the Phillies went for the kill And they got it in a hurry.

Schmidt, the major league home run leader with 48 whose bat had been all but silent during the playoffs, exploded a tremendous shot up the alley in right-center field. McBride toured around the bases and slid home with the go-ahead run. Schmidt, the strapping slugger who had joked about being an observer during Philadelphia's dramatic playoff performance, steamed into third on the play at the plate.

He was there for only a moment. Rookie Keith Moreland, a late starter as Philadelphia's designated hitter when Greg Luzinski reported to the park with an intestinal virus, drilled another hit, chasing home Schmidt with the fourth and final run of the inning and making the score 6-4.

Philadelphia, which had not won a World Series game since 1915 prior to Tuesday night had won its second in a row over the expansion team American League champion Royals, still seeking their first World Series victory.

Steve Carlton had pitched the first eight innings for Philadelphia, surrendering 10 hits and struggling through an erratic performance. A record-tying four double plays, three of them started by shortstop Larry Bowa, kept him in business. For the ninth, however, Philadelphia went to a fresh arm, bringing in reliever Ron Reed.

Reed allowed a one-out single to Hal McRae, who bad three hits in the game But with the crowd cheering with every pitch, be finished the Royals off, proving that the Phillies could win a game without calling on Tug McGraw, who had pitched in all six postseason contests prior to Wednesday night.

Kansas City had Carlton in constant trouble but the Phillies fielders bailed him out with the double plays.

Bowa, who tied another record by starting three of them, also contributed an RBI single as the Phillies jumped to a 2-0 lead against Kansas City starter Larry Gura in the fifth inning.

Gura had been perfect through the first four, retiring 12 consecutive batters. When Schmidt opened the fifth with an easy grounder for Gura's 13th consecutive out the Kansas City southpaw was halfway to Series history. Only one pitcher — Don Larsen of the New York Yankees — has ever pitched a World Series no-hitter. Larsen's perfect game came 24 years ago on Oct. 8, 1956, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It may of been premature to think of a no-hitter at that point but some in the crowd must have been. When Moreland drilled a ground ball to deep short and barely legged it out for a single, the scoreboard celebrated with a reassuring, "Never In Doubt."

With the no-hit tension broken, Garry Maddox ripped a double into the left field corner, sending Moreland to third. Trillo's long fly allowed Moreland to score. Maddox took third on the play and came home a moment later on Bowa's base hit.

The rally staked Carlton to a 2-0 lead bat the Royals sliced it in half in the next inning.

Amos Otis opened with a single and John Wathan walked on four straight pitches. Then Willie Aikens hit a high bouncer to second baseman Trillo. When Trillo bounced the throw past first Otis scored and Wathan wheeled to third on the error.

That made it 2-1 and it seemed the Royals were set for more.

But Carlton came back. He struck out Jose Cardenal and then got Frank White to hit into the third double play started by Bowa. That tied the record set by Phil Rizzuto Oct 10, 1951, and matched by Maury Wills Oct 11,1965.

It was still 2-1 when the Royals came to bat in the seventh. Leadoff man Willie Wilson, who had been retired eight straight times, including five on strikeouts, in the first two games, walked on four pitches. It marked his first appearance on base, and signaled the rally for the Royals.

U.L. Washington sacrificed Wilson to second and George Brett would have been up next. But Brett had to leave the game after "experiencing some discomfort" because of hemorrhoids. Brett had been as doubtful starter because of the problem but played five innings, singling twice and drawing a walk. His replacement was light-hitting Dave Chalk and, after Wilson stole third, Chalk also walked.

Carlton, who has one of baseball's finest pickoff moves, nabbed Chalk off first but the threat of Wilson's speed prevented the Phils' Rose from making a play and Chalk slid safely into second. A moment later, McRae walked, loading the bases.

That brought up Otis, who doubled to the left field corner, chasing home two runs. McRae stopped at third but came home a moment later when Wathan flied to center field.  

Aikens Not Happy With Middle Name

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Willie Mays Aikens of the Kansas City Royals says he is a little uncomfortable with the name given him by a country doctor in his hometown of Seneca, S.C.

Aikens, who celebrated his 26th birthday Tuesday by hitting a pair of two-run home runs in the opening game of the 1980 World Series, says, he would just as soon everyone dropped his middle name.

"They don't call Brett, George So-And-So Brett, or McRae, Hal So-And-So McRae," Aikens said Wednesday. "I don't think it's right. I'd be more comfortable if they just called me Willie Aikens."

Aikens, who still lives near his birthplace in the offseason, said his mother named him Willie after an uncle. "The doctor put in the Mays tag during the World Series, I think, or it was right after," Aikens said.

Aikens was born during the 1954 World Series in which Mays and the New York Giants swept the Cleveland Indians in four games.

"Sometimes fans ask me about my name," Aikens said, "and I just tell them I don't feel like talking about it."

Aikens said he never has met Mays, the Hall of Famer and former Giants' outfielder.

"The other night, I went to Atlantic City (N.J.) because I heard he had a job there," Aikens said. Mays works for Bally Enterprises, Inc., which runs a gambling casino in Atlantic City.

"I didn't get to meet him, though," Aikens said. "Hopefully, I'll get a chance to meet him before he dies - or before I die."

Aikens wears No.24, the same number Mays wore during his illustrious career.

"When I got traded (from California in 1979), the equipment manager called me and asked me what number I wanted," Aikens explained. "I told him I would like 22, the same number as last year. But Leonard (pitcher Dennis Leonard) had the number, and I couldn't have it.

"He gave me some numbers to chose from. There were only about five or six of them, and I settled for 24," Aikens said.

"I was hesitant at first about getting that number because Mays wore it during his Aikens said. "I don't want people to think I career," am copying him because I want to make a name for myself."