Camden Courier-Post - October 16, 1980

Never-say-die Phils do it again!

By Bob Kenney, Courier-Post Sports Editor

PHILADELPHIA – The "Comeback Kids" did it again last night.

Down by two runs, the Phillies came back with a four-run rally in the eighth inning against baseball's top relief pitcher.

The Phils went on to win 6-4 in Game 2, and now have a commanding two-game lead as the World Series moves to Kansas City.

With 65,775 Veterans Stadium fans roaring encouragement, the Phillies moved to within two wins of the first world championship in the club's 81-year history.

"We're going to Kansas City with two wins," said Manager Dallas Green. "That's not too shabby."

Dick Ruthven will pitch the third game tomorrow night and the Phillies' biggest problem may be one of overconfidence.

"Our work is still cut out for us," said Green after his gang staggered the Royals and bullpen ace Dan Quisenberry with its fourth straight comeback victory in postseason playoff competition.

Kansas City had come back itself, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead when Steve Carlton ran into control problems in the seventh. The 24-game winner walked three Royals, then served up a two-run double to Amos Otis.

"Lefty was struggling," said Green. "It appeared for a while as if we were in trouble."

But the Phillies have been putting big things together in the eighth inning recently and they got all the right moves again last night.

Bob Boone walked and pinch hitter Del Unser doubled.

"Unser is unreal," said Mike Schmidt of the veteran who also delivered the big pinch hit Sunday in Houston.

After Unser's hit, Pete Rose moved Del up with a grounder and Bake McBride, Schmidt and Keith Moreland hit safely on consecutive pitches to put the Phillies in command.

McBride singled in the tying run, Schmidt doubled off the wall to send Bake in with the lead run and Moreland's single gave the bullpen some working room.

Carlton threw 159 pitches through the first eight innings and Green called on Ron Reed.

Reed allowed a single to Hal McRae, but started and finished the final inning with strikeouts to earn the save.

In two previous World Series appearances the Phillies managed just one win. They won the opener in 1915, then lost four straight one-run games.

In 1950 they dropped the opener, 1-0, then rolled over as the New York Yankees won four straight.

The current Phillies are playing with a different feeling.

"It's a confidence I haven't seen before in my major-league career," said Unser. "The confidence comes from the fact we are doing it, have done it and now expect to do it."

Matter of mind over cowhide

By Ray W. Kelly of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – As a rule, baseball people like to keep things basic and simple. George Brett's bottom. Greg Luzinski's boiler. And a Phillies team that keeps turning on the adrenalin like a late inning fire hydrant.

Last night, pinch hitter Del Unser sprayed a double into the gap to spark an eighth inning rally that saw Bake McBride single home the tying run and Mike Schmidt double home the winning run to beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-4.

Nothing but pure, distilled World Series emotion, right? Maybe not.

A most tender of subjects in a game where batters have traditionally been warned against trying to hit and think at the same time has always been the human brain.

Schmidt is an expert on the subject. When he's on a hot streak at the plate, it is said that he is "seeing the ball well" and that he has "quick hands." Let him strike out a few times and it is automatically assumed that he's doing too much thinking.

A similar case was almost made against Steve Carlton – the proposal being that the great lefthander was not his usual domineering self in the latest Veterans Stadium fire drill because the Royals "blew his mind" by breaking his concentration on the mound. And that he had to be rescued by the emotional vigilantes who have taken over the dugout.

It sounds good. But the truth is quite the opposite. Carlton's problem was purely physical, while the four-run uprising that came trumpeting over the hill like the cavalry had its roots planted years ago by a great teacher.

The illusion began in the sixth inning when Royals centerfielder Amos Otis, having grounded into a force play and a double play on two previous trips to the plate, suddenly asked home plate umpire Bill Kunkel to examine the baseball Carlton was about to throw.

It's a common tactic, a veiled insinuation that the hurler's effectiveness is the result of somehow doctoring the ball – either by loading it up for a spitball or cutting it in order to gain a more radical break in the pitch.

Since it is widely known that Silent Steve has little need for such chicanery, it was automatically assumed that Otis was simply trying to pierce the iron-clad concentration of the pitcher.

When Otis then singled and scored the first KC run of the night... when Carlton lost all control of his pitches and walked three men the following inning (seventh) before yielding a two-run double to Otis and a sacrifice fly to John Wathan... when the Phils found themselves suddenly losing, 4-2, it was assumed that Carlton's gray matter had been penetrated.

It wasn't his head. It was the baseballs. They were slicker than usual due to a combination of cool weather and a lack of decent preparation by the umpires, who apply a coat of special mud to the slick cowhide surface prior to the game.

"Steve had to load his hands up with rosin to try and compensate. He couldn't get a good grip on the ball and had control problems because of it," explained Phils pitching coach Herm Starrette. "Otis asked the umpire to examine the ball because he saw all the white stuff on Steve's hands."

So much for the old messing with the mind theory.

Which brings us to Unser, a utility hero whose timely skills are thought to grow with the importance of the situation, a man who not too long ago spent his spring training wondering if he was going to be gracing the Phillie bench or an unemployment line.

Who could have a greater reason for wanting to rise to the occasion than a player with his competitive heart on his sleeve and a passion to use his second chance to prove himself?

But, the fact is, the most important thing Del took to the plate in that fateful eighth inning wasn't his burning desire – it was knowledge and preparation.

A decade ago, when Unser was first developing into a front-line outfielder as part of the Washington Senators' organization, baseball's Albert Einstein of hitting, the great Ted Williams, took him aside and taught him how to study opposing pitchers.

"He showed me what to look for and how to use what I learned from watching," recalled Del.

Sure, he walked around last night telling the media that he was "just lucky," neglecting to reveal how he and fellow clone (that's what they call each other) Greg Gross studied Kansas City relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry like he was a textbook on the week of finals when the submarine-bailer came out of the bullpen in the seventh inning.

Throughout the game, Unser and Gross had spent every other inning running up and down the tunnel leading to the dugout in order to stay loose. When they weren't doing that, they were inside the clubhouse swinging their bats and doing stretching exercises.

By the time the eighth inning was about to explode upon the crowd of 65,775, Del and Greg had already dissected Quisenberry. They had gone through their memory banks and come up with the game-winning hit Unser had stroked against Pittsburgh's Kent Tekulve (a pitcher with a style very similar to Quisenberry) and had the answers to the questions.

"You can't go with the ball until he releases it," said Del, a southpaw hitter like Gross.

"Right," said Greg. "If you do, you'll try to pull the ball and he's got you."

"If he comes inside, then you pull the ball. Otherwise, you've got to go with the pitch,'' said Del.

"Right," said Greg. "Guys like this, you've got to give into a little."

There they stood at the dugout bat rack, helmets on and bats in hand waiting to see if Bob Boone got on base. When Boone walked to open the inning, Unser knew manager Dallas Green would choose him. He had a better chance of pulling the ball into the hole between the second baseman and the base-guarding first sacker.

First pitch, Quisenberry almost got Del trying to pull a ball that sailed away. It was a foul. When the pitcher came in with a "good slider,” Unser resisted the urge to try to pull the ball, smacking it instead into the gap in left-center field, scoring Boone all the way from first.

The fuse was lit. The ensuing explosion was totally expected by the Phils.

"I'm not as quick with the bat as I used to be when I played every day," said Unser. “But, I don't think I've ever been a smarter hitter than I am right now."

Kindly move that man and his teammates to the head of the class.

Patience can payoff with Series tickets

PHILADELPHIA – You don't have to pay scalper prices of up to $50 to $100 or wait more' than 12 hours overnight in line to get a seat to the World Series.

If you don't mind missing a few plays, you may be able to buy tickets at face value for any section of Veterans Stadium after a comparatively short wait in line.

Phillies officials start selling leftover tickets ''at the stadium "Will Call" windows once the first pitch is thrown.

Of the nearly 50 fans anxiously awaiting tickets last night, about 30 were lucky enough to pick up a $15 ticket only seconds after Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton began last night's game.

Window salesman John Sweeten is the man with the tickets everybody wants.

He said there may be nothing available hours before the game but as soon as the first pitch is hurled he starts selling tickets that were reserved for someone else but were not picked up.

Raymond and Ruth Medina of Easton, Pa., waited about five hours yesterday before they bought tickets for the Phillies' second Series game against the Kansas City Royals.

It was a wait well worth their time. They paid $15 for 700-level tickets. Scalpers outside the stadium had sold tickets on that same level for up to $50 minutes before the game.

"I would not pay scalper's prices for nothing," said Mrs. Medina, smiling as she hurriedly rushed to see the game. "That's ridiculous and it only encourages them."

Most of the tickets were 600- and 700-level seats but there were a few 200- and 300-level seats available. And for the fan 'who wanted to be a part of Philadelphia's first world championship, it was a dream come true.

The "Will Call" ticket window opened at 8:29 p.m. and closed less than 10 minutes later. Most of the fans got tickets, but some were turned away after their long wait.

Liria Saler waited four hours to get her $15, 600-level ticket because "I wanted to see Manny Trillo play."

Brian Jordan and his son, Jonathan, were turned away. "I was hoping I could better my position," Jordan said. "People off the street can buy 200-level (tickets) and we, as season ticket holders, have 700-level tickets. Something's wrong here."

Those who are believed to be scalpers are turned away.

"They should sell tickets to anybody who wants to buy them. It ain't fair," said one scalper who asked not to be named. "They say, 'You're a scalper so you can't have any.' That's discrimination!"

Sounds simple? There's one hitch. If the Phillies win two out of three games this weekend in Kansas City, games six and seven – scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday – won't be needed and you'll have to wait until next year to purchase the tickets someone else didn't want.

They also cheer who simply stand and serve

By William W. Sutton Jr. of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – Not everybody at the World Series is watching the game.

Some can't see the game at all and others only catch a few plays now and then.

This unfortunate group of Phillies fans are stadium workers – the employees who served the fans enjoying the Philadelphia Phillies-Kansas City Royals games the past two days.

It's not so bad for Rich Baum of Cherry Hill. As a hot dog vendor, Baum roams around the stadium selling his merchandise.

"I catch enough of the game, the big plays, so it's not so bad." the 20-year-old Drexel University student said last night. "Besides, I get paid and get in free. That's not so bad."

Charles Young, a ticket-taker, didn't get to watch any of the game. He was allowed to leave his post at Gate B before the game was over but chose to go home so he could study for a school test.

Young said he really wanted to see the Phillies play but "you gotta put your concentration on the people coming in. Plus, from where I stood, I couldn't see the game that well anyway," he added.

Young said he lives in New Jersey but would not say where. "I don't want to get calls for tickets," he said.

Kathy Gualtieri, a 21-year-old Delaware County. Pa., woman who sells novelties, said she enjoys "just being here" because "the feeling in the air" is something special.

"I love it," she said. "I don't mind it at all. The people are really lovable."

Nineteen-year-old stadium level manager Ricky Cattai explained the fans don't seem to be as rowdy as they are during the regular season.

"They're more into the game and what's going on than running to get beer every minute," he said.

Nearly everyone had a different reason why he or she didn't mind working a World Series, but perhaps the most important explanation came from 18-year-old Michael Butler, a washroom attendant.

"It's okay (to miss the game) as long as I keep making money," he said.

Lucey can’t compete with Series

By Linda Jankowski of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – He couldn't really compete with Mike Schmidt as the center of attraction, especially not way up at the top Veterans Stadium with secret Service agents hovering' around him.

But independent vice presidential candidate Patrick Lucey said there just wasn't any other place to campaign in Philadelphia last night.

Lucey, his 26-year-old daughter Laurie and an entourage of Secret Service agents just about filled row 3 of Section 701 to see the Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals in game two of the World Series last night.

At first, a few fans were somewhat irritated when a television camera crew started filming Lucey and blocked their view of the game below."

But soon after finding out who the mysterious man was, the Phillies faithfuls were clamoring with the World Series programs and tickets stubs to get a signature from the star of Section 701.

Lucey, Wisconsin's former governor who is running with Rep. John B. Anderson, R-Ill., on the independent presidential ticket, said he was glad to be at the game rooting for the Phillies.

"They're underdogs just like the Anderson ticket," he said. "They weren't supposed to win last night (Tuesday night) and they did. I think they're going to take the series."

For the fans sitting nearby, a seat in the upper decks high above right field was an unlikely place for a VIP.

After all. most people there had stood in a crowd of thousands to buy tickets last week. And there in their midst was a prominent politician.

"We just happened to be in Philly. It was a last minute thing," Lucey said. "The campaign people came up with them (the tickets).

"You couldn't do any campaigning anywhere else in Philadelphia tonight, that's where all the interest is," he said, as he pointed toward the ball field.

Although, he didn't have an eagle's eye view of the ballgame, the one thing Lucey didn't have to put up with was climbing the ramps to get to the 700 level. Unlike other tickets holders there, Lucy was privileged to use an elevator.

During most of the game, Lucey sat quietly as the fans around him screamed, chanted, clapped and cheered.

But when the Phillies rallied to score four runs in the eighth inning and take a winning lead in the game, Lucey was propelled to his feet to root for the home team.

Even the solemn-faced secret service agents, whose main concern was Lucey's safety, clapped once or twice for the Phils and snickered at the antics of the green-furred Phillie Phanatic.

The agents tried their hardest to look inconspicuous in their uniformed gray suits, tanned trenched coats, earphones and microphones. With the fans pointing them out, however, they failed miserably.

At the top of the ninth inning when Lucey left, it was back to work for the agents whose eyes suddenly began darting around the stadium to detect possible danger.

As Lucey left the stands, the fans began to applaud.

But the ovation wasn't for the man who hopes to hold the second-highest position in the country next year. It was for the Phillies who, as Lucey was leaving, were less than three outs from taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven world championship series.

Phills rally for 2-0 Series lead

Four runs in eighth inning erase 4-2 edge of Royals

By Bob Kenney, Courier-Post Sports Editor

PHILADELPHIA – On a night when ace lefty Steve Carlton struggled, the Phillies had six different batters drive in runs to bail him out.

The National League champions rallied for four eighth-inning runs to overtake the Kansas City Royals and win the second game of the 19f!0 World Series, 6-4.

Comebacks have become standard procedure for the Phillies the past two weeks, but this one came at the expense of baseball's top relief pitcher and left the Royals down 2-0 in the best-of -seven series.

"THAT'S PHILLIE baseball, the way we've been doing it in September and October," said Dallas Green, the Phillies manager, "It's not too shabby."

Carlton, who struggled with control problems, fell behind 4-2 in the seventh and the 65,775 fans in Veterans Stadium knew it would take something special to win this one.

Dan Quisenberry, the submarine pitcher who won 12 games and saved 33 others for the Royals, was standing between the Phillies and victory.

"I felt quite confident," Kansas City manager.Jim Frey admitted later.

BUT so did the Phillies.

"We had that feeling," said Keith Moreland, the rookie catcher who became the designated hitter when Greg Luzinski reported to the stadium with a fever.

"It's a feeling of confidence," said Mike Schmidt, who snapped a personal slump by doubling home the deciding run in the big eighth inning. "Nobody on this team has any doubts."

Twice in Houston last week the Phillies rallied from certain defeat in the eighth inning. When Bob Boone, playing on a painfully injured left ankle, walked to open the eighth, the Phillies came alive.

"THE GUYS on the bench exploded," said Moreland.

Green yelled for Del Unser to hit for Lonnie Smith and the veteran pinch-hitter came through once again.

“When he says, 'Del, get your bat,' I go to work,” said Unser, who singled to tie and doubled to win the pennant-clincher in Houston Sunday.

This time Unser ripped a Quisenberry pitch into the gap in left-center.

"I WAS fortunate to hit it on the good part of my bat," said Unser, who brought in Boone to make it 4-3 and pulled into second with a double.

Pete Rose moved Unser to third with a perfectly pulled grounder to first and Kansas City had to draw in its infield.

All Bake McBride needed to do was make contact and that's what he did, bouncing a slider over the head of Frank White at second base.

The game was tied. The fans were going crazy. And the Royals tightened under the pressure. Quisenberry grooved a pitch to Schmidt and the power-hitting third baseman put it against the wall in right-center.

"HE MUST, be a real good golfer," the reliever said later "He hit a good pitch, low and away."

Schmidt pulled into third as McBride scored the go-ahead run. Then Moreland stepped in and lined a single past shortstop U.L. Washington and it was 6-4.

But Carlton, who threw an incredible 159 pitches while working out of trouble every inning, was not on the mound when the Phillies took the field in the ninth.

"I went to Ron Reed because he is a quality relief pitcher," said Green, ignoring the fact Heed has been nothing more than a batting practice reliever the last part of the year.

BUT REED was up to the challenge.

"He was super," said Boone. "His ball was. really moving. He threw mostly fast-balls."

Reed struck out pinch-hitter Darrell Porter looking, then gave the fans some uneasy moments when Hal McRae singled. But then Larry Bowa turned an Amos Otis grounder into a force at second and Reed struck out John Wathan to end the game.

"We'll go to Kansas City and play them one game at a time," said Green. "Our work is still cut out for us. I don't think we're too cocky."

PHILADELPHIA seemed overmatched against Larry Gura at the start. The Kansas City lefty retired the first 13 batters he faced before Moreland beat but an infield single with one out in the fifth.

Garry Maddox doubled Moreland to third and Manny Trillo brought in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly. Bowa singled to make it 2- 0.

Meanwhile, Carlton was not pitching as a 24-game winner should. He was behind in the count most of the night and needed four double plays to ball him out.

"Even on an off night, Lefty has the ability to make the big pitches," said Boone.

CARLTON needed a strikeout to end the second. He threw double play grounders that Bowa handled to end the third and the fourth. He struck out McRae with two on in the fifth.

"It proves that Steve Carlton at his worst can keep us in a game," said Schmidt.

Kansas City got an unearned run in the sixth when Otis singled, took second when Carlton walked Wathan and scored when Trillo threw wild past first with a Willie Mays Aikens grounder.

In the seventh, Carlton came undone. He walked speedy Willie Wilson to open the inning. A sacrifice and a stolen base put Wilson at third, but Carlton walked the next two to load the bases anyhow.

"LEFTY WAS having trouble with the balls," said Green. "They were as slick as ice."

"Lefty was having trouble with his slider," said Boone. "And the Royals showed a lot of patience on some close pitches."

Otis then caught a 2-2 pitch and drilled it into the corner in left. Two runs scored. Watham brought In another with a sacrifice fly and it was 4-2.

One inning later, the Phillies took Carlton off the hook.

Phillies have what it takes

By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – As if everyone hasn't already noticed, a sweeping change has come across the Phillies.

Where once the Phillies did what they could to win, now they do whatever it takes. The difference is every bit as significant as it is subtle.

Philadelphia has never been known as a city of dramatic comebacks. If the Phillies were down, they remained supine and waited to win another day. But, since August, that situation has been completely reversed.

THE PHILLIES went into the middle of that month six games behind in the loss column – and won their fourth National League East Division championship of the last five years. They went into the final series of the season needing to win two of three against Montreal – and did it on a two-out single in the ninth and an 11th-inning home run.

They were down, 2-1, to the Houston Astros in the best-of-five playoff series, but won two of the most incredible post-season games ever to take their first pennant in 30 years.

And now they have wiped out deficits of 4-0 and 4-2 to move ahead of the Kansas City Royals, two games to none after last night's 6-4 victory in Veterans Stadium here, in the World Series.

"I think it goes back to that four-game sweep in Pittsburgh," said shortstop Larry Bowa. "We lost those games and we were called quitters and choke artists and it hit home. In my opinion, we simply lost those games. But what happened was we began playing the game mentally instead of just physically. We're thinking baseball and doing the little mental things you have to do to win.

"YOU CAN'T just put on the uniform and go out there and expect to win.”

Those words once might have rung hollow. They have been said before – not just by Bowa – and have seemed so much lip-service to a style of play unsuited to the Phillies.

But after Montreal, after Houston, after two straight come-from-behind World Series wins, they have the ring of truth.

"We've been doing it a long time now,” said Bowa. "It's something this team has never been known to do. It used to be when we were down, you could kick us. That trend has been reversed."

THE RESULTS of such an amazing transformation were in evidence again last night. Bake McBride, whose three-run home run sent the Phillies on their way 24 hours earlier, drove in the tying run with a bouncing eighth-inning single over a drawn-in infield.

Rookie Keith Moreland, the designated hitter only because Greg Luzinski was ill with an intestinal virus, drove in an insurance run. Mike Schmidt doubled off the wall in right-center to plate the game-winner and Bob Boone, bad foot and all, scored from first on a pinch double by Del Unser for the rally's first run.

It seems the Phillies are using whomever, as well as whatever, it takes. From the veterans to the rookies, from the starters to the reserves, from the healthy to the infirm, the Phillies have become baseball's answer to the Green Bay Packers.

"One of the things I worked on all year was creating a real feeling on this club," said Manager Dallas Green. "And they've responded to it. We get the juices flowing in the dugout and it helps our nine guys on the field."

MORELAND IS usually one of the cheerleaders. Last night he got a chance to do more than yell for the other guys. His single to deep short with one out in the fifth broke up a perfect game that K.C. starter Larry Gura was working.

And, Moreland's eighth-inning single off reliever Dan Quisenberry put the finishing touches on a four-run outburst that finalized the scoring.

"It's just a situation where we turned things around at the right point," said Moreland. "Dallas had a lot to do with it. The veterans have had a lot to do with it, and the younger guys have had a lot to do with it.

"So it's been a matter of jelling, of everything falling into place."

SOME of the credit, too, has to go to guys like John Vukovich and Kevin Saucier, who spend most of their time yelling themselves hoarse from either the bench or the bullpen. It is almost as if a rah-rah college atmosphere has charged the air in a dugout long thought dormant.

"Down the stretch it seemed whenever we got down, we'd get the leadoff guy on and the bench guys ' would go crazy," said Moreland.

That kind of enthusiasm has rubbed off on the more subdued players like McBride, who scored the lead run on Schmidt's double with a determined slide that just beat Frank White's relay to the plate.

It also has taken some of the pressure off Schmidt, who is generally expected to carry this team on his back. Well, the Phils managed to beat Houston in the fifth game while Schmidt was going 0-for-5, and they managed to beat the Royals on Tuesday night without Schmidt banging any line drives off any walls.

SCHMIDT EXPLAINED what that has meant to him. "After the season I had, after getting the hits I got in the clutch situations, at the point in the season when I wanted to come through the most (in the fifth game of the playoffs), I failed," he said. "But the other guys picked me up."

Unser was one of the lifters last night, his double lighting the fuse and drawing the Phils within 4-3. Then, after a professional ground ball by Pete Rose moved Unser to third, McBride singled. Schmidt followed with his liner to right-center and the ball game suddenly belonged to the Phillies.

"I haven't seen this type of confidence in my major-league career," said Unser. "The confidence comes from thre fact that we are doing it, have done it and expect to do it. The important thing is that now we all expect us to come through when we have to."

But then, anybody who has been watching the Phillies for the last six weeks already knew that.

Brett trouble is behind him

By Jeff Jacobs of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – The pain was in Dan Quisenberry's eyes. It was in Larry Gura's, too. Willie Wilson said he felt it deep in his heart.

Make no mistake. After pulling defeat from the jaws of World Series victory for the second consecutive game, there was enough hurt for even the batboy in a glum Kansas City locker room last night.

But who felt the most Royal pain of all? George Brett. And it was a Royal pain in the you-know-where.

As the Phillies stormed back for a 6-4 victory and a 2-0 World Series lead in Veterans Stadium, Brett sat on a big foam doughnut and watched in agony. The game's best hitter was forced out of the lineup after the sixth inning with a severe case of hemorrhoids. Pain in the rear or not, Brett lined two singles and walked in three trips against Steve Carlton.

IT SEEMS almost incredible. The Royals' dreams of a grand comeback and world title do not rest with tomorrow's starting pitcher Rich Gale, last night's starter Gura or even reliever Quisenberry. The key to the 1980 World Series is a proctologist in Kansas City's St. Luke's Hospital.

"From here on, it's going to be a day-by-day thing," Dr. Paul Meyer, the Royals' team physician said. "It is anticipated that the hemorrhoids are to be lanced. (Brett was to be admitted to the hospital upon return to K.C. early this morning.)"

For novices, the problem was explained in the press information sheet: "A mass of dilated tortuous veins in swollen tissue situated at or near the anal margin."

That's a dictionary definition. But the Royals' third baseman – in obvious agony – didn't need Noah Webster.

"IT'S THE WORST pain I've ever felt. It wasn't so bad when I started tonight, but it progressively got worse," said Brett, who believes he will be back in time for Game Three. "When I came off after the sixth, he (Manager Jim Frey) asked me how it was. I told him it was real sore and that I couldn't move well. Jim made the decision."

Brett tried every method available, even sitting on a hot pack for five hours. Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt contributed medicine, center fielder Garry Maddox added some comforting words and a ton of miracle cures arrived via Western Union. It was rumored that one even read, "Don't take the field. Just hit. It's called Preparation DH."

It is a humbling sort of physical problem that even Jimmy Carter has suffered. But Brett – like Babe Ruth so honestly pointed out about himself in the 1920s – is having a better year than the President.

"I was talking to George all during the game," Frey said. "The doctors told us before the game that there was no risk of serious injury, but I didn't want to put George through all that pain. He is too important."

BRETT USED his machine-gun bat to chase .400 and lead the Royals to the American League West title. Then he broke out a cannon in the AL championship series and blasted a Goose Gossage fastball into the third deck at Yankee Stadium to wipe out New York like a hit man with a serious mission.

Indeed, much of the Royal hope for a world title rests with Brett. But today he sits – very gingerly – in a hospital.

"Some people say it's tension that caused it. But I was very, very relaxed in the playoffs and here," Brett said. "The only tension I had was the last week of the season going for .400.

"I did have spicy food four days in a row. I love it."

But, maybe, spice doesn't love George.

"ALL I KNOW is that for five years in a row I've been in the same room of that same hospital for one thing or another. I'm disgruntled. I'm not that stupid to pound the wall and break my hand. I just want to have them taken care of so I can play.

"I don't feel cheated. But, why me?"

Understandably the rest of the Royals are also a disconsolate lot. After Amos Otis' two-run double and John Wathan's sacrifice fly in the seventh, Kansas City held a soon-to-be squandered 4-2 lead.

"I would have bet a lot of money in both these first two games that we would have won," said second baseman Frank White. "Their pitchers are just doing a better job than ours."

"I'M PRAYING now," said leadoff-man Wilson, only 1-for-9 thus far. "Remember, Pittsburgh came back from 3-1 last year."

Frey pulled starting pitcher Gura after six innings in favor of ace reliever Quisenberry, and that move backfired. "Larry said he just didn't have his fastball. He more on less told me he had run out of gas."

In view of what happened," Gura said, "I should have shut up."

Quisenberry was bombed for four runs in the eighth, including Schmidt's massive double that drove home the winning run.

"I think they hit decent pitches, but I didn't have my good sinker," Quisenberry said. "I had a 'poop' sinker. When the catcher catches it, it goes 'poop' instead of 'pop.' I had all sorts of hope tonight, but I took the tubes. Now, I feel like Draino.”

Imagine how George Brett feels.

Royals hope Gale blows away Phils

By Phill Marder of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies, having disposed of Dennis Leonard and Larry Gura in the first two games of the World Series, will now travel to Kansas City to take on a behemoth known as Rich Gale.

Gale, a 26-year-old righthander, who stands 6-7 and weighs 225 pounds, had an 11-game win streak for the Royals between June 17 and September 1. Arm problems slowed him down, and Gale finished the year 13-9 with a 3.92 ERA. He last pitched on Oct. 5, working the final game of the regular season. In that outing, he hurled four no-hit innings against the Minnesota Twins.

"That game decided whether or not I would be on the roster for the playoffs." he said after last night's 6-4 loss put the Royals two games in the hole. "I pitched very well and my arm felt good."

HE WASN'T needed in the three-game playoff sweep of the Yankees, but now Gale is faced with starting what may be the most important game in the history of the Kansas City franchise.

Gale must stop the Phils. If he doesn't, Kansas City will have to buck 76 years of World Series history, for no team has lost the first three games and come back to win the Series.

"I won't change my approach and I'm trying not to have any negative thoughts," Gale said. "I'm looking at it like we were up, 2-0."

"His control is the key," catcher Darrell Porter said. "Sometimes he's erratic and I don't know how he'll be affected by the layoff. He's primarily a power pitcher and he's as good as anybody when he has his stuff.

"HE'S GOT a very good fastball... excellent fastball," said Larry Bowa. "But the scouting report says he might be up with it a little. We've got to make him throw strikes."

Gale agreed with the evaluations of Porter and Bowa.

"I've never been a great control pitcher, but this season was the best I've had in the big leagues," said Gale, who struck out 97, but walked 78 in 190 innings. "I'm a power pitcher as you would expect someone young and my size to be, but you can't blow the ball by the Phillies. You have to set them up. Even Nolan Ryan couldn't blow the ball by them for long.

"The key will be to stay ahead of their hitters," he added. "Anyone on their team is capable of hitting it out, but it's a little more difficult to do in our park.

"Going home will be a big lift for us ' he concluded. "We've been on the road for a week. We've won a pennant and we haven't even heard a cheer yet."

NOTEWORTHY - Gale's wife is the former Susan Knorr of Gladwyne, Pa., whose father now lives in Ocean City... Knorr's step-father is a veterinarian, who treats the pets of Larry Bowa and Tim McCarver... "We were rooting for the Phillies to win since we have a lot of friends here," Gale said. "It's been very hectic, but I've enjoyed it except for the two losses."... Steve Carlton whiffed 10 last night, the first to reach double figures in a World Series game since Tom Seaver, then with the Mets, did it against Oakland in 1973... The team winning the first two games of the Series has gone on to win the Series 26 of 33 times (79 percent)... Larry Bowa tied a Series record established by Phil Rizzuto (1951) and Maury Wills (1965) by starting three double plays.... The six double plays by both clubs tied a mark set in 1955 by the Dodgers and Yankees, and Pete Rose, participating in four, tied a mark for first basemen held by Stuffy Mclnnis (A's, 1914), Joe Collins (Yankees, 1951) and Gene Tenace (A's, 1973)... 47,000 programs were sold last night, bringing the two-game total to 86,000

Moreland catches a little rules flack

By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – Keith Moreland was just trying to be helpful.

The Phillies' reserve catcher, who was the designated hitter in Dallas Green's lineup last night, trotted to the bullpen to warm up a pitcher late in the Phils' 6-4 World Series victory over Kansas City.

Moreland had no idea that his trip to the bullpen was a violation of the rules – one of those jaywalking-on-a-one-way-street rules.

"I've been doing it all year," Moreland said. "Whenever I'm not playing, I go down to the bullpen to help out. They wanted two guys up, so I went down. I had no idea the rules say you can't."

When informed on the infraction, Moreland quickly returned to the Phillies' dugout to watch reliever Ron Reed retire the Royals without incident in the ninth, preserving the win for lefthander Steve Carlton.

Moreland, a designated hitter on the minor-league level, did not know he was going to start until after batting practice. Greg Luzinski was originally in Green's lineup, but the Bull was under the weather with an intestinal virus.

"I split catching and DHing with Don McCormack last year," said Moreland. "So I was able to adapt to it. I've always been an offensive ballplayer anyway."

Moreland's offensive contribution included two hits, one an RBI single that capped a four-run rally in the eighth inning.