Montreal Gazette - October 16, 1980
Phillies rally again to lead Series 2-0
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Mike Schmidt hit an eighth-inning double to score Bake McBride as the go-ahead run as Philadelphia beat Kansas City Royals 6-4 in last night's second game of the 1980 World Series.
The win gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven showdown for baseball's world championship, which moves to Kansas City tomorrow.
Philadelphia was trailing 4-2 in the eighth inning, but came from behind for the second night in a row.
Royals remain confident despite Phillies’ 2-0 lead
Phillies 6, Royals 4
By Michael Farber of The Gazette
PHILADELPHIA – Okay, you have a two-run lead and the best relief pitcher in the American League heeding a mere six outs.
You have 10 hits and six walks against the best pitcher in baseball.
You have had 10 runners in scoring position.
You win, right?
No, if you are the Kansas City Royals, you lose. You lose badly, 6-4, to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Two of the World Series to go two games down.
You lose confidence, right?
"No," said Dan Quisenberry, the best relief pitcher in the Americn League who was touched for four runs in the Phillie eighth. "We go back to K.C. and we can win three in a row. Right now, we'll settle for one in a row."
Allows 10 hits
Oh, what chances they had against Steve Carlton – the Phillie starter who looked more like Sigh Young than Cy Young as he suspiciously has for about three weeks, especially when pitching on the fourth day. Carlton allowed 10 of the 11 Kansas City hits and all six walks, and threw 159 pitches – a career for some – in eight innings.
But he survived, mostly because the Royals had only one hit – Amos Otis' two-run double in the three-run Kansas City seventh – in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position and because they hit into a Series-tying four double plays.
"Steve Carlton at his worst his very worst, will keep us in the game," said Mike Schmidt, who hit a monster double to the opposite field for what proved to be the winning run in the four-run eighth against Quisenberry. "He always hangs tough."
Manager Dallas Green was all set to hang with Carlton, too, saying the stormy performance was not the fault of Carlton but the baseball.
Really.
Listen:
"Those baseballs he was throwing were the slickest I've ever seen," Green said. "I'm going to complain to the Commissioner. They have to be rubbed up better. The first batch of balls was pretty good, but the rest were awful.
"When they scored the runs (three in the seventh to give the Royals a 4-2 lead, catcher Bob) Boone said the balls were like ice. He has to have the feel for his slider, and he couldn't do it with those balls."
The umpires are in charge of rubbing up the first batch of balls, and, according to Green, did a good job. But the later balls, scuffed with the same Delaware mud, were not as well prepared – which perhaps explains the spate of late offence.
Kansas City starter Larry Gura had a perfect game until one-out in the fifth when Keith Moreland – the designated hitter in place of the ill Greg Luziniski – out-lumbered an infield single. Garry Maddox (who would leave the game later with a bruised knee) doubled him to third and Manny Trillo drove in the run with a sacrifice fly. Larry Bowa followed with a single to drive in the second Phillie run.
Meanwhile, the Royals' "Big Bang" theory was blowing up in their faces. They had nine runners on in five innings, but kept waiting for the big blow. Instead, they got double plays and Carlton strikeouts (six of his 10). But Kansas City rebounded against Carlton when Otis singled to start the sixth. Lefty walked John Wathan on four pitches, and when second baseman Trillo misplayed a turf hop on Willie Aikens' chopper and then threw a bullet from 20 feet past Rose at first, Otis scored.
All eventually score
Carlton walked three batters in the seventh, all of whom eventually scored. Otis – five-for-nine with four runs-batted-in in the World Series – drove in two with a double, Wathan the third with a sacrifice fly.
“At that point, you figure we're going to win with Quisenberry going," said Hal McRae. "And the next time we have Quisenberry (33 saves and 12 wins during the regular season) out there, we'll expect to win."
Quisenberry breezed through the seventh with three ground balls, but Boone walked to open the eighth.
Del Unser, the former Expo pinch-hitting for Lonnie Smith, then lined a double to left which drove in Boone as befuddled Royal shortstop U.L Washington held the relay throw.
"I have the 30-year itch," said Unser, 35. "I first found out about the World Series when I was five, and ever since, I've wanted to be a part of something like this."
Rose then did his job, hitting a ground ball to the right side to move Unser to third. Schmidt, who has no home runs in 74 post-season at-bats – then came relatively close, bouncing a double off the warning track in right for two runs. Moreland followed with his second single for the sixth Phillie run.
Ron Reed, who finally . replaced Carlton, pitched the ninth and threw aspirin tablets or Tylenol or whatever you want to call his fastball. As Tug McGraw rested, Reed allowed only a McRae single and struck out two, Wathan flailing to end the game.
"I think the change in the Phillies is that we're thinking about the game more and doing the little mental things that you have to do to win," said Bowa, who started three of the double plays. Of course, they weren't really the new Phillies. Only Rose, Bowa and Nino Espinosa – who isn't even eligible for the World Series – were available to the press. "You just can't put on the uniform and go out and expect to win."
NOTES – Willie Mays Aiken – named Willie after an uncle by his mother, named Mays by the delivering doctor, a baseball nut, after the 1954 World Series – says he prefers to be just ol' Willie Aikens.
Brett may undergo operation in Kansas
PHILADELPHIA (Gazette) – Barely able to walk, George Brett hobbled out of Philadelphia last night and headed for a Kansas City hospital.
Dr. Paul Meyer, Kansas City team physician, said the all-star third baseman, stricken with severely painful hemorrhoids, might undergo surgery overnight.
"From here on, it's going to be a day-by-day thing", Meyer said. He added that even if surgery is performed, Brett still might return for the third game of the Royals-Philadelphia World Series tomorrow night in Kansas City.
Brett was removed from the game last night after the sixth inning in obvious discomfort He had two singles and a walk in three plate appearances.
"It's the worst pain I ever felt," he said.
Brett was to see a proctologist immediately after checking into St. Luke's hospital in Kansas City.
"I'm anticipating they will make incisions on the hemorrhoids," Meyer said.
Unusual ‘injury’ fails to bench Royals’ Brett
By Michael Farber of The Gazette
PHILADELPHIA – George Brett just couldn't sit out Game Two of the World Series.
Brett strode onto the Veterans Stadium Field last night at 6:44, one minute before Kansas City Royal batting practice and declared, "I feel fine."
Well, he feels fine for a man with hemorrhoids.
There, I've written it. H-e-m-o-r-r-h-o-i-d-s. People never used to write about them. For one thing, nobody could spell them. For another, there is a question of taste, of public sensitivity.
So if the subject of hemorrhoids bothers you, feel free to turn to less gruesome matters covered in this newspaper, like the war in the Middle East.
Many can relate
But really, isn't this an ailment you can relate to? How many of you have rotary cuff tears or cartilage damage in the knee? Now how many of you have hemorrhoids? Right, I thought so.
Hemorrhoids do not discriminate against the common man – afflicting the rich, the famous and both. U.S. President Jimmy Carter had hemorrhoids. So did Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings during a Super Bowl past. And a man from the Chicago Tribune once wrote that former Cubs' manager Herman Franks is the only man born with hemorrhoids.
Kansas City manager Jim Frey announced at 5:56 p.m. yesterday that Brett, a .390 hitter, would be in the lineup in his usual position third base despite the hemorrhoids.
Somebody wondered if Preparation DH might not be more suitable, but Frey said Brett could not risk further injury according to the Royals team physician and local proctologist who treated him with medicine and heat yesterday.
Brett obviously wasn't going to take this lying down.
The Brett saga actually started Saturday in New York, when he first noticed those nasty things. The first time he ever had them, he claimed.
But the pain increased in his final at-bat in Game One when he ran out a double, and there was some serious doubt to his availability in the second game against Philadelphia.
Helped to room
"He looked like he'd been on a horse for three hours," said team-mate Clint Hurdle, "when I helped him back to his room the other night."
According to The Philadelphia Daily News – which assigned a reporter to tail Brett full-time – he was examined at 4 a.m., 8 a.m. and then again at noon yesterday. Rumors spread wildly.
A press conference was called at 2:15 yesterday afternoon to discuss the status of Brett's problem and other weighty matters. Naturally, the first question directed to Frey was about Brett.
"When did this problem pop up?" said the man from The Washington Post. Honest to goodness, those were his exact words.
And so it went through the afternoon when the flowers of North American journalism and about 600 other sports-writers told hemorrhoid jokes which even I wouldn't repeat.
Somehow it seemed appropriate, however, considering most baseball humor is anal – although in no way should that be construed as a comment on the practitioners of the game.
"Yeah, we gave George some pretty good shots about it," Hurdle said, "but then we left him alone. It hurts too much for him to laugh."
Jokes soured
The jokes soured later in the afternoon when everyone wondered just how he would broach the matter for public consumption. "I appreciate your dilemma," said Phillie reliever Tug McGraw. "How do you announce to the nation a man has hemorrhoids?"
"I'm going to wait until the official release," said NBC announcer Joe Garagiola. "If it's hemorrhoids, then it's hemorrhoids."
Brett did take ground balls and batting practice – albeit gingerly – but did not participate in the regular infield work out.
So there's the story. Hope you're not offended by the Brett saga, even though he was the butt of all jokes.
• • •
Dick Ruthven (17-10) opposes Rich Gale (13-9) of the Royals in Game 3 when the World Series shifts to Kansas City tomorrow night. Larry Christenson is the probable Philadelphia starter in Game 4, while Kansas City manager Jim Frty may overlook left-hander Paul Splitorff in favor of Dennis Leonard, the Game 1 pitcher.
• • •
Whitey Herzog, the St. Louis general manager, says he will name the Cardinal manager within a few days after the conclusion of the World Series. Herzog denies he will be the name.
The deal he is working on with San Diego – which includes third baseman Ken Reitz going to the Padres – is very alive.