Wilmington Evening Journal - October 16, 1980
Phils take 2-0 Series lead
Comeback ability keeps team on championship track
By Rod Beaton, Staff Correspondent
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies, showing the comeback ability which won them the National League East title in Montreal and the pennant in Houston, overcame a two-run deficit to defeat the Kansas City Royals 6-4 in the second game of the World Series.
Their four-ran rally in the eighth inning last night in Veterans Stadium was highlighted by Mike Schmidt's run-scoring double ind a single by rookie Keith Moreland that scored Schmidt. The rally defeated Dan Quisenberry, the American League relief pitcher of the year, and made a winner of starter Steve Carlton.
The Phillies have the Royals in a difficult position, even though the third and fourth games, and a fifth, if necessary, will be in Kansas City. The Royals must now win four of the remaining five scheduled games to take the championship.
They might have to do it without their third baseman, George Brett, the American League batting champion with a .390 mark. Brett was removed from last night's game in the sixth inning, suffering from painful hemorrhoids which were to be lanced this morning at St Luke's Hospital in Kansas City.
Brett might miss tomorrow night's game.
Dick Ruthven, 17-10, will pitch for the Phillies in the contest. Rich Gale, 13-9, will go for the Royals.
The Royals' Larry Gura allowed the Phils no hits through four innings, but fell behind 2-0 in the fifth after Manny Trillo and Larry Bowa knocked in runs for the Phillies.
The Royals scored a single run against Carlton in the sixth and added three in the seventh to take a 4-2 lead with one hit, Amos Otis' two-run double after Carlton had loaded the bases on walks. A sacrifice fly ball scored the other run.
In the eighth, Del Unser doubled in a run and Bake McBride's single scored Unser. Then Schmidt doubled in McBride and scored on Moreland's hit.
Ron Reed threw a scoreless ninth inning to save the victory.
Phillies double their pleasure against KC
By Ray Finocchiaro, Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA – Shortstop Larry Bowa tied a World Series record last night by starting three double plays. The Phillies tied another Series record with four double plays.
But the only "double" the Phillies were talking about was their second consecutive victory over the Kansas City Royals, whom the Phils now lead 2-0 in the Series after last night's 6-4 comeback victory before 65,775 Veterans Stadium fanatics.
"We're not thinking about winning two straight in Kansas City," said Bowa as the Series shifts to Royals Stadium for the next three games, starting tomorrow night. "We'd like to win two of three there, but all we're thinking about now is Rich Gale (the Royals' third-game starting pitcher). Now the fans will be on their side, but we know we have the best road record in the National League."
The Phils also have a very confident team, one that scored four times in the eighth inning against KC relief ace Dan Quisenberry to win last night's game.
What has sparked the Phillies, besides Del Unser's hot bat that ignited the late rally?
"It's just a feeling of confidence," said Mike Schmidt, who doubled home the winning run. "That's why teams are in the World Series. They do these type of things late in the year. There's no distinct advantage. The whole world picked the Royals to win. They said we'd be tired, that the Royals had the better hitting team.
"But I felt we were ready to bust out. We had more pressure winning in Montreal and Houston to get here than Kansas City did."
Bowa said the little things are starting to count.
"We're thinking about the game more and doing the little mental things you have to do to win," Bowa said. "You just can't put on the uniform and expect to go out there and win. When we got behind (4-2), the bench was just as lively as before. It proved to Kansas City that we won't quit. And I know they won't, either."
History is not on the Royals' side. Twenty-six of the 33 previous teams to win the first two games went on to win the World Series. The Phillies know that and the Royals do, too; The double-knit collars have to be a little tighter on the Royal blue uniforms than the Phillie pinstripes.
"When you're two down, it's not very good," said Royals Manager Jim Frey, "but we plan to do better at home."
Amos Otis, who has five hits in the first two games, isn't awed by the Phils' two-game lead.
"We've lost two in a row before and we have won two in a row before," he said. "Being in our home park is going to give us a big lift. Things didn't go our way tonight. We aren't going to hit into four double plays every game. We had 19 runners reach base and it's just unbelievable we could only get four runs. You can't win like that."
Phils' ace Steve Carlton was the winner, but he struggled like never before this season, stranding 10 baserunners while striking out 10 in the eight innings he pitched. Carlton threw 159 pitches and fell behind 4-2 after he walked the bases full in the seventh and all three runners scored.
But the Phils' rally made Carlton a winner with Ron Reed pitching the ninth to earn a save.
"Steve's thrown a lot of pitches over the last six months," said Schmidt. "But even at his worst, Steve still keeps us in the game. Even at his worst."
While strikeouts and double plays bailed Carlton out of one jam after another, the Phillies managed no baserunners against KC starter Larry Gura until Keith Moreland beat out an infield chopper to deep short with one out in the fifth.
Garry Maddox doubled Moreland to third and Manny Trillo got More-land home with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right. Bowa's single scored Maddox for a 2-0 lead.
The Royals got one run back in the sixth on Trillo's throwing error, then Gura took himself out of the game.
"When Larry came off the mound after his last inning, he said he didn't feel he had his fastball anymore," said Frey. "He needs to spot his fastball and he said he couldn't pop it anymore. I guess he was telling us he just ran out of gas."
The Royals threw fuel on Carlton's fire with their three runs in the seventh which would have made the weary Gura a winner had Quisenberry been able to hold the lead. But he couldn't.
Bob Boone led off the Phils' eighth with a walk and Unser doubled him home with a gapper to right-center. Pete Rose's chopper to first got Unser to third and McBride scored him with a chopper over second baseman Frank White to tie the game 4-4.
"I thought that ball was an out," said Quisenberry, who had 33 saves for the Royals during the regular season. "The surface here is so hard. In Kansas City the same ball would've been a groundout to the first baseman."
Schmidt followed with his double to the wall in right to score McBride, who slid past catcher John Watham, who couldn't manage a tag after White's short-hop relay.
"Any time you see Schmidty get a hit to right field like that, you know he's staying with the ball," said Rose. "He's gonna get some hits now because he's relaxing now."
Moreland's single scored Schmidt with an insurance run and the Royals had their backs against the wall.
"Hal McRae (the Royals' designated hitter) told me that if we won this game, we'd be in good shape," said Rose. "I said, 'There's a long way to go.'"
It could be as far as Kansas City, where the Phillies need to win two games to be world champions for the first time in their history. This has been a season of firsts, so it's not beyond reason.
"K.C.'s down two to nothing, so they better get on the stick," said Bowa. "But they're going home."
But they're also going home with their heads a bit lower than when they came to Philadelphia.
EXTRA INNINGS – Royals third baseman George Brett, troubled by hemorrhoids, left the game in the sixth inning after singling twice. He has now hit in 16 of 19 lifetime postseason games... Phil Rizzuto (Oct. 10, 1951) and Maury Wills (Oct. 11, 1965) also started three double plays, making Bowa the third infielder to accomplish that feat... Gura had a 10-4 record by the All-Star Game and was 18-5 on Aug. 25, only to lose his last five decisions in September... Dick Ruthven, scheduled to pitch tomorrow night's game in Royals Stadium, has a sore throat, but he expects to be ready... Phils were scheduled to leave for Kansas City at noon today and workout in KC at 4:30.
Del Unser finds a home with Phils
By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor
PHILADELPHIA Del Unser was a man without a team, a nomad whose baseball career had been one long road show.
After stops in Washington, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York and Montreal, Unser faced the end of his career in the spring of 1979. He had played out his option with Montreal, tossed his hat in the free-agent grab bag and there were few takers.
"I can't promise you anything," said Paul Owens, the Phillies' player personnel director. "You can come on down to spring training, get in shape and maybe we can work something out.
Unser arrived in Clearwater, Fla., with little hope. But the day before the Phils jetted out of the Florida sunshine for the season opener in St. Louis, Unser signed a contract with the team he played with in 1973 and 1974.
Today, the Phils are leading the 1980 World Series 2-0, and without 35-year-old Delbert Bernard Unser, they might not be enjoying such a high. Just when it appeared the Phils were going to give in to Kansas City 4-2 last night, Unser supplied a pinch-hit double that, scored Bob Boone from first base and started the Phils' winning four-run eighth inning which led to their 6-4 victory.
When the Phils won the National League Eastern Division title, nosing out Montreal, Unser delivered some key hits. Then, in last Sunday's deciding game of the best-of-five National League playoffs, he singled home the tying run, then doubled in the 10th and scored the winning run in an 8-7 triumph.
Moments after Ron Reed sealed the victory for Steve Carlton last night, somebody asked Unser if the last few weeks were a 14-year itch finally surfacing.
"It's more like a 30-year itch," said Unser, who is in his 14th professional season. "My father (Al) was a major leaguer, so I nave always had a great feeling of what it is all about. I'm finally getting the chance to actually realize what the World Series is all about first hand, though."
Few players have bounced around as much as Unser, but he has no regrets.
"The travel has brought me a lot of good friends and good baseball friends," he said. "A lot of people, a lot of friends, are benefitting from this. Not just me. Through all the years you meet an awful lot of people and it is nice to know they are enjoying this as much as I am."
Because the Phillies have stamped themselves as a team of destiny, a team that refuses to give in to any deficit, Unser is seeing an ingredient he has never before been close to in baseball.
"It's a type of confidence I have never seen before in my major-league career," he said. "The confidence comes from the fact we are doing it, have done it, and now expect to do it. The important thing is that now we all expect us to come through when we have to."
Somebody asked Unser to describe his role with the Phils.
"Whenever he (Manager Dallas Green) says, 'Del, get your bat,' I go to work. It's just that simple for a pinch hitter.”
Unser blasted his clutch double off Dan Quisenberry, baseball's top relief pitcher in 1980 with 33 saves.
"It was a good slider," said Unser. "It was very similar to the one I beat Pittsburgh on late in the season, He throws very similar to Kent Tekulve."
To Dallas Green, Del Unser is unreal.
"That's the only way I know how to desribe him," said the manager. "He has done everything asked of him in 1980. We've asked him to sit on the bench and I'm sure he'd rather have four at-bats a game. But he's produced coming off the bench and I'm not afraid to use him in any situation. As you know, he can play any of the outfield positions and played center field in some important games when Garry Maddox was hurt."
Unser's two previous seasons with the Phillies were outstanding, but when they obtained Tug McGraw from the Mets, he was involved in the deal.
"Those two seasons and my first with the Mets were the happiest of my career before this," said Unser. "I really think it is wonderful I was able to come back here.
"I decided to play out my option with Montreal because I didn't think I fit in with their plans. I told the Expos I was going tfl try to get away from the hassle of playing in Canada and go to a team that could use me in my best capacities – as a reseve outfielder and pinch hitter. In 1978, the Expos ruined me. I sat on the bench for as much as five weeks at a time. So, I decided to go the option route."
Unser admits when he went to spring training with the Phils in 1979, he wasn't even sure he would remain in baseball.
"There was a lot of anxiety involved family-wise and professionally as to whether or not I had it in me to play out my option," he said. "I guess now, if I had not done it, I would always second-guess myself."
Playing in his first World Series has been Del Unser's most exciting experience.
"The only thing left is a world championship and we've got a shot at that now."
A good shot.
Phillies undermine KC relief ace
By Rod Beaton, Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies picked on Kent Tekulve of the Pittsburgh Pirates this year, so why shouldn't they pound his protégé?
Last night they did. Dan Quisenberry,. the Kansas City Royals' right-handed reliever was called upon to preserve and protect the Royals' 4-2 lead in the seventh inning of Game Two of the World Series.
In the seventh inning he did. In the eighth he became a bad testimonial for submarines.
Quisenberry's pitches are delivered from somewhere south of where people like George Brett get hemorrhoids. They generally torment right-handed hitters and elude left-handers.
They didn't do either to the Phils in the eighth. Bob Boone coaxed a walk to start the inning and before, Greg Gross hit into a double play to end it, the Phils scored four times on four hits.
Quisenberry took the loss. His World Series earned run average is 15.43. That's a mite higher than the 3.09 of his 33-save, 12-win regular season.
"Truthfully, I didn't throw too badly," said the 6-foot-2, 1 80-pounder.
"My only problem was I didn't have the real quick sinker. The pitch Schmidt hit was low and away. He must be a real good golfer."
Schmidt did his best Tom Watson routine to line a double to right-center field, scoring Bake McBride with the winning run.
It all became possible because Quisenberry, a control pitcher, walked Boone to start the inning.
"The pitch I walked Boone on was a little out of the strike zone," Quisenberry acknowledged.
McBride tied the game with a single that scored pinch-hitter Del Unser, who had mashed an RBI double. McBride's hit bounced off the green runway the Phils call their playing surface and caromed into right.
"Truthfully, I thought it was an out,"' Quisenberry said. "The surface here is so hard. In Kansas City the same play would have been a groundout to the first baseman."
Instead, the Phils ground out another back-from-the-depths victory. They picked a most unlikely fall guy.
The Royals call It "Quiz time." They aren't referring to television game shows. Kansas City's Peter LaCock might be the son of TV emcee Peter Marshall, but "Quiz time" is that late-inning moment when Manager Jim Frey ambles to the mound and beckons to the bullpen.
He usually calls upon Quisenberry. He did 75 times during the regular season, twice in the American League Championship Series, and now twice against the Phillies.
Frey got what he wanted in Game One, a quick out. In Game Two he had to deal with a quick loss.
The Phils were wise to Quisenberry's southern hemisphere pitching and Keith Moreland was wise to Quisenberry.
"I faced him in the minors," said the Phillies' backup catcher, who filled in as designated hitter for Greg Luzinski.
"I told them (teammates) most of the time his ball moves in to righthanders, away from left-handers."
Quisenberry's ball moves in mysterious ways. Normally it moves to the plate as fast as traffic in a Wilmington rush hour. The batters turn it into a down-to-earth experience.
"I call it my China Syndrome pitch," said Quisenberry, referring to his sinker. "You know, they all hit it to China, straight down."
The Royals' fortunes are moving in that direction.
"We can do it (win the Series)," Quisenberry insisted, although no teammates who were nearby shouted "amen."
"We're going home now."
At Kansas City he will still deal with artificial turf, the bane of sinkerballers because ground balls roll on it like a ball bearing on ice. Nonetheless, the Royals Stadium surface is grittier and slower than the Vet's.
"I prefer to throw on grass," said Quisenberry.
Quisenberry is acutely conscious of how fast things move. He knows his pitches will not rival the speed of anything on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Radar guns get higher readings on the catcher's throws back to the mound than on his pitches.
"I grew up not throwing hard," he said. "In New York the whole thing was, 'Don't you wish you could throw like (fastball sensation) Rich Gossage?' When I was a little kid, I wanted to throw like a Gossage. Now that I'm still a little kid, I know I only want to throw one pitch. He (Gossage) has to throw three."
He learned that approach from Tekulve, the Pirates' fireman and, until this year, a man who quieted more Phillies rallies than Bruce Sutter of the Chicago Cubs.
One reason the Phils scrapped to the NL East title was their ability to beat Tekulve and, accordingly, the Pirates.
One reason the Phils scuffled to the pennant was their ability to raze the Astros' formidable bullpen.
One reason the Phils are closer to storming to the World Series title is their ability to pound Quisenberry. His China Syndrome pitch had a meltdown.
George Brett
Kansas City standout to undergo minor surgery for hemorrhoids
By Doug Tucker, Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett was to undergo minor hemorrhoidal surgery today and the team physician said he hoped Brett would be able to play in tomorrow night's third game of the World Series.
Dr. Paul Meyer, team physician, said the proctologist, Dr. John Heryer, would lance the hemorrhoids that have hobbled the star of the Royals, who lost the first two games of the Series to the Phillies in Philadelphia.
Meyer said the operation "should relieve the pain." He said the prognosis for Brett was "good," adding, "We hope he will be able to play tomorrow night."
Brett left Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia wincing in pain. He checked into St. uke's Hospital shortly after his arrival in Kansas City when the team returned in the pre-dawn hours.
Brett's status for last night's second Series game in Philadelphia was in question until a decision was made to let him play two hours before the opening pitch. He walked and lashed two singles in three plate appearances, but was obviously running in pain. He was replaced by Dave Chalk in the sixth inning.
"George made the decision himself," said Meyer. "That was our agreement – that he would tell us if the pain was real bad."
"It's the worst pain I ever felt," said Brett. "I never felt so much discomfort. The more you move, the more it hurts. Everybody thought I would be better off in the hospital."
Brett's .390 average was the best in the major leagues since 1941. With 118 runs batted in 117 games, he became the first playe in 30 years with more than 100 RBI to average more than one a game. His loss, coupled with the Phillies' two-game lead in the best-of-seven series, could easily deal a death blow to the Royals' hopes.
"We're just not the same team when he's not out there," said first baseman Willie Aikens.
Brett first noticed the condition Saturday, the day after his three-run home run off Rich Gossage powered the Royals to a 4-2 victory in the deciding game of the American League Championship Series. The pain became intense after the World Series opener Tuesday night.
"I think the discomfort is a little worse tonight," said Meyer.
"George didn't say anything, but we could tell in the dugout that he was hurting real bad." said catcher Darrell Porter.
Carlton ‘slick’ enough to beat Royals with slipper baseballs
By Ray Finocchiaro, Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA – Steve Carlton has not been the invincible stopper the Phillies figured he would be in the playoffs and World Series, but the Phils' pitching ace is 2-0.
Last night Carlton survived long enough to be the winner in the Phillies' 6-4 comeback, another in a long line of heartstoppers in the past frantic few weeks of Philadelphia's amazing season.
Carlton allowed 10 hits, stranded 10 Kansas City Royals and struck out 10. But the Phillies were a bit "ten-se" themselves as Carlton threw 159 pitches in seemingly sub-par form.
However, Phils Manager Dallas Green fingered a horsehide culprit for Carlton's nightlong struggle.
"Lefty was struggling because of the baseballs, not because of Lefty," Green said. "Those baseballs were as slick as I've ever seen them. I'm going to make a complaint to the commissioner and the umpires about them because we have to do something.
"The first batch that came out were rubbed up decently, but after that, they were very slick. Bob Boone said to me, He can't grip these balls, they're as slick as ice."'
The umpires, who rub up the first batch only and then let the stadium attendants work on the rest, agreed.
"I went to the umpire and he said, 'Dallas, these things are just like ice,"' Green said. "We're trying to get this thing correctified (sic). Lefty needs the feel of his slider and he didn't have it tonight."
Larry Gura, the Royals' starter, did not complain of slick baseballs. But then he had a perfect game into the fifth inning, so things were going just fine for the KC left-hander until he lost his fastball in the sixth and watched the game unravel with sinkerballing reliever Dan Quisenberry on the mound.
All of that was to Carlton's advantage, however, which was the slickest thing about his pitching all night.
Royals yearn for KC cheers
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA – Darrell Porter struck out leading off the ninth inning, walked bitterly back to the dugout, surveyed 65,775 screaming, ecstatic Phillies' fans and had a profound thought.
"We've won a championship, we've done what our fans wanted more than anything in the world, and we haven't heard one cheer yet."
It's true.
The Kansas City Royals remained in New York after beating the Yankees in a third straight American League Championship Series game last Friday night and flew to Philadelphia Sunday for the opening two games of the 1980 World Series in Veterans Stadium.
"We should be so joyful going back home, but we aren't," said Porter. "We need to hear some cheers from our side. We need that more than anything."
The 40,000-plus Kansas City fans who will pack Royals Stadium tomorrow night will greet a team that now seems almost devoid of anything positive. The AL champions are down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series. They blew a four-run lead in the first game to lose 7-6, and they blew a two-run lead last night to lose 6-4.
Their best relief pitcher, Dan Quisenberry, got bombed. Their best player – possibly the best player in baseball – third baseman George Brett, was suffering so much pain from hemorrhoids he could hardly walk.
"The next couple of games we'll see what these teams are made of," said center fielder Amos Otis. "We had everything going our way, but the bottom fell out each time. I just think we're jinxed here."
Will the Phillies be jinxed in Royals Stadium?
"I think they (the Phillies) can be beat in Royals Stadium," he answered softly. "We had them on the ropes. After awhile, it does get frustrating."
"It seems like we've been away from Kansas City for about six months," said Dave Chalk, who will have the enormous task of replacing Brett if the All-Star third baseman can't play. "It will be so good to get back home."
Chalk filled in admirably for Brett when he was injured during an otherwise enchanted season that saw Brett bat .390 and drive in 118 runs in 117 games. But Chalk said he's not going to fool himself into thinking he's another George Brett.
"It's a loss to us if he's not out there, no doubt about it," Chalk said. "I'm not going to try to be anything I'm not. You've got to be yourself And I have confidence in myself."
So what good things besides going home can the Royals find to think about?
"Any time you score some runs and take the lead, you've got to think you can win," said designated hitter Hal McRae. "We just aren't holding leads. That's all there is to it."
"We're still in it,'' said Clint Hurdle. "That's what we can think about – that we're still alive, still breathing."
"This is going to be some kind of triumphant return, isn't it," said Porter. "It doesn't seem fair."
Mets still interested in re-obtaining McGraw
By Dick Young, New York Daily News Service
PHILADELPHIA – The New York Mets tried to get back Tub McGraw. They didn't try very hard, but they tried.
It was during spring training. McGraw had had the type of 1979 season that indicated he couldn't be the bullpen saver a pennant contender like the Phillies needed any longer. He had expressed an interest in returning to New York "to be part of the rebuilding program of the new owners," he said. It tickled him to think he was part of the original building program and might now join the Mets the second time around.
Frank Cashen, the Mets' new general manager, approached Paul Owens, the Phillies' player personnel director. "We'll be willing to take Tug off your hands," he told Owens, making it sound like a favor. "It would be a nice thing for him to wind up his career where he started."
"I'll think about it," said Owens.
He wanted to determine if the Philly bullpen could get along with Kevin Saucier, Ron Reed and Warren Brusstar. The answer must have been no, because the Phils "never got back to us," recalls Cashen now, "and the thing just sorta died."
Maybe next year. Tug is playing out his contract. It looked like a poor gamble on his part. He had a mediocre first half of the season, then came up with tendinitis in June. Disabled for three weeks, he came back with his batteries and arm recharged, carrying the Phillies to first place. He won five in a row and boomed his save total to 20, his highest since the '73 Gotta Believe year in New York. Scouts marvel at his fastball. Tug laughs and says, "I don't know what they're talking about. I never stopped throwing hard."
Save No. 21 came with two strong innings in Game One of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night. "I have the mechanics of pitching down now," he says. "I learned a lot about mechanics from Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman while I was with the Mets."
• • •
George Brett's behind became the No. 1 topic of conversation at the World Series' press HQ. He must have been thinking with it when he loused up the run-down play in Game One and let Bob Boone score, unopposed, it was decided.
"If the hemorrhoids aren't too painful," said a newsman, "he can be the designated hitter, instead of playing third base," suggested a newsman.
"That's right," said another. "He can use preparation DH."
• • •
Sure enough, Barry Bremen, the gatecrasher, showed up on the field before Game One, disguised as an umpire. His achievements would be impressive if he didn't have NBC pushing him. They just set him up so they can put their camera on him and hoke things up a bit. That's show biz, commissioner.
• • •
The St Louis Cardinals, with a surplus of hitters and a paucity of pitchers, are peddling around their MVP and former batting champ, Keith Hernandez. Right now, it looks like the Padres have the inside track, with the Mets running second. Rollie Fingers is San Diego's bait in a package that would involve five or six men both ways, it's said. The Mets must give up two young pitchers and Doug Flynn. Manager Joe Torre would trade his brother, Frank, before getting rid of Flynn, whom he considers soul of Mets.
• • •
McGraw is the latest to say Howie the Shill (Cosell) knows nothing about baseball. So what else is new?... Tug also gave me a call, saying he resented my comparing NL late-season performance to the Taiwan Little League. It was. The brand of baseball in Game One of the Series was not exactly what you'd teach at a clinic, either. Don't confuse exciting with well played. Football, in particular, is a more exciting game when there are lots of mistakes and turnovers... Zimmer, Zimmer, who has the Zimmer?: George Steinbrenner has offered the third-base coaching job to ex-Bosox manager. So have the Minnesota Twins... Steinbrenner has a loyalty test: He asks all coaching candidates, "Would you have sent home Willie Randolph?"... Joe McDonald is headed for St. Louis to assist Whitey Herzog. Mac's job with Mets likely will be filled by Lou Gorman, highly respected franchise-builder who worked on early KC and Seattle teams... Bob Lemon's name is popping up more and more for Texas managership.
Garry Maddox good as gold for hot Phils
By Anne Squires, Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA – While Las Vegas oddsmakers and barroom brethren jaw about and wager money on the outcome of the 77th World Series, the Phillies' Garry Maddox admits if he has learned anything in the last six weeks, it's that you can't predict much of anything anymore, especially on the ballfield.
"Who would have thought the Pirates would get beat the way they did down the stretch," said the Gold Glove center fielder last night before the Phillies won Game Two of the Series in Veterans Stadium. "I know you can never tell what's gonna happen and you also can't ever give up."
Maddox' attitude may have helped to carry him through a rough spring training and early season at the plate and in the clubhouse this year.
"There was the talk that they wanted to trade me, that they were going to trade me and I never felt I got going as far as hitting was concerned," he said. "In the past I'd have a streak where I'd hit home runs and drive in a lot of runs or I'd get in groove where I'd get a lot of base hits for 10 or 12 games, but I never got in those grooves this year. There were signs, but it never happened."
Despite a slow start, Maddox wound up the regular season with 73 runs batted in – behind Bake McBride's 87 and Mike Schmidt's 121 on the Phils – 11 homers and a batting average of .259.
"In the first half of the season I couldn't find my swing and I tried different things. Now more than ever I have to help the team win, so I try whatever I can to hit. Basically I hit the ball up the middle, but I can't say what particular style I have now. It's whatever feels good."
Maddox cracked a double in three trips to the plate last night and scored a run in the Phillies' 6-4 victory.
Although Maddox wants to contribute at the plate in the Series, he said his biggest concern is his play in the field.
"I'm primarily looking for good defense from myself. I'm glad to contribute where I can."
In the past he certainly has contributed in the field, winning five consecutive Gold Glove awards. But Maddox doesn't want to be the big hero, in the field or at bat.
"I don't want to be MVP," he said. "I want to blend in because I really don't want to have to answer a lot of questions and do a lot of Interviews. Plus, it's pretty hard to write about a good defensive game. It's easy to be a hero one day. I want to try and stay on an even keel.
"I'm having a good time, I'm having fun and I'm getting paid well," said Maddox, who said that while baseball is his top priority right now, there are other things on his mind.
"Baseball is No, 1 right now, but I am interested in other things. Like my faith and my family. Both are foing pretty strong right now, so I’m happy.”
Will a world championship or a sixth Gold glove make a difference?
"There was an enormous satisfaction in just winning the pennant," said Maddox. "I think that was our main goal. As far as the Gold Glove is concerned, I think I've played as well this year as I have in the past, but I'm not gonna let my happiness depend on something I can't control.
Maddox compares his style to ex-Giant great Willie Mays, who he played with while spending two years in San Francisco.
"He (Mays) was generous. He wouldn't come up and tell you what to do, but if you asked him, he'd share anything with you. I stand in the outfield waiting for a pitch the way he does with one foot forward, watching the pitch. That way I can just lean without committing myself and failing forward. I can get a good jump and make up for it if I get a bad jump."
Considering that Maddox has won five Gold Gloves, he's doing a good job of following in Mays' footsteps.
Area fans annoyed Phillie ‘voices’ tuned out
By Anne Squires, Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA – All over the Delaware Valley Tuesday night, Phillies' fans were frantically flipping their radio dials searching for the familiar voices calling the play-by-play of their favorite, now the National League champion Phillies.
No such luck, they ultimately discovered.
The big guys, i.e., NBC-TV and CBS Radio, came rolling into Veterans Stadium for Game One and it's going to be their show until it's all over.
For veteran Channel 17 and KYW radio sports broadcasters, Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, Andy Musser, it is a big disappointment. And area fans seem to be feeling the loss. too.
"I've gotten wires, phone calls from all the newspapers and the stadium's switchboard operators tell me the lines have been jammed with people calling and asking why we are not doing the Series,", said Ashburn, before last night's game.
"It's nice to know that you have that kind of relationship with your fans but it's still disappointing."
According to Ashburn and Channel 17 executive producer Steve Silverman, this is the first time in 18 years (barring illness and other unforeseen circumstances) that Richie has not worked a Phillies' game. For Kalas, it has been 10 years behind the mike for the Phils.
"There's really not much to the story," said Silverman from the first-base line booth the WPHL crew has been exiled to for the duration of the Series. "NBC has the TV rights and CBS bought the radio rights and we're not allowed to do any broadcasting. It's as simple as that."
Up until two years ago the network that owned the broadcast rights to the World Series would have a guest commentator from each of the home teams as a part of the regular broadcast crew. But that practice has been discontinued.
"I was contacted for that job in 1977," said Kalas, "but of course the Phillies didn't make it and then they stopped doing it.
"It's terribly frustrating to have covered a team for so long and then have them reach the pinnacle and not be able to do it. I think at least locally we should have been able to broadcast, but there was nothing we could do. I will tell you, though I'm getting awfully antsy up here not being able to call a play."
Ashburn likened the experience to a seemingly universal frustration.
"It's sort of like wining and dining a woman all night and bringing her home and having her say see ya later,’” he said.
"But it's something we can't control. It's very hard because it's been such an emotional last month and then you're out of it. I understand the networks have to do their job. I'm sure it's nothing personal on their parts.
"But it's very different sitting up here," Ashburn continued. "Someone makes a great play and you want to say something.
"Bill Giles (Phillie publicity director) said he'd bring the problem up at the winter meetings," said Kalas, "but of course that doesn't do us much good now."