Doylestown Daily Intelligencer - October 5, 1980
Bowa: Frustration To Joy
By Paul Giordano
MONTREAL-Larry Bowa sat atop a locker room table, soaked in champagne. He was alone. In other parts of the room, corks were still popping, beer was still flowing, and guys were flat out having a good time.
Bowa watched and a small smile crept acreoss his face. This was it. Maybe his final fling with the Phillies, but this was it.
This was the end to a very frustrating regular saeason, but quite possibly the beginning to a happier ending.
He and his teammates came back...almost from the dead: the drug scam, name calling, the verbal and almost physical fighting with the fans, a cold war with the media and the blasting of and from the manager.
"I’m very happy," Bowa Said, puling a towel around his neck as teammate Greg Luzinski poured a bottle of champagne pover his head and rubbed it in his hair. "This is the best of the four (division titles.). Everyone doubted us.
"People just dont understand what it did (drugscam) to me personally. It affected my wife, my dad and my mom Its been the hardest year in my life".
And in the hardest year of his life, especially during the last three weeks, Larry Bowa has played above and beyond himself.
He took on the press, the Philadelphia fans, manager Dalals Green and still managed to get the job done, maybe better than ever before.
"I guess I'm like a bear when he's trapped in a corner," Bowa said. "When someone corners you, there's nowhere to go. You come out swinging."
"I know what I said about the fans and about Dallas." Bowa said. "But this team needed something to juice them. I didn't care if 50,000 fans were on me, it took some of the pressure off Schmidty, Bull, Boonie and they could do their jobs. I didn't care. I just wanted to get it done.
"I'm not saving I did it right, but I was never hurt like that in my life. I built up a reputation for 11 years in Philadelphia and I was hurt when it went down in one day.
"But thats all behind me now, I'm sorry if I hurt anyone with what 1 said. I hope they understand, hope they realized what I was trying and had to do.
"I hope we can continue and win a championship."
BOTTLE CORKS: The Phillies will start some regulars in today's game, those who have clear heads, but most of the kids will play in the season finale.
Mike's Homer Gives Phillies Title
By the Associated Press
MONTREAL (AP) - Mike Schmidt's two-run, 11th-inning homer gave the Philadelphia. Phillies a 6-4 victory over the Montreal Expos Saturday and the National League East Division championship.
Pete Rose opened the Philadelphia 11th with his third single of the game, and after Bake McBnde fouled out. Schmidt lined his home run over the left-field fence to snap a 4-4 tie
It was the 48th of the season for the major league home run leader and boosted his National League RBI lead to 121.
The victory sends Philadelphia against the winner of the West Division, either Houston or Los Angeles, in the best-of-five senes, starting in Philadelphia Tuesday night.
Tug McGraw, 5-4, stopped the Expos cold Friday night and came on in the ninth and did it again Saturday. In the two games in which he appeared. McGraw allowed only one hit while facing 16 batters Stan Bahnsen, 7-6, took the loss in relief.
The Phillies tied the game 4-1 in the top of the ninth on Bob Boone's RBI single off reliever Woodie Fryman. The single sent home Bake McBride, who had reached first on a forceout grounder and taken second on a slow roller by Mike Schmidt.
The Expos had gone ahead 4-3 with a two-run rally in the seventh helped along by a pair of Philadelphia errors. Chris Speier hit a routine pop fly with one out that second baseman Manny Trillo dropped for an error. Ron LeFlore, who has been sidelined with a broken wrist, ran for Speier and stole his 95th base, continuing onto third when catcher Keith Moreland threw the ball into center field.
Jerry White, whose two-run homer in the third had given Montreal a 2-0 lead off Larry Christenson, hit a sacrifice fly to score LeFlore for 3-3 Rodney Scott capped the rally with an RBI double.
Phils Pull Together And Finish On Top
By Paul Giordano
MONTREAL-- With one swing of the bat, in a long and almost comical ballgame, Mike Schmidt powered the Phillies to the National League East title Saturday, belting a two-run homer in the top of the llth inning as the Phils came from behind and topped the Montreal Expos. 6-4.
The locker room was flowing with champagne. There was the usual yelling, shouting, hand shaking, hugging and tears.
The team that played together, sulked together, fought together, finally put it all together when it could have been the end, and won together.
The Phils committed five errors, ran the bases like Saturday Night Live, hit into a double play with the bases loaded. left 12 runners stranded in scoring position, yet held on to win. That is after 4 hours of play and a 3 hour and 10 minute rain delay.
"That just wasn't us out there," said Phils manager Dallas Green. "But it shows we can play a little comeback of our own. Schmitty really smoked that ball, didn't he? It was really kissed."
"It was definitely satisfying." Schmidt said. You know, like that one time in your life when you really feel satisfied. I feel that now. I made it through and I did the job I had to do. I got the big hit under pressure. I just want to carry it on from here."
"And it was satisfying for the team. too. I didn't think anybody gave us much of a chance to" even win 2 out of 3. Most people thought we would find a way to blow it "
The Phillies almost did.
There was Greg Luzinski. lining into a double play with the bases full after the Phils scored one run in the fifth. And there was Schmidt and Luzinski playing Laurel and Hardy on the bases in the seventh, running into a double play after The Bull drove in a pair of runs. And Manny Trillo dropping an easy pop with one out in the seventh allowing the Expos to take a 4-3 lead.
"There was so many emotional highs and lows," Schmidt said, "if they did come back and win it. it would ha»e been pretty tough to regroup tomorrow."
But Bob Boone tied it with a two-out single in the ninth. Schmidt and McGraw, again, did the rest.
"We said it in spring training that we wanted to change things on this team." Green said. "The thing we had to work on hardest was the character of this team. We wanted to get away from winning it on ability alone. The other teams have caught up, somewhat.
"We had to build the character which we wanted to have to carry us through September and in the clutch. We had our backs against the wall in September, but we pitched out of it and hit out of it."
"The only thing I doubted was whether I could convince some of our players not to let personal feelings, personal frustrations into it.
"This last week put all that aside and let it happen. This should have come out loud and clear."
"This is the first step in what we had to do." Green said. "We worked very hard for this opportunity to prove that as a team we could win a championship and go on to the World Series.
"It's been very frustrating at times but more frustrating at times that I couldn't convince our guys to do it that way. In my heart I didn't think its 100%. but I know 90% of us care out there."
And McGraw demonstrated that spirit, jumping in the air, falling to his knees and pounding the artificial carpet after he struck out Larry Parrish to end this year's regular season play...on top.
In the last two games Tug faced a total of 13 Montreal batters, allowing just one hit and striking out 10. He was the winner in Saturday's game, justly deserved.
Extra bases-Mike Schmidt has hit four homeruns in the last four games, five in the last eight....Bob Boone was 2 for 27 before his game-tying single in the ninth Phils have won four of the last five division titles.... Mark Davis will pitch todays's meaningless game. Carlton will be held to start Tuesday's playoff game.