Doylestown Daily Intelligencer - October 7, 1980

Phils Will Go With Rested Carlton

 

By the Associated Press

 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Phillies, knocking on the door of the World Series for the fourth time in five years, open their best-of-five-game National League championship series tonight against the Houston Astros.

 

Steve Carlion. a 24-game winner, will pitch for the Phillies, who won the East over the weekend in a three game set with the Montreal Expos.

 

Ken Forseh (12-13) is Houston's reluctant choice after the Astros were forced to a one-game plavoft Monday with the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the West. They had to use ace Joe Niekro. (20-l2) to get the job done with a 7-1 victory. It is the club's first championship in its 19-year history.

 

The Phillies, meanwhile, clinched on Saturday without using Carlton, who starts tonight with seven davs of rest. Forsch has had just three days between starts.

 

If that's not enough of a handicap for the Astros, Carlton, the league's strikeout king and owner of the second best ERA in the league, has a 2-0 record against Houston this year and a 28-9 lifetime.

 

Also, the Phillies during the regular season were 9-3 against the West Division champions, 5-1 at home and 4-2 in the Astrodome.

 

Houston, however, has defied the odds all season, so it would be foolhardy to sell manager Bill Virdon's team short now.

 

Phillies Manager Dallas Green declined to announce his lineup uniil before game time (8:15 p m), but Virdon is expected to go with the team that finished off the Dodgers in the fifth playoff in NL history .

 

Art Howe should be at iirst base, with the veteran Joe Morgan at second, and shortstop Craig Reynolds and third baseman Enos Cabel rounding out the infield. Alan Ashby probably will catch.

 

In the Houston outfield, expect Terry Puhl, Cesar Cedeno and Jose Cruz.

 

Green did say he would use veteran catcher Bob Boone to handle Carlton, but left unsaid whether he would go to veterans Greg Luzinski and Garry Maddox in the outfield.

 

Boone, coming off knee surgery this winter, has played under physical handicap and slumped to .228 as a hitter. His defense also has suffered. He did. however, single
home the tying run in the ninth inning at Montreal Saturday to send the game into extra innings.

 

Boone, Maddox and Luzinski ail were benched part of the final week of the season for weak offense.

 

Boone and Luzinski have started since, but Maddox has been used strictly in a defensive replacement role for the veteran Del Unser in center field.

 

The rest of the Phillies' lineup is predictable with an infield of first baseman Pete Rose, second baseman Manny Trillo. shortstop Larry Bowa and third baseman Mike Schmidt.

 

The Astros' big job is to contain Schmidt, who won the major league home run title with 48 and was National League RBI champion with 121. He hit .286,. 31 points over his career average. He's been hot lately, with four home runs in the last four games, including the pennant-clinching two-run blast in the 11th inning Saturday against the Expos.

 

Also, McBride, a .309 hitter, Trillo at .392, and Rose, who at 39 batted .282. collected 185 hits and led the league in doubles with 42.

 

The Astros, a team that lives on speed, defense and good pitching presents offensive threats in Cesar Cedeno. a .305 hitter with 74 RBI: Jose Cruz. .302 and 92 RBI and Terry Puhl. .284. with 54 RBI.

 

Two others who could play a major role for an eventual winner are relievers Tug McGraw for the Phillies, and Joe Sambito for Houston. McGraw posted 5-1 record, all five victories in the homestretch, and he saved 20 games. Sambito was 8-4 and saved 17.

Rose Has A Way Of Taking Charge In Playoffs

 

By Milton Richman, Intelligencer Writer

 

PHILADELPHIA (UPI) - Pete Rose loves to tease people.

 

For two years sow, or ever since he turned his back on more money from Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Kansas City to sign as a free agent with Philadelphia, he has been teasing guys like Larry Bowa. Greg Luzinski, Mike Schmidt and Garry Maddox.

 

"Just get me in the playoffs and I'll take over from there," he has been telling them.

 

They did their part by getting the Phillies into the playoffs with the Houston Astros. Now it's up to Rose to do his, and when it comes to something like the playoffs, he has a way of taking charge of them the same way Reggie Jackson, Mr. October, does the World Series.

 

"I'm ready." Rose bubbled Monday.

 

Not only did he say it but he showed it as well with plenty of bounce and enthusiasm during the workout at Veterans Stadium where he and the other Phillies were getting ready for tonight's playoff opener with the Astros.

 

"I feel great and I'm swinging good right now," he said between turns in the batting cage. "I was 7-for-11 against Montreal over the weekend. It's been a long lime
since I last was in a playoff, four years ago. but I haven't forgotten what they're like. This is one of the reasons I selected this club to sign with two years ago. I wanna play good in the playoffs. I wanna contribute."

 

This is Rose's sixth playoff, and if past performances mean anything, Houston's pitchers should have a bigger problem with him than anybody else among the Phillies.

 

For one tning. Rose's 31 hits in the five previous playoffs he's been in with the Reds constitute a National League record.

 

Look at the way he performed in those playoffs.

 

He hit only .321 against the Pirates in 1970, but then batted .450 against them two years later. Rose massaged Met pitchers at a .381 clip in the 1973 playoffs, hit .357
against the Pirates in 1975 and helped the Reds sweep three in a row from the Phillies with his .429 figure in 1976. Overall, he has hit .378 in the playoffs.

 

For another thing. Rose is the youngest 39-year-old you ever saw. Age may have caught up with Muhammad Ali, but it hasn't with Pete Rose yet.

 

"Everybody just wails for you to get old." he frowned. "I'm 39, but I haven't missed a game in a Phillies uniform yet. I played in all 163 games last year and every one of the 162 games this year.

 

"People ask me what happened this year because I hit only .282 compared to .331 last year. They don't take into account I batted in more runs this year than last; had more game-winning hits; more doubles; more runs scored and made three less errors. The only thing was I had less hits and less walks than last year, but my 185 hits this season still were fifth best in the league."

 

You never see Pete Rose pessimistic. He feels the Phillies will beat the Astros and then do the same thing against the American League entry in the World Series.

 

"This team has so many things going for them right now. it's scary." he said. "Our pitching is just the way we want it. The best pitcher in the league (Steve Carlton) will be going for us against Houston with six days rest. That's one plus.

 

"Another one you may think is a small thing, but the Astros will have to fly clear across the country to the East coast after coming off that tough four-game series they had with the Dodgers. That has to take something out of you, particularly when you have to go right into another series like this one. And we have the right guys swinging the bat right now. Schmidt. (Bake) McBride and myself."

 

What about the "dissension" among the Phillies?

 

"Sure, there's some stuff going on here." Rose conceded, "but what people don't realize is that we're not bickering among ourselves. When a ballplayer doesn't get along with a writer or has a difference of opinion with the manager, that isn't what I call 'dissension.'

 

"The fans here got on Bowa last week. That was because of something that was written in the paper, too. But you should have seen the way it turned him on. It actually made him play better .

 

"The players on this team do care for each other." Rose insisted. "This club does have emotion. You should've seen the way these guys hugged and kissed each other after they beat Montreal for the division title. That didn't look like any 'dissension' to me."

 

One of the first things Rose did Monday morning was call his old Cincinnati buddy. Joe Morgan of the Astros, before their game with the Dodgers.

 

"I called him to wish him good luck." Rose said. "I told him. 'You go beat 'em today, and we got Carlton waiting for you tomorrow.' It's not that I was pulling for Houston over Los Angeles. It's just that Joe and I played together so long with the Reds and he's a good friend. You always wish your friends luck."