Allentown Morning Call - September 10, 1980

Phils sweep Pirates with 5-4 win in 14

By Ted Meixell, Call Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA – Bob Boone's suicide squeeze bunt with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning last night scored Garry Maddox from third base to give the Philadelphia Phillies a marathon 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Boone's bunt made a winner of relief pitcher Warren Brusstar, 2-0, who retired the Bucs in the top of the 14th despite issuing a leadoff walk to pitcher Mark Lee, the eventual loser. 

Maddox led off with a double to the gap in right center of Lee, a rookie with only two previous innings of major league experience. Maddox went to third when Larry Bowa bounced to first base. Surprisingly, Pirates' manager Chuck Tanner elected to pitch to Boone rather than walk the bases loaded and Maddox easily slid under Lee's desperate heave to catcher Ed Ott, which went wild anyway.

Starters Steve Carlton (looking for his 22nd win) and John Candelaria were removed from the game and as pitchers of record after eight and seven innings of work, respectively. 

The Bucs grabbed a 4-2 lead in the seventh on a triple off the top of the centerfield fence by Lee Lacy, a double by Phil Garner and a single over the third-base bag by Omar Moreno. But Philly bounced back to tie it 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth with two runs against ace Pirate relievers Grant Jackson and Kent Tekulve. 

Keith Moreland, pinch hitting for Carlton, led off with a double to the rightfield corner. Pinch runner Bob Dernier moved to third on Pete Rose's groundout and Jackson was' relieved by Tekulve. But Mike Schmidt greeted "The Stork" with a booming triple to left for his 100th RBI. 

Greg Luzinski brought the crowd of 43.333 – which included more than its share of loonies who hogged the stage through about five innings of excellent baseball by taking on most of the Veterans Stadium security force – to its feet with a single to left that scored Schmidt. 

That was the end of the scoring for quite some time, however. Phils' relievers Dickie Noles, Ron Reed and Brusstar and Pirates Enrique Romo, Eddie Solomon, Bob Scurry and Lee shut the offenses down completely for the next five innings. But then Maddox, Bowa and Boone combined their talents to pull out the win. The Phils swept a two-game series with the Bucs and moved into a temporary tie for first place with the Montreal Expos, who were involved in a rain-delayed twi-nighter with the New York Mets.

Earlier, both clubs scored twice in the second inning. Bill Robinson, a certified Phillie Killer, led off the Pirates' half of the inning with a line single to left and Lacy, up next, drilled a double off the wall behind Luzinski to move Robbie to third. Garner and Steve Nicosia produced the runs with back-to-back sacrifice flies to center. 

The Phils tied it on an infield single by Luzinski, a sacrifice fly by Larry Bowa and doubles by Maddox and Boone. Although both Luzinski and Boone hit the ball sharply, better defense by the Pirates could have prevented either from reaching base and Candelaria, whose ERA suffered as a result, couldn't have been blamed for glaring at the official scorer. 

Luzinski grounded sharply in the hole at short, but Tim Foli gloved the ball cleanly. His throw was wild and, although it would have beaten the lumbering Luzinski by a country mile, the scorer ruled a hit. 

After Maddox scorched a legitimate double over the third-base bag and Bowa hit his sacrifice fly, Boone lined a ball at Lacy in left. The ball sailed right past his glove and, although he was in perfect position to make the catch, Boone was awarded a double.

The Phils play the New York Mets tonight and tomorrow in Shea Stadium before returning to the Vet Friday for a 5:35 p.m. twi-night doubleheader against St. Louis.

The Phillies need both sides of Irish Tug McGraw

By John Kunda, Executive Sports Editor

Do you want to know what the Phillies need more of to stay alive in the pennant race for the next 25 days? 

They need more of Tug McGraw. 

Not only Tug McGraw saving (or winning as was the case the other night) a game in relief, but also Tug McGraw doing his thing in the hide-and-seek atmosphere of the Phillies' locker room.

McGraw's success as a reliever is measured in statistics, and while the veteran lefthander has only one win, his 17 saves stand out like an Irishman on St. Patrick's Day. 

There is no way to measure his contributions in the locker room, but let it be said that he is a refreshing personality in the midst of grown professionals who, most of the time, act like a bunch of spoiled kids. 

So, what does locker room behavior have to do with a pennant race? Plenty. It's an intangible, but atmosphere – a happy, congenial atmosphere – seems to go hand-in-hand with winners. 

That's missing with the Phillies.

Okay, so you're bored with stories about the Phillies and their attitude toward writers. Let's face it, the Phils will have to put up with the writers just as much as the writers will have to put up with the Phils. It doesn't add up to a pleasant relationship, and in these times with a pennant at stake, who needs aggravation from the inside? 

Enter Tug McGraw. 

While the others were in hiding, there was McGraw, his sharp, Irish face beaming, holding court and firing one-liners faster than Don Rickles. He pauses only long enough to take a big gulp of beer from a plastic cup. 

"Wanna know why I'm wearing this shirt?" he asked tugging at an Army camouflage shirt that he put on after taking off his No. 45 game shirt. 

"I had people out in Los Angeles threatening to kill me." he said, referring to the fight he had with Dodger Bill Russell late last month when L.A. was at the Vet. The two have since made up. but the camouflage shirt got his point across.

What about his first win of 1980? 

"In 1973 when I was with the Mets (their championship season), I didn't get my first win until August," he said, "and we went all the way to the World Series. This year I didn't win one until September. I guess that means we should win the Series." 

More on won-loss records. 

"Wins and losses don't tell you much about a reliever," he said. "Saves do. I have 17 of those. But you'd like to win one. You hate to be 0-for-80 or 0-f or-90 or 0-for-a-decade. Can you imagine having my record and going to a Little League banquet where the first question they ask is, "How many wins did you have?" 

What about his season in general? 

"I don't know how to explain what I do, or why this team plays in streaks like it does," McGraw said. "If I was good at statistics, I wouldn't have become a player. I can't even explain why I'm having a better year than I did last summer, except by saying that I'm a fundamentally sound pitcher. Always have been. I happen to be in a good groove right now." 

What about the stretch run? 

"Hey." he said, "it's like the man (Dallas Green) said. They're all big games at this time of the year. You have to beat 'em all. You want to beat the contenders and the Pirates are one of the contenders. Hell, they won it all last year. You gotta' do it yourself. You're in big trouble if you depend on somebody else doing it for you." 

McGraw, who turned 36 on Aug. 30, has recorded 76 saves since he came to Philadelphia for the 1975 season. "I have two of these (pointing to a World Series ring)," he said. "Pete Rose has a couple of them, but for the most part, the other guys on this team are still looking. I'd like to see all of them get one." 

McGraw's a funny guy, all right, and his line about the record-tying four grand slams he gave up last season ranks as one of the classics: 

"I had a chance to set a record against Houston when they loaded the bases on me, however, I put the team ahead of my personal records and got Terry Puhl to hit into a double play." 

That's Tug McGraw, colorful, witty, refreshing and pretty tough in the clutch. The Phillies could use more of him.

One thing Bucs don’t need is a suspended Ed Ott

By Ted Meixell, Call Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA – Having lost 14 of their last 17 games, seen their normally potent attack quieted, watched their usually effective bullpen get clobbered, winced as one starter after another either went on the disabled list or was relegated to playing with pain and fallen 2½ games out of first place, the last thing the Pittsburgh Pirates need now is a suspension to Ed Ott. 

No one knows that better than Ott, the burly Allentonian who catches for the Bucs against righthanded pitching. But it's exactly what might happen following Ott's loud postgame "discussion" with umpire Gerry Crawford Monday night after a 6-2 loss to the Phils. 

"I'll probably get a 15-game suspension for coming near him because of his daddy's (former National League ump Shag Crawford) reputation,” Ott said angrily following the incident at the mouth of the tunnel leading to the umps' dressing room. They gotta' protect daddy's little boy." 

Bad blood has existed between Crawford and the Pirates ever since the infamous Glove-in-the-Face fiasco involving he and third baseman Bill Madlock. (Madlock WAS suspended 15 days for that one, although Crawford admitted Ott never made physical contact with him Monday.) 

The Ott-Crawford bout began in the ninth inning when Ott objected loudly to two straight strike calls against him. Ott eventually knocked a single off Tug McGraw's glove but, after Phil Garner struck out to end the game, Ott let loose another verbal blast at Crawford as he headed for a shower. 

Crawford emerged from the tunnel and they went nose-to-nose a second time. National League President Chub Feeney, who undoubtedly would have overlooked the initial argument, may not take kindly to the postgame get-together or some locker room remarks Ott directed at Crawford. 

If a hearing ensues, Ott will be more than eager to attend. "I'm definitely taking Crawford before the board," he said, "because of what he called me in Pittsburgh earlier this year. He called me a bleeping crybaby. I want to hear him say that in front of the league president, under oath. 

Told that Crawford denied having called Ott names, Ott responded, "Then he's a lying sack of bleep. My source wouldn't lie. That's Gerry's style. He'll probably have me pushing and punching him out there, too." 

Crawford's version went like this : "He (Ott) called me a bleeping bleep bleep, and I don't have to take that kind of bleep from anyone." He admitted, "He didn't touch me, but I ejected him from the game (it was already over). I'll file a report with the league." 

Many Pirates feel Crawford has held a grudge against them since the Madlock caper. Madlock believes the umpire's eagerness to match a protesting player shout-for-shout and bleep-for-bleep is what caused his run-in as well as Ott's. 

"Exactly," Madlock said. "But I'm a bad guy, nobody believes me. I wrote Crawford up when he was a rookie because he cussed me out. All he had to do tonight (with Ott) was turn around and walk away, but he had to make a big scene." 

Ott summarized it this way: "He's gotta' go home and sleep at night. He's taking money out of our pockets. If he wants to play Robin Hood, that's fine, but he's the one who should have a guilty conscience. 

"I take great pride in my playing and I don't want some guy who's living off his father's reputation taking food out of my mouth." 

Now all anyone can do is wait to see what (or who) Feeney believes. Anyone want to bet against Crawford?