Philadelphia Inquirer - September 3, 1980
It’s no time for early risers
With the Phillies in a three-way struggle to see which two teams won’t win the NL East pennant, die-hard fans won’t be getting much sleep.
The game with the Giants at Candlestick Park is televised again tonight, at 10:35, and who can go to bed wondering what stange happenings are afoot out west.
So keep the coffee hot, but don’t cheer too loudly. You’ll wake the neighbors.
BASEBALL
PHILLIES at San Francisco (TV-Ch. 17; Radio-KYW-1060, 10:35 p.m.)
Maddox attempts to shed light on sunglasses flap
By Jayson Stark, Inquirer Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO – Garry Maddox knew he was wrong.
Even before Sunday's embarrassing loss to the Padres was over, he knew. Before Paul Owens stormed into the locker room Monday and pointed a finger at him, he knew. Before anybody had a chance to say anything, Maddox knew.
He had reasons that he hadn't worn sunglasses before losing two flies in the sun in San Diego. But the reasons didn't matter once those balls dropped in front of him. Maddox had cost the Phillies a game they should have won, and he knew it.
So before Monday's game with the Giants, the Phillies centerfielder went directly to Dallas Green's office and asked to say a few things.
"I just told him the reason I didn't have any sunglasses out there was that I thought I could play the balls without them," Maddox said before the Phillies and Giants played game two of their three-game series last night.
"I told him I didn't think I needed glasses in this particular situation. But I admitted I was wrong. So 1 apologized for not being out there with the glasses on."
Maddox also had heard other Phillies players talking. And they were indicating that the mistakes he made might not easily be forgotten. So he felt maybe he ought to answer those people, too.
"A few of the guys on the team had said they thought it might have an effect on the rest of the players," Maddox said. "So I told Dallas that if he wanted me to, I'd call a meeting and say a few words to the players. I said I'd apologize to them, too."
But Green was impressed enough that Maddox merely had come to him. He told him he didn’t think a mass apology would serve any purpose.
"I thought Garry was very honest and sincere, and I appreciated what he did," Green said. "He was willing to talk to the team. But I didn't think that was necessary."
The question that remains, of course, is why wouldn't he wear glasses on a bright, cloudless day?
Sometimes, Maddox said, the sun is so powerful in San Diego that you can lose balls even when you do wear glasses. So he simply attempted to take them "to the side" with his head and body positioned so the sun was at an angle and the ball didn't come right out of it.
"That's the way I attempted to play it," he said. But it turned out not to be the right way. And Maddox knew that was the bottom line.
NOTES: Since Reading was knocked out of the Eastern League playoffs early, the four players the Phillies have called up probably will join the club tonight. The four are pitcher Mark Davis, outfielder Bob Dernier, catcher Ozzie Virgil Jr. and pitcher Dan Larson, who cleared waivers yesterday without being claimed.... Pete Rose's reaction to Montreal's getting Willie Montanez: "That's good, because they've got nowhere to play him."... Going into last night, the Phillies (2-2) were 2-and-2 playing in Candlestick Park. Other visiting teams at or above .500 are Atlanta (4-3), L.A. (4-2) and Pittsburgh (4-2)…. Dick Ruthven (13-8) vs. Allen Ripley (3-0 against the Phillies) tonight.
Phils top Giants in 13th by 2-1
Moreland fly drive in Trillo
By Jayson Stark, Inquirer Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO – Larry Christenson's eight innings of brilliance weren't enough to keep the Phillies in first place last night. Neither was a big ninth-inning hit by Lonnie Smith. Or 2-2/3 torrid innings of relief from Warren Brusstar.
But on the other hand, they sure didn't hurt. What they did was keep the Phillies tied for 12 innings in a nail-biter marathon with the Giants.
And finally, as the 13th inning coincided with signoff for the Tomorrow Show, the Phillies managed to squeeze out a 2-1 win. And so they held onto that cushy .00059-point lead over Montreal.
Manny Trillo's leadoff double against Al Holland in the 13th – only the Phillies' fourth hit of the night – got the Phils going. Then Larry Bowa bunted him to third, and Keith Moreland knocked him in with a sacrifice fly.
Ron Reed (7-4), who had squirmed out of a two-on, two-out jam in the 12th, then wrapped it up with a 1-2-3 13th. And the Phils had their first two-day stay in first place since July 11 and 12.
For eight innings, this was just a scintillating 0-0 duel between Larry Christenson and Vida Blue.
Christenson hurt his perpetually injured back in the fourth and still got through eight one-hit innings.
Blue was even better. He allowed only one Phillies base runner over the first eight innings, retired 18 in a row from the third through the eighth and was totally in control.
But in the ninth, the Phillies used an error by third-baseman Darrell Evans to finally get a run. Evans knocked down a leadoff smash by Bob Boone, picked it up and had about a half-hour to throw Boone out. Instead, he pulled first-baseman Mike Ivie off the bag with his throw, and Boone swooped in to first via the old hook-slide route.
Rookie Jay Loviglio, last seen stealing 33 bases for Oklahoma City this year, ran for Boone. Ramon Aviles pinch hit for Christenson and bunted Loviglio to second.
Blue then went 2-and-0 to Lonnie Smith, served him a fastball inside and Smith smoked it to left for a single that was only the Phillies' second hit. Loviglio pumped in from second with what looked then like the winning run.
But McGraw, who has been a veritable Bruce Sutter of late, couldn't save it for Christenson. He allowed a one-out single to Mike Ivie, then went 3-and-2 to Evans and walked him. Milt May ripped a 1-0 pitch to right for a single, and there went Christenson's sixth win.
To the rescue, though, came Warren Brusstar. He stalked in, threw one pitch to Rennie Stennett and Stennett bounced into a temporarily game-saving double play. It was like a scene from the Brusstar highlight film of 1977 and 78.
Last night marked Brusstar's first truly significant role since the disappearance of his mystery arm disease. And he turned out to be the same cold-eyed, steel-nerved terror he used to be.
His toughest test came in pitching out of a bases-loaded, no-out mess in the 11th. The inning began with a Jim Wohlford single and a four-pitch walk to Johnnie LeMaster, who was trying to bunt. Then Evans dumped a bunt between third and the mound. Brusstar picked it up, started to go to third, stopped and everybody was safe.
So the outfield and infield moved in to little-league depths, and Brusstar went to work. Mike Sadek bounced an 0-2 pitch to Larry Bowa. Bowa got a force at the plate, and that was one out. Then Rennie Stennett topped a one-hopper back to Brusstar, who got another force at the plate, and there were two out.
Then Brusstar went 3-and-1 to pinch-hitter Joe Strain. Strain took strike two. Brusstar came in with three more strikes. Strain fouled them all off. Finally, he threw a fastball outside. It would have been ball four. But Strain couldn't chance taking it. He rolled it to Manny Trillo, and it was on to the 12th.
In the Blue-Christenson duel earlier, Christenson had almost all the tough moments. He set down the first seven Giants until Joe Pettini stroked a single up the middle in the third.
Blue attempted to bunt Pettini over, and he laid down a good one.
Now you can run to first backward, and you can run to first sideways, and you can crawl to first on your knees. But the only way you can't go up there is in fair territory. So first-base ump John Kibler correctly called Blue out for interference, and that killed that threat.
So Christenson resumed rolling along. But in the fourth, Terry Whitfield dribbled a one-out roller to Pete Rose. Rose flipped to Christenson for the out. But suddenly, Christenson looked funny.
He walked back to the mound stiffly, hands on his oft-strained lower back. Dallas Green and trainer Don Seger roared out of the dugout, looking concerned. But Christenson convinced them he was OK, so they left and he stayed.
He also pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh. But in the end, his longest – and best – outing since August 1979, went for nothing.