Wilmington Morning News - September 8, 1980
L.A. pitching muffles Phillies
By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor
LOS ANGELES – In a sense, the just-completed series with the Dodgers was much like the Phillies' puzzling season to date.
They roared into Dodger Stadium on Thursday night, edged Jerry Reuss 3-2 to extend their winning streak to four games.
After that, as Dallas Green has been saying, they went quietly. Somebody turned off the faucet.
Yesterday, in the wrap-up of competition against Western Division teams, the Phils were blown out 6-0 and their losing streak reached three games. They managed just three hits and after Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead against loser Dick Ruthven in the second, the sunny afternoon became a yawn for the 39,083 customers, not to mention Phillies' fans.
Ruthven, who had won four straight decisions and six of seven, just didn't have it yesterday. But Rufus seldom does have it against the Dodgers. Yesterday's setback left him with a 2-12 lifetime record against them.
When the Phillies took off on this 11-game road trip, they had a 66-58 record and were in third place, 2½ games behind. As they limped out of Dodger Stadium, they had a 72-63 record and trailed first-place Montreal by one game. Both the Expos and third-place Pittsburgh were also beaten yesterday.
The Phils ended the road trip with a 6-5 record, finished play with the West with a 41-31 log and left the Dodgers behind having split the 12 games played.
Bobby Castillo, who replaced Dave Goltz in the fourth inning after the starter was forced to leave with a sprained right ankle, allowed the Phils just two of their hits to record his sixth victory in 12 decisions.
"Rufus just didn't have it today," said Manager Dallas Green. "He struggled all the way; he couldn't control anything. But we compounded it by not getting him any hits. This certainly wasn't one of our best games.
"This goes back to what I have been saying all year. We can't let this loss or any of the three losses bother us. We have to put those behind us and go out and get the Pirates tomorrow night. There's no sense panicking. We have to put everything else out of our minds and go out and get the Pirates."
Green said the lack of hitting, in his opinion, is because some of the key players are tired. He mentioned Bake McBride, Manny Trillo, Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt, among others.
"They're going to get some rest, but it's only going to be for three or four innings," said the manager. "Even though we lost three games, we're still in it. Just an indication of how fouled up the division is."
"You have to give Bobby Castillo a lot of credit the way he came in there today," said Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda. "He did a fine, fine job. This was a very important homestand. I don't know how anybody could expect anything more than we got in these 11 games."
The Dodgers won 10 of the 11 games to move into first place in National League West.
The Phils have 27 games remaining, all against Eastern Division opponents.
"We are going head-to-head with everybody in our division now," said X Green. "That's what we want, to go head-to-head. If we can't do it that way, we don't deserve to win the division, but I think we will."
The Dodgers wasted no time taking the upper hand, scoring two runs in the first inning.
Ruthven got two quick infield outs before Dusty Baker singled through the middle. Baker raced to third on Steve Garvey's double to right and scored when Ruthven balked with Ron Cey batting. Cey then drilled a single through the middle to score Garvey. In the third, the Dodgers made it 3-0, with a wild pitch costing Ruthven. Davey Lopes, who had eight hits against the Phils in the series, led off with a single to center. He was forced at second by Rudy Law, and Law was forced by Baker. But Baker moved to second on Ruthven's wild pitch with Garvey batting and scored when the Dodger first baseman ripped a single to right.
Three consecutive singles by Jay Johnstone, Mike Scioscia and Darrel Thomas produced the first of three runs in the fourth and finished off Ruthven.
With Scioscia on third and Thomas on first, Green called on sinkerballer Warren Brusstar. Castillo bunted successfully and Lopes then roped a single to left to score Scioscia and Thomas before Brusstar finally retired the side.
The Phils' best early threat came in the second, when Bake McBride opened with a single and Greg Luzinski walked. Goltz then retired the next three batters in order.
In the fourth, Schmidt led off with a walk on four pitches, and when the count went 1-0 to McBride, Goltz had to leave in favor of Castillo, who put out the fire.
The Phils did not get another hit until Maddox doubled to start the seventh, but the next three batters went down quietly.
Pete Rose led off the eighth with a single and Bob Dernier was sent in as a pinch-runner. The rookie stole second and remained there as Castillo struck out two of the next three batters.
EXTRA POINTS – The Phils sent Bob Walk home early yesterday afternoon so he can rest for his start tonight at Veterans Stadium against Don Robinson (5-8) and the Pirates... Steve Carlton (21-8) will face John Candelaria (10-13) tomorrow night at 8:15... The Phils, who were 18-11 in September last year, are 4-3 so far this month... Trillo, who was replaced by Ramon Aviles after lining out in the fifth, is hitless in his last 15 at-bats... Luzinski made a fine catch against the left-field wall of Cey's liner in the fifth inning... Yesterday's crowd pushed Dodger season attendance to 2,726,606... Attendance for the four-game series with the Phils was 167,961.