Phillies Slip Padres a 1-0 Victory

The people here really know their baseball. In the right-field bleachers, for example, a sign, written quite eloquently, said: “Please Go On Strike.”

And the Phillies, being themselves, obliged, taking the eighth inning off and losing, 1-0, to the streaking Padres. It seemed absolutely comical.

Actually, the Phillies looked fine for a while. Pitcher John Denny frustrated Padre hitters, shutting them down on three hits through seven innings. Denny, it should be noted, has more control than Mario Andretti. He deals with great speed on his pitches, yet he rarely throws balls. It’s a timely combination.

Yet, Denny suddenly lost his timing in the eighth inning. Garry Templeton, with the score, 0-0, lined a single to right. Padre pitcher Dave Dravecky was up next, with specific instructions to bunt, but Denny didn’t give him a chance.

Pitch No. 1 was high. Pitch No. 2 was bunted foul. Pitch No. 3 was high. Pitch No. 4 was low. Pitch No. 5 almost hit Dravecky in the head. The pitcher trotted to first.

This sudden wildness was rather mysterious, so pitching coach Claude Osteen ran out to speak with his pitcher. Denny then threw a strike to Tim Flannery, who bunted it and moved the runners to second and third. Tony Gwynn was walked intentionally then, so the right-handed Denny could throw to the right-handed Steve Garvey.

Garvey drove Denny’s second pitch deep to right, where it was caught by Glenn Wilson. Templeton tagged and scored, though he stumbled on the dirt around third base--an omen of things to come.

So Dravecky took a 1-0 lead into the ninth. He struck out Von Hayes but walked the slumping Mike Schmidt. Speedy Jeff Stone was Schmidt’s pinch-runner. Then, Manager Dick Williams called for Goose Gossage.

And, naturally, Williams’ strategy backfired, as Glenn Wilson lined Gossage’s second pitch up the middle. But Stone slipped on the sand around second base, rolling over a couple of times on his way toward third. Center fielder Kevin McReynolds quickly threw to second baseman Flannery, who stepped on Stone’s outstretched hand and then tagged him out.

The fans booed, and while they booed, Ozzie Virgil lined a single to left, a single that would’ve scored Stone had he been able to get back to second.

“I should’ve been at third base so easy,” Stone said. “I ain’t going to get too much sleep tonight because I’ll be thinking about it. We should still be playing.”

So that was that. But now, the great debate is whether or not the sand here at Veterans Stadium is the culprit behind this great fall. Flannery, a California beach bum, is an expert on sand and said this of the play:

“Oh definitely. He hit right where the turf meets the surf (that’s the sand). As fast as he runs, it’s like falling out of a car. He did a couple of flips.”

And truthfully, there is something different about the sand here. The Giants’ Jeff Leonard fell here in a game last week, and Templeton had fallen, too.

“The sand is much softer here than I’ve seen it,” Garvey said. “Around the batter’s box, there’s a big hole. If I were their team, I’d get it back to the way it was.”

And Mike Schmidt, who has played here long enough to know (13 years), agreed.

“Our field leaves a lot to be desired,” he said. “But I don’t know if that caused Stoney to fall. Our batter’s box stinks. As far as Astroturf fields, we have probably one of the worst in baseball. It’s like a stone quarry at home plate. When you go up there, you have to throw away a few stones.

“But the mound must be in good shape, though.”

Nice that he said that, because Schmidt slipped up a couple of times Friday night, failing twice against Dravecky with runners on second and third. In the third inning, with Juan Samuel at third and Von Hayes at second and two outs, he took a third strike.

Apparently, Dravecky threw six straight inside pitches to him and then fooled him, striking him out on a pitch that caught the outside corner.

In the fifth, Steve Jeltz was on third and Denny was on second with two outs. Schmidt flied out to left.

The Phillies are concerned with Schmidt, who is hitting .192, with five homers and 15 RBIs.

“I’ve got an ankle (injury) that might have had an effect on my last 18-to-20 at-bats,” Schmidt said. “I can’t run too well. I’ve had two or three injures that have probably affected me, but I’m not making excuses.”

Dravecky’s reason for winning (he’s won four straight) is that he’s not rushing his pitches and that his slider has been miraculously effective.

As for his slide on the basepaths, it needs improvement. On Garvey’s RBI sacrifice fly, Dravecky had tagged at second and belly flopped into third. Third base coach Ozzie Virgil Sr. laughed at him.

Still, the Phillies are funnier.

Padre Notes

The Padres have won five straight on this trip. . . . Goose Gossage picked up his 12th save but surrendered three hits and struck out just one in 1 innings. Said Manager Dick Williams: “You didn’t see the real Goose today, except his last pitch (he struck out Juan Samuel to end the game).” . . . Kevin McReynolds’ 15-game hitting streak ended. He went 0 for 4. . . . Terry Kennedy, back from Thursday’s player representative meeting in Chicago, said he had gone to the meeting thinking a strike might be inevitable, but he has changed his mind now. “I just can’t possibly see how they (the owners) wouldn’t believe that we’d go out (on strike) again,” he said. . . . Family notes: Rookie Jerry Davis, who attended nearby Trenton Ewing High School, had many relatives and friends at Friday’s game. He needed approximately 37 tickets. Also, Al Bumbry had his father come up from Fredericksburg, Va.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard EIGHTH INNING Padres--Templeton singled to right. Dravecky walked. Flannery’s sacrifice moved Templeton to third, Dravecky to second. Gwynn was walked intentionally. Garvey flew to right, Templeton scoring, Dravecky taking third. Nettles bounced out to the pitcher. One run, one hit, two left.