Phillies, Two in a Row????

Could the Phillies win two World Series in a row? I will worry about that if and when they could get by the Dodgers. One of the interesting thing will be the 4 pm EST start for Game 2 in Los Angeles. The 1 pm PST start may be the middle of the night for some Dodger faithful.

Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS has scarred me for life as a Philadelphia fan. Never celebrate until the 5th bottle of champaigne is popped. Here is a brief description of what happened that faithful Friday from Wikipedia:

Game 3 went down in Philadelphia baseball annals as "Black Friday." The Dodgers opened the scoring in the second off Larry Christenson when Dusty Baker doubled home Steve Garvey from first on a close play at the plate. The Phillies tried to claim Garvey never touched home plate, but to no avail. Steve Yeager followed with a single to score Baker to make it 2–0.

In the bottom of the second, with two outs and Richie Hebner on second and Bob Boone on first, Dodger starter Burt Hooton began to dispute ball/strike calls issued by home plate umpire Bob Engel. Hooton's attitude and delay of the game aroused the displeasure of Philadelphia's infamous "boobird" fans, who took out their wrath upon their team's opponent. As the volume of the boos escalated to a deafening level, Hooton uncharacteristically lost control of both his pitches and his composure, issuing walks to Ted Sizemore, Christenson (forcing in Hebner), Bake McBride (forcing in Boone), and Larry Bowa (forcing in Sizemore), thus giving the Phillies a 3–2 lead. Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda then pulled Hooton in favor of Rick Rhoden, who induced Mike Schmidt into popping up to end the threat.

While Rhoden and Doug Rau were busy shutting down the Phils, the Dodgers tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Baker. The score stayed tied at 3–3 until the bottom of the eighth, setting up a wild finish.

Hebner led off the eighth with a double. Garry Maddox singled home Hebner and went all the way to third as Reggie Smith's throw home to try to nail Hebner went wild. Maddox then scored when Bob Boone grounded to Ron Cey at third and Cey threw wildly at home in an attempt to throw out Maddox. With a 5–3 lead entering the ninth and ace reliever Gene Garber on the mound, the Phillies looked to be sitting pretty.

Garber retired the first two hitters, but then pinch-hitter Vic Davalillo shocked the Phillies infield by laying down an 0–2 drag bunt and beating it out. Lasorda then sent another pinch hitter, Manny Mota, to hit for pitcher Lance Rautzhan. Mota sent a deep drive to left that Greg Luzinski trapped against the wall. Ted Sizemore then mishandled Luzinski's peg attempt at second to try to nail Mota, scoring Davalillo and sending Mota to third. Phillie manager Danny Ozark came under fire later from the media for not having Jerry Martin, a faster outfielder, in left field at that point. Martin, many felt, would have reached Mota's liner easier than the bigger, slower Luzinski.

Davey Lopes followed by hitting a blistering grounder to third that took a wicked hop and struck Mike Schmidt in the left knee. Larry Bowa retrieved the carom out of the air, fired to first, and appeared to have retired Lopes, but Lopes was called safe. TV replays showed that Bowa's throw beat Lopes. Meanwhile, Mota scored to tie the game at 5–5.

Garber, in an attempt to pick off Lopes at first, threw wildly past Hebner, sending Lopes to second. Bill Russell then singled to center to score Lopes with the go-ahead run. Mike Garman retired the side in the ninth for the Dodgers, who narrowly escaped defeat.

Still as kid growing up in the 70's it is still strange to see Larry Bowa in Dodger Blue and Davey Lopes in a Phillies uniform. Last year, the papers tried to revisit that Game 3 ninth inning from 1977.