Banner Graphic, Volume 9, Number 304, Greencastle, Putnam County, 30 August 1979 — Page 14

The Putnam County Banner Graphic, August 30,1979

This 'Philadelphia story' is no romance

c. 1979 N. V. Times News Service NEW YORK Take the team that won more games than anybody else in the National League the last three years. Then add Pete Rose at first base. For good measure, throw in Manny Trillo at second base and Nino Espinosa as a starting pitcher. What do you get 9 Pennant, right? Wrong. As baseball turns to the homestretch month of September. this is what you get: the Philadelphia Phillies wallowing in fifth place in the East, leading only the prone New York Mets, struggling to climb back above the .500 level. They are not alone. The Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals who also monopolized their divisions the last two summers, also have strayed, and only the Royals seem capable of repeating. But the upset of the year in baseball is this: with one month to go. there are 15 teams in the big leagues with better records than the rich and favored Phillies. Some people suspect the collapse began before the season began Mainly, the day in February when Larry Christenson fell off a bicycle and fractured his collarbone Subtract one fronlne pitcher Some people suspect it began on May 17 in Wriglev Field when the whole pitching staff figuratively fell off a bicycle The Phillies scored seven runs in the first half of the first inning, but the Chicago Cubs stormed back with six in the bottom of the first The Phillies hammered out a 21-9 lead, but blew that one, too. They finally won it in the 12th inning, 23-22, but their sins lived after them "The team we built,” says Paul Owens, the man who built it, "was a great team. We all expected to be on top. After all, you win the division three straight years, then add Pete Rose and the others But it’s been one big mess since Christenson fell off that bicycle last February. “Pete Rose has done everything we wanted him to do But he can’t pitch, and he can’t make up for the injuries. You can’t alibi injuries, though we’ve had 10 times our share. Not just nagging ones, but broken bones. Ask the Yankees and Dodgers. Injurieshave been a big factor in their downfall, too.” The team that Paul Owens built, and that Rulv Carpenter financed, has done everything in recent years except win the

Sports scoreboard

Baseball At V (.linin' Hy The Associated Press AMEIilt AN I.KAW K K \ST Ml. , Pet. (ill Baltimore Bli 41 662 Milwaukee 80 54 . 597 B Boston 77 52 . 597 B 1; New York 71 5B .550 14'Detroit 72 til 541 15' Cleveland tiß 65 au pi'Toronto 42 90 * . liß 45 WEST California 71 H 2 .534 Kansas City 7n «2 5:10 ■ - -Minnesota BS 63 .519 2 Texas fill 70 474 B Chicago 57 74 .4115 is •Seattle 5»; 78 418 15'tfakland 43 91 .321 28 '- Wednesday's (iames Baltimore 4-7. Minnesota (1-4 - Oakland 6, Toronto 4 Cleveland 5-2. Seattle 4-1 New York 7. Texas 5 Detroit 2. California 1 Boston at Chicago, ppd . wet grounds Kansas City 18. Milwaukee 8 Thursday's (iames Seattle (Parrott 12-8 1 at Toronto i Moote 1-5' Texas (Medich 5-6) at Boston (Kckersley 16-7), ini Minnesota (Koosman 17-10) at Baltimore (planagan 18-7), ini California (Ryan 13-10) at Cleveland (Barker 4-4). <n) Kansas City Cura 9-9) at New York (Tiant 10-7). (n) Oakland (Morgan 2-7) al Detroit (Retry 5-4). in) Milwaukee 'Caldwell 14-5) at Chicago (Proly 1-6). mi Friday's (iames Seattle at Toronto Texas at Boston, i ni Minnesota al Baltimore, ini California at Cleveland, ini Kansas City a I New York, ini Oakland at Detroit, ini Milwaukee at Chicago. (n< NATIONAL 1 KA(il K FAST M l. Pet. (ill Pittsburgh 77 54 588 Montreal 71 54 . 568 3 Chicago 70 59 543 6 St. Louis 69 60 .535 7 Philadelphia 65 67 492 12'New York 52 77 403 24 M EST Cincinnati 77 57 . 575 Houston 75 58 564 I' - Los Angeles 61 71 462 15 San Francisco 59 73 447 17 * San Diego 57 77 425 20 Atlanta 53 79 402 23 Wednesday's Caines Atlanta 5. New York 4 Sl.Louis 5, San Francisco 1 Montreal 5, Houston 3 Cincinnati 7, Philadelphia 6 San Diego 3. Chicago 1 Pittsburgh 4, Los Angeles 1

LINCOLN PARK SPEEDWAY Putnamville, Ind. SATURDAY NIGHT SEPT. 1,1979 THE USAC MIDGETS Located on U.S. 40 2 Miles West of U.S. 231 Time Trials 7:00 P.M. First Race 8:00 P.WI.

Thursday's Caines SI Louis lYuCkovich 12-81 al San Fran cisco ( Whitson 5-8) Chicago (Lamp 97) at Los Angeles ! Ilooton 11-91, ( 11) Only games scheduled Friday's Caines Cincinnati at Montreal. (ill Philadelphia at Atlanta, mi New York at Houston, (ill St. Louis al San Diego, in) Chicago at Los Angeles, in) Pittsburgh al San Francisco, in) American Association . ..„ Bv The Associated Pre55......... EAST .'. .. W I. Pet. OB Evansville 77 58 . 570 Springfield 73 62 541 4 lowa 68 67 . 504 9 Indianapolis 67 68 496 10 WEST Oklahoma City 71 63 .530 Omaha 65 70 . 481 6'i Denver 61 73 492 10 Wichita 57 78 422 14'* Wednesday's Results Indianapolis 5, Evansville 0 Omaha 2. Oklahoma City 1 Denver 6, Wichita 4 lowa 6, Springfield 5 Thursday's Games Indianapolis at Evansville Omaha at Oklahoma City Wichita at Denver Springfield at lowa End Regular Season Sports Transactions EOOTBAI.I National Football League BALTIMORE COLTS-Re-signed Lee Gross, center Placed Ron Lee. running back, on the injured reserve list GREEN BAY PACKERSAcquired Steve Stewart, linebacker Waived Paul Rudzinski. middle linebacker. HOUSTON OILERS —Signed Ronnie Coleman, running back, to a one-year contract. Acquired Boobic Clark, running back NEW YORK GIA NTS Placed Gordon King, offensive tackle, on the injured reserve list Acquired Ray Oldham, safety. TAMPA BAY BUCCA NEERS —Placed David Logan, defensive lineman, on the injured reserve list. BASEBALI National League ST LOUIS CARDINALS-Re called Kim Seaman, John Urrea, Tom Bruno and Bob Sykes, pitchers; Roger Freed, Mike Ramsey, and Leon Durham, infielders; Terry Kennedy, catcher; and Jim Lentine and Keith Smith, outfielders, from Springfield of the American Association.

||PU MB

PETE ROSE: Can he bear' it?

pennant. It won 292 games in the last three seasons, counted nearly eight million cash customers at home and took three straight division titles. And also lost three straight playoffs for the pennant. To remedy that problem, the Phillies signed Rose last December for $3.2 million for four years, outbidding all bankrolls, and later swung trades for Trillo and Espinosa. They sold 18,000 season tickets, played to standing-room crowds in spring training and opened the season by winning 24 of their first 34 games. The path to the World Series was open. That’s were they stood on May 17, the afternoon of the battle of

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY - SAVE $ 100'S OF DOLLARS ON A NEW 1979 CHEVROLET OR BUICK* WHEN PURCHASED BEFORE SEPT. 4th YOU WILL V k \ IMPALAS, CAPRICES, Uv . i % BLAZERS, PICKUPS AND DEALER SELECTED VANS, I M STATE INSPECTION PI mm .. .. undercoat ELECTRAS, LE SABRES IN STOCK - READY FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY 4 HOUR delivery || INSTANT CREDIT .. A 1 B,i rr ,Tl " e appmvai *“T" , , F ?r e,n9 on spot financing Almost No Money Down MrrKUVAL Available

Zi nvnnn '"«*«»»»•. GREENCASm - 653 5,78 |lbm«|

Wrigley Field. After Mike Schmidt had finally decided that marathon with a home run, the Phillies went home with red faces. They had won an outrageous battle, but might have lost the war. In the next three days, they were swept by the Montreal Expos, who outscored them by 25 runs to 14. That meant the pitching staff had been mauled for 47 runs in four games. As the season deteriorated, the Phillies showed the same fatal tendency to blow entire series. In July, they were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals. In August, on consecutive weekends, they dropped eight of nine to the Pittsburgh Pirates, wasting leads of 8-3 and even 8-0. As a result, since the All-Star Game in mid-July, they have staggered along, winning 15, losing 25. The injuries are real. Nine players have been on the disabled list this season, and Christenson and Dick Ruthven have made it two times apiece. Trillo was struck on the hand by a pitched ball and missed 40 games. Larry Bowa, the shortstop, missed 16 at the same time. For a while, the double-play combination starred Rudy Meoli and Bud Harrelson. For sheer horror, though, consider the bullpen. As September dawns, Ron Reed owns and earned run average of 4.23; Tug McGraw, 4.63; Rawly Eastwick, 4.92, and Doug Bird, 5.14. And they’re supposed to save games. The Phillies stop hitting at crucial times, too. Greg Luzinski has suffered from a pulled leg muscle and from the contractrenegotiation blues. Last season, he hit 35 home runs , so far this summer, 16. Mike Schmidt hit 16 home runs in July alone and knocked in 32 runs; but in August, three home runs and only nine knocked in. The hometown fans are starting to boo. Worse, some of them are starting to stay home. “We never put the whole thing together,” Paul Owens was saying. “It’s not a matter of getting old. Nobody’s mad at anybody. It’s a tough town. “The fever was high with the fans, so not winning it is a big disappointment. You plan, you build, you get so close. We could walk away with it next year with the same ballclub.” If only Larry Christenson hadn’t tumbled off that bicycle six months ago.

JONES' LIQUOR STORE Main St., Cloverdale, Ind. 795-4497

OLYMPIA BIER WymPW 12 pack cans .■■'Vi warm only W $399 i, REUNITE LAMBRUSCO P $289 * ____________ H POPOV U VODKA l| $419 QUART

Prices Good Through Labor Day 8:00 A M. TO 10:30 P.M. MON. THROUGH THURS. 8:00 A M. TO 12:00 (MIDNIGHT) FRI. & SAT. OWNED AND OPERATED BY JOHN AND KATHLEEN HOWALD

Phone 653-5151 To Place Your Fast Action Want Ad

Eh WINDSOR ' CANADIAN f M 99 £ 750 Ml SEAGRAWrir SEVEN CROWN f* 1 — jSfoqra a l 750 Ml. Hiram Walker TEN HIGH -A . * «anstJ QUART