May 16th, 1993: All I Want is Morandini

 May 16th, 1993: Philadelphia Phillies (24-10) vs  Atlanta Braves (22-16)  

All I Want is Morandini

An Introduction…

I’m the guy who keeps bothering John Kruk on Twitter to add to this stupid blog. The Philadelphia Phillies in the meantime did something in 2022 that blew the minds of every one of their fans with a World Series run that could only be compared with a similar run (almost) thirty year previously so I’ve decided once more to go back in time and revisit the greatest season of baseball of my childhood, the 1993 Phillies.  Thanks to the internet and more specifically the saint who runs the ClassicPhilliesTV youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWb6dGkCnKBlrQLJAjZ-4-w), I’m going back and watching every 1993 Phillies I can find just like if it was 30 years ago (but with the internet)... Previously I attempted to go day for day with every Phillies game in the month of June, which was a bold idea but proved to be futile. Now the plan is to start from the beginning of the season and attempt 1 game recap per week until we get to game 5 of the 1993 World series and then decide if I really want to torture myself with game 6. Come along for the ride to reminisce about the legends of John Kruk, Mitch Williams, and Darren Daulton, to mix the knowledge we have now, with jokes of how dumb things were then.  

Where We Last Left Our Intrepid Heroes (and Villains)

The Phillies for the first time all season are in a slump. They have lost three out of their last four and back to back games for only the second time in the young season. To quote The Philadelphia Inquirer’s game story “suddenly the good fortune that sustained them through their remarkable start had deserted the Phils. Suddenly, the breaks were breaking the other way.” Last night’s game against the Braves alerted Philadelphia to the demons that will forever haunt the franchise, terrible umps, and untimely mistakes. In the 6th inning, first base umpire Ed Rapuano (Who in 2009 would throw out a center fielder in the middle of an inning for extemporaneously complaining from center about the umpire’s calls… the center fielder? Shane Victorino) made a phantom balk call on Phillies’ pitcher Curt Schilling that forced in a run from third base, and unfurled the emotional Phillies. “That changed the whole tempo of the games,” Curt Schilling told the Philadelphia Inquirer after the game, “It’s  a 0-0 games.The umpires aren’t supposed to decide it.” According to Ed Rapuano (as told to Jim Fregosi) Schilling had “stepped onto the rubber from the front” or whatever that means, “I just think its a shame that the game has to be decided by what an umpire saw or thinks he saw” Fregosi is quoted as saying. The Phillies still have a 4.5 game lead over the second place Expos, so all of this is pretty on par for Philadelphia media and fans.     

The Atlanta Braves actually slipped out of the starting gates in the 1993 season starting 11-13 after being swept in a pair of two game series against the Pirates and the expansion Florida Marlins. Most of this was due not to bad pitching, but their all world offense sputtering to start, before this series started Terry Pendleton was hitting .183. David Justice was at .221. Ron Gant was .226, and their Headline-stealing two sport right fielder Deion Sanders is not with the team. Sanders was suspended after leaving the team to grieve his father’s sudden death (51 years old of a brain tumor)  and refusing to come back. In the 19 days Deion spent on the disqualified list he lost 200,000 dollars in fines, but he would return to the Braves 3 days later (in 1993) with a new 3 year 11 million dollar contract. Manager Bobby Cox had been one of the few people in baseball to pick the Philies to be a contender in 1993, saying “they’re scary, they’ve got the lumber, the arms, and the defense. What they’ve done is no surprise to me. During the winter, I picked them to win the division. Don’t look at last year to judge them; they were hurt then. But now they’ve got everybody healthy - Dykstra, Kruk, and Daulton. That’s a damned good ball club, believe me.”  

  

Today’s Game:

Today is Sunday, May 16th 1993, and we are currently tuned into WPHL 17, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies . It’s Sunday so that means we are blessed with 6 innings of Harry Kalas and Richie “Whitey” Ashburn with three innings of Andy Musser and Chris “Wheels” Wheeler in between. It’s another sold out game at Atlanta/Fulton County Stadium, the Braves of course are owned by the ultra rich megalomaniac (Though he is far more entertaining than others of his ilk) Ted Turner and his dope ass wife (now ex) Jane Fonda, who bought the team in 1976 when he was only 37 years old. Turner earned his fortune selling billboards, but soon multiplied that fortune by buying television stations, one of which showed Braves games, which is how he was offered the Braves for 10 million dollars. Turner would take his channels from regional programs to national broadcasting due to the newly invented cable television system, and force everyone to watch the Braves on TBS Superstation for decades.  

Watch for yourself at: 

https://youtu.be/NZXOJDAGV0g 

The Line-up

CF Lenny Dykstra .

2B Mickey Morandini  

1B John Kruk

3B Dave Hollins

C Darren Daulton 3-24 vs Smoltz  

RF Jim Eisenreich 13 hits in his last 25 at bats

LF Milt Thompson

SS Mariano Duncan

SP Danny Jackson

On the Mound:

Taking his turn in the rotation is the 1989 Cy Young runner-up Danny Jackson, who stands on the season with a 3-1 record, but the Phillies are 6-1 in his 7 starts. From The Philadelphia Inquirer, “The Phillies were criticized when they failed to sign a premium free-agent pitcher in the off-season and, instead, acquired Danny Jackson in an expansion-draft-day deal with the Florida Marlins. What, no David Cone! What, no John Smiley! What, no Greg Swindell! Well, while those three stars have a combined 4-13 record and a 4.67 ERA.” All Jackson has done this season is take the ball every 5 days and put his team into a position to win. Danny also contributed $500 for each of his victories and $100 for each of his strikeouts to Philadelphia’s Emergency Center for Homeless Woman and Children during the 1993 season (18,000 dollars by my math) which is awesome. "I can't say enough about what Danny Jackson has done for us," Jim Fregosi was quoted saying last week (in 1993). 

Pitching for the Braves is the last of the three-headed monster (apologies to Steve Avery) that comprises the Atlanta Rotation, John Smoltz (who just turned 26 this past Sunday in 1993). In 1993, Smoltz is known as the best .500 pitcher in the league, as his win totals haven’t quite matched how well he’s pitched in his career. He has already won a strikeout crown as well as an NLCS MVP from 1991, but his most famous game as a pitcher was in a loss. In game 7 of the the 1991 World Series, the future Hall-of-Famer “Smoltzie” faced off against another future Hall-of-Famer Jack Morris in what is arguably the greatest pitcher’s duel in baseball history. The then 23 year old Smoltz went 7.1 innings allowing no runs while scattering 6 hits and a walk, but was no match to Jack Morris who pitched 10 innings without giving up a run over 122 pitches (he did surrender 6 hits and 2 walks) in a 1-0 Twins victory. Smoltz was also a trendsetter of modern sports by being one of the first athletes to meet with a sports therapist, who Smoltz credits with turning around his career. Dr. Jack Llewellyn (who is in attendance for today’s game) first met with Smoltz in the 1991 season as Smoltz was mired in a season long slump and sported a 2-11 record and a 5.16 era. The doctor helped Smolts focus on moving along from bad pitches, calls, or defensive mistakes by playing golf with Smoltz (who was and continues to be a scratch golfer and used to regularly play with Tiger Woods) and showed him that you had to move on from each pitch like you are forced to move on from a bad shot in golf. The therapy took (obvi) as Smoltz went 11-2 over his final 17 starts with a 2.62 era in 117 innings pitched, then winning the aforementioned NLCS MVP. As a child in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I feared Tom Glavine, I respected Greg Maddux, and I hated John Smoltz (and his dumb beard).  

Highs (Hopes) and Lows

High- Starting Quick Top 1st

Sadly our youtube video starts and Lenny Dykstra is already magically on 2nd base, according to baseball-reference Dykstra doubled to center field on the third pitch of the game. After Morandini struck out. John Kruk comes up to plate and rockets a single to right, scoring Dykstra and giving the Phillies a fast 1-0 lead. Watching this I could not help but think about the 2023 Phillies and how the addition of Trea Turner made me (and other Phillies fans) assume that this would be much like how the current team should be, but alas not so much. 

Low- Lenny Dives- Bottom 2nd

One of the more eye-opening parts of this entire endeavor has been the realization that Lenny Dykstra was not a very good defensive outfielder (at least in 1993). Constantly misreading fly balls, and frequently diving for liners he has no chance of catching. In the bottom of the 2nd with Mark Lemke at bat and a man on first, Lenny does it again when he dives for a drive to left center, “Lenny didn’t really come close to catching it” opines Richie Ashburn upon review. To make it worse the ball squirts past Dykstra and Lemke rolls into third with a triple, scoring the runner, and tying the game. “The centerfielder, if he thinks he can get it, he’s gonna go. He was about a foot away from catching that ball” the former center fielder continues. The Braves fail to take the lead when Brian Hunter pops up to Milt Thompson who nails the Lemke trying to score at home, thanks to Darren Daulton. Daulton, who also wrestled and played football in High School, was one of the best catchers at blocking home plate, recklessly throwing his body around to prevent runs. This tendency has proven dangerous in the past as he was knocked out for the season in 1986 protecting the plate and tearing his acl (one of the first of nine knee surgeries Dutch had), but that doesn’t stop Dutch from doing it over and over again. “Tough” is how his teammates have always described Daulton, and tough he was.      

Low- Braves take the lead, Duncan fights the sun- Bottom 5th (and Bottom 3rd)

In the bottom of the third the Braves are able to scratch out a run to take the lead with a double and two sacrifices. In the bottom of the 5th, Mariano Duncan reminds us why he wasn’t a full time starting short-stop by completely losing a pop up to short in the sun, the whole time like my grandmother trying to read something, his glasses on the top of his head. To make it worse, the Barves are only able to score when a strike out thrown by Danny Jackson gets away from Daulton, who forgets there is a man on a third, who scores when Daulton’s eventual throw is too late, making it 3-1 Atlanta.  My notes: “:-(“

  

High- Life with Mikey- Top 7th

Duncan and Daulton are able to make up for their mistakes slightly in the top of the sixth when Duncan plates Daulton from second with a single to make it 3-2. In the top of the 7th, the Phillies make their move with the top of their line-up, starting with a single from Lenny Dykstra and a walk from Mickey Morandini.  Yesterday, Dave Hollins was the goat of the team after throwing a ball into right field on a tailor made double play. In such situations, Dave Hollins’ evil alter ego Mikey usually reared his ugly head “an error, a loss, anything that hurts the club and Mikey shows up” Mickey Morandini told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Mikey broods. Mikey glares. Mikey curses. Mikey sometimes destroyed things. Hollins’ middle name was Michael, but the reason the other Phillies called him Mikey was because of the old Life cereal tv ad, “Mikey doesn’t like anything”, because when Hollins’ was Mikey, he was terrifying. “You stay away from Mikey. He’ll kill you just as soon as look at you.” Daulton said at the time. “Ah it’s blown out of proportion,” Hollins retorted to The Philadelphia Inquirer “Listen, I have a temper. I take the game seriously.” Larry Bowa, the Phillies 3rd base coach and a baseball player who has well documented anger control issues himself, said of him “if you had 25 guys on the team like David, it would be tough, they’d all have killed each other by the third week of the season.” Tonight with two men on and one out, Hollins did what he was on this team to do and doubled in the tying run. No Mikey tonight. After an intentional walk, Smoltz gets pulled and Pete Incaviglia hits a sacrifice fly for the Phillies to take the lead 4-3.

Low- Losing Leads- Bottom 7th

The Phillies’s starting pitcher Terrry Mulholland was not able to hold a 4-0 lead the first game of the series, “I think the way I pitched was a combination of my foot and lousy stuff” he told The Inqurer. In the second game David West, filling in for an injured Larry Andersen and pitching , was not able to hold a 3-2 lead (no thanks to Dave Hollins). Now with a 4-3 lead, the Phils cough it up again, this time Danny Jackson loses his third lead of the night when the Braves go small ball with a single, a walk,  a bunt, and a sac fly to knot it up. 4-4. Then to make it worse, with a man on 2nd, Danny Jackson gives up a single to Jeff Blauser, where Milt Thompson throws out his 2nd man at the plate today to preserve the tie at 4. 

High- Mickey!- Top 8th

Not much has been mentioned about the Phillies second baseman Mickey Morandini so far this season. With Juan Bell taking most of the (very little) animosity the fans have mustered this season, Morandini has been able to slide by batting only .210/.263 near the top of the line-up (when facing a rightie) thanks to his excellent glove work and unflappable nature. In a perfect world, Juan Bell would have grasped the shortstop position and Fregosi would platoon Duncan and Morandini at second (which was the plan going into the offseason, really pissing off Duncan), but instead Fregosi is showing some faith in the 27 year old in only his second as a full time player. It pays off with Morandini hitting a huge double off palm ball specialist Greg McMichaels to score Mariano Duncan from first and taking the lead for the Phillies. 5-4 on Mickey’s 5th RBI of the 35 game season .  

Wild Rides

This section is reserved in telling the final outs of Phillies games, whether it will be the last chance of a rally or the ongoing adventures of closer Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams, it will be covered here. Tasked with a 1 run lead, Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams takes the mound, John Kruk once described Williams’ pitching style “He pitches like his hair’s on fire.” Mitch has 13 saves so far this year, which was tied for the lead, til Mike Stanton recorded back to back saves against the Phillies to take the lead in the NL. Mitch gets the first out on a pop up before giving up a single. This is when the Youtube clip starts jumping around. The Braves get a second hit as the thought of another lead being blown pops into every Philadelphia fan’s head, before Mitch induces a pop up for the second out.  Otis Nixon is up with two on and two out and takes a 1-2 pitch that absolutely looks like it should have been a strike 3, but before I can explode in anger, Mitch throws a perfect strike to end the game. Phillies win 5-4

Final: Philadelphia Phillies 5 (25-10) Atlanta Braves (22-17) 4

Words of Wisdom from Harry and Whitey and Musser (and I guess Wheels)

“Baseball is a game of momentum and streaks, and phillies were going really good for awhile and nothing went against them” WHeels rapping quixotic in the toughest stretch of the early 1993 season.

“Jim just doesn’t have confidence in his bullpen in a key spot” -Andy Musser on how badly the Phillies already miss Larry Andersen. 

Final Conclusions

The Phillies blew three separate leads but still managed to scrape out one win in Atlanta against the 2 time NL defending Champions.  If you enjoyed this wonderful blast from the past please feel free to share, like, or comment on it. The hope is to have more people watching 93 Phillies games on youtube and talking about it. So hit me up @Kevin_Seamus on twitter or @loudphilliesguy on Instagram, or get these e-mailed to you by signing up for my substack. The Phillies are off to Miami for the first time in franchise history to visit Joe Robbie stadium and the teal-as-hell Florida Marlins.

May 15th,1993: Let's Give Em Something to Balk About

 May 15th, 1993: Philadelphia Phillies (24-9) vs  Atlanta Braves (21-16)  

Let’s Give Em Something to Balk About

An Introduction…

I’m the guy who listened to every episode of the Pod Meets World podcast to see if I could get any answers about the Phillies inclusion in their creation, to get none. The Philadelphia Phillies in the meantime did something in 2022 that blew the minds of every one of their fans with a World Series run that could only be compared with a similar run (almost) thirty year previously so I’ve decided once more to go back in time and revisit the greatest season of baseball of my childhood, the 1993 Phillies.  Thanks to the internet and more specifically the saint who runs the ClassicPhilliesTV youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWb6dGkCnKBlrQLJAjZ-4-w), I’m going back and watching every 1993 Phillies I can find just like if it was 30 years ago (but with the internet)... Previously I attempted to go day for day with every Phillies game in the month of June, which was a bold idea but proved to be futile. Now the plan is to start from the beginning of the season and attempt 1 game recap per week until we get to game 5 of the 1993 World series and then decide if I really want to torture myself with game 6. Come along for the ride to reminisce about the legends of John Kruk, Mitch Williams, and Darren Daulton, to mix the knowledge we have now, with jokes of how dumb things were then.  

Where We Last Left Our Intrepid Heroes (and Villains)

The Phillies lost the first game of the series to the Braves last night. While the Phillies have played some good teams so far this 1993 season, this series against the defending NL champions is their biggest test. Last night the Phillies came up wanting after giving up a 4-0 lead and eventually losing 10-7. The Phillies ace,  and NL ERA leader Terry Mulholland was anything but the night before and exited after only 2 innings. Chris “Wheels” Wheeler said on the telecast that Mulholland had a high temperature, but later it was revealed he had an acute pain in his foot. Mulholland this morning (in 1993) went to Philadelphia to get it looked at by a team doctor, but is back in the dugout for tonight’s game. The Phils are 24-9 on the season and sit comfortably in first place of the NL East over the Montreal Expos. 

With the win last night the Atlanta Braves are tied with the Houston Astros for second in the NL West, but still sit behind the San Francisco Giants. One of the biggest fixtures in the Braves domination of the National League from 1991-2006 was their constantly rocking pitching coach Leo Mazzone. A career minor league pitcher, Mazzone quickly became a coach even before his pitching days were over and joined the Braves organization in 1979. When Bobby Cox named himself head coach of the team in 1990, one of his next decisions was naming Mazzone the pitching coach, a decision that would bear out the fruit of the greatest pitching rotation of the 1990s.  From Sabr.org’s biography  “He was very instrumental in me learning my mechanics, being able to repeat my mechanics, and most importantly understanding my mechanics so I could make my own adjustments,” Glavine said, shining a spotlight on Mazzone for transforming his career and guiding him along his path to Cooperstown. “That and really understanding regardless of how hard you throw, the importance of being able to locate a fastball and pitch off your fastball, regardless of velocity.” Born in West Virginia, Mazzone became lifelong friends with Philadelphia Phillies First baseman John Kruk, and because of this friendship one of the most terrifying moments in Phillies history occurred. In 1992, at the All Star Game in San Diego, John Kruk and Darren Daulton, fresh off a road trip, found themselves without proper jerseys to practice. When Kruk found that the MLB store wasn’t selling any of their jerseys he commented “we’re just not very good” then turned to Mazzone for help. The resulting event was John Kruk suited up in a Braves uniform to practice for the All Star game. 

  

Today’s Game:

Tonight is Saturday, May 15th 1993, and we are currently tuned into WPHL 17, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies . The broadcast crew of Harry Kalas, Richie “Whitey” Ashburn, and Chris “Wheels” Wheeler will guide us through all 9 innings tonight in Atlanta where 48,425 people have shown up for this second game of the series. Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was built in mind with the idea of seducing an MLB team, succeeding in 1964 with Milwaukee Braves moving to Atlanta and opening the stadium in 1965 where Joe Torre hit the first home run. At this point in time it’s kind of an old piece of junk that’s 4 years away from becoming a parking lot. Wheels talks about how bad the infield is throughout the game. Sadly our youtube video picks up in the bottom of the first inning with Schilling already pitching.

Watch for yourself at: 

https://youtu.be/VIjW6Llc4nY 

The Line-up

CF Lenny Dykstra .

2B Mickey Morandini (hit a double in the first we didn’t see)

1B John Kruk

3B Dave Hollins

C Darren Daulton  

RF Wes Chamberlain

LF Milt Thompson

SS Mariano Duncan

SP Curt Schilling

On the Mound:

Pitching for the visitors today is Curt Schilling, known affectionately as a horse’s ass, and by far the biggest douche bag on a team  with Lenny Dykstra. As mentioned before in this space, Schilling is name dropped as a major plot point of the third episode of ABC’s totemic family sitcom Boy Meets World. Now some things to take into consideration: Boy Meets World premiered on September 24th, 1993 and in the episode protagonist Cory Matthews gets detention for listening to a Phillies game on the radio during class. Mr. Feeney, Cory’s forever teacher, even gets to name drop Kruk, Daulton, and Dykstra as he listens to the game, before giving Cory detention. We learn that Cory has a ticket to a Braves-Phillies game (obvi not this one) ”It means if they win Friday night they're in the playoffs! That makes the game we're going to the most important game of the year!” Cory gushes right before his brother Eric takes Cory’s ticket from him to give to a female. And in fact on Friday September 24th 1993 the Phillies did play the Braves! But alas the Phils don’t clinch (spoilers) until they went to Pittsburgh. Yet the thing about TV pilots is that they’re usually written months (even years) in advance of even filming them, then they go months between the filming and the airing. Now as mentioned above I listened to all of Pod meets World, trying to figure out any information about Creator and Showrunner Michael Jacobs’ love for the 93 Philadelphia Phillies (he’s not even from Philly). To almost no surprise, there’s no mention of it by any of the core cast members who host the podcast, but there are clues. For instance the Boy Meets World pilot was re-written in one chaotic night after the first read through went so terribly that William Daniels, the actor who played the aforementioned Mr Feeney, quit in protest. Further, the pilot was filmed once with one cast, then shot again with different actors playing the father and brother. This means that most likely the show could have bailed from it’s Phillies heavy nature multiple times, but the Phillies kept being good. It also means all of the Phillies references were written before they even made the playoffs or went to the World Series. The third episode Father Knows Less in which Cory’s father Alan wakes up Cory to watch Curt Schilling take a no-hitter into the 7th inning on the west coast, this episode aired on October 8th, the day between game 2 and game 3 of the NLCS where the Phillies would face the Braves. Mostly I just wanted to tell you all of this instead of talking about Curt Schilling.  

 

Handed the ball for the Barves is arguably the greatest pitcher (definitely the smartest) of his generation, Greg Maddux.  He’s in the midst of winning 4 straight Cy Young awards (92-96) and 18 straight gold gloves. By 1993 he’s already known as one of the most durable and efficient pitchers in the game, but with the Braves (and Leo Mazzone) he would reach new heights. What made Maddux so extraordinary was how absolutely ordinary he did everything. From an ESPN article before his Hall-of-Fame enshrinement, “Maddux was nothing less than a gift to baseball fans. A craftsman, a jewel thief, and a magician rolled into an accountant’s body”. His fastball in his good days topped out at 92, and none of his breaking stuff was otherworldly like other pitchers with his acumen. What set Maddux apart was his brain, he knew and understood baseball and how to pitch. He constantly repeated the adage “down and outside” as the reason he continued to dominate, but if baseball was chess then Maddux would be Bobby Fischer, he not only knew his opponent’s tendencies in the league but he had an encyclopedic account of every at bat versus them. Maddux was even quoted as saying his most proud out was when he got somebody in the bottom of the 9th in a close game in a random regular season game, stating that that same batter had a hit off him in a similar situation years before. What makes it worse for Phillies fans, is that Maddux shouldn’t even be on the Braves, he should be on the Cubs, or at best somewhere in the AL not bothering us, but as the tale goes, both the Cubs and Yankees management screwed the pooch. In the offseason of 1991, Maddux was coming off a 15 win season with preposterous advanced pitching stats (3.06 FIP 5.8 WAR) so the Cubs offered him 5 years and 25 million dollars which would have put him just below Doc Gooden and Roger Clemens as the highest paid pitcher in the league, but Maddux had Scott Boras as an agent, and Scott Boras even then was known for wanting his clients to test free agency, so Maddux put it aside. Then in 1992, Maddux went into avatar mode for the first time winning 20 games, the Cy Young, and a higher money value according to his agent. The Cubs offered 500,000 dollars more a year to take it to 5 years 27.5 million, which Boras scoffed at as he took his client to New York to be wined and dined by the Yankees. Now in December of 1992, the Yankees were in disarray, their owner and GM George Steinbrenner had been suspended by the MLB for life in 1990 for hiring a private eye to follow Dave Winfield around, and even though Steinbrenner was willing to throw money at people from afar, the big time free agents were saying “no”. David Cone passed, Ken Griffey Jr, was like nah, and Barry Bonds turned them down, so when Greg Maddux came to town, they were getting close to desperate. Supposedly they pulled out all the stops to impress the Madduxes (Madduxi?), even taking them to a production of Miss Saigon on broadway. Then the story gets hairy, Maddux claims that the Yankees never made an offer because Steinbrenner’s son-in-law (who took a handle on the Yankees day-to-day during the suspension) had a heart attack and they needed some kind of quorum to offer the contract. But! According to the NY Daily Post and longtime New York sports pundit Michael Kay, Maddux is either lying or doesn’t remember correctly. The Post even goes as far to say the Yankees offered Maddux 5 years for 37.5 million dollars which would make him by far the highest paid pitcher in baseball. As the story goes, Maddux told Boras to figure it out with the Yankees while Maddux flew back to his home in Las Vegas, and during this time Boras got the offer of 5 years and 28 million from the Braves, when whatever the mix-up with the Yankees happened, Maddux just took the Braves money and called it a day. The Cubs fans blamed ownership for not coughing up the extra 500k, but Maddux never gave them a chance and seemed set on leaving (or at least his agent was) as soon as the 25 million offer in 1991 didn’t satisfy. 

Highs (Hopes) and Lows

High- 5 innings of pitching duel

Like the fictional Curt Schilling in Boy Meets World, Curt Schilling takes a no-hitter into the 6th inning vs the defending NL Champs. His only dings are a game-opening walk to Otis Nixon (which got wiped out when Daulton got Nixon trying to steal second) and John Kruk’s first error of the season due to the crappy infield dirt. Sadly for the Phillies, Maddux is quickly working through the Phillies line-up scattering four hits through the first 5 innings and allowing no runs. Schilling was one of the huge proponents of covering his mouth with his glove when talking to his catcher, but it was Maddux who has one of the first known occurrences of doing it.  The story goes that during a game in the 1989 NLCS, Maddux was sure that Will Clark of the San Francisco Giants had read his lips when Maddux told the pitching coach where he was going to throw the next pitch, and Clark hit a grand slam. Maddux covered his mouth ever after and now it’s pretty much uniformly done around the league. 

Low- Oh For Balk’s sake- Bottom 6th

Newly above the Mendoza line Terry Pendleton is finally able to get to Curt Schilling when he delivers a single in the bottom of the 6th ending the no hit bid. David Justice would follow up with another single putting runners on the corners, when all hell breaks loose. Now according to MLB’s glossary page “A balk occurs when a pitcher makes an illegal motion on the mound that the umpire deems to be deceitful to the runner” which honestly doesn’t really mean anything.

So when Curt Schilling stands still on the mound and gets called for a balk by 1st base umpire Ed Rampuano, forcing a run to  cross the plate, Jim Fregosi does not take it well. But! There’s also a rule in baseball that you’re not allowed to argue a balk! Or you’re automatically tossed. So now the ump is running away from Fregosi, because he doesn’t want to have to also toss the coach after making such an egregious call it might have turned the game.

When Harry comes back for the 7th inning he is pissed. “The Phillies have a shot in the NL East and every game is important”. Schilling gets out of the inning but the Phils are down 1-0

High- O Captain my captain Top 7

For over 1000 words in the past two posts, I’ve pontificated on leadership and the greatness of Darren Daulton. In the top of the 7th Daulton delivers again with his 9th home run of the season to tie the game. My notes: “The Atlanta boos shower down on him and empower me” 1-1

video instead of Gif for Harry Kalas call.

Low- My Mom’s least favorite- Bottom 7th

The Atlanta Braves in the 90s were a constant boogie man like monster to my childhood enjoyment of baseball. Their dominance of the Phillies from 1994-2006 brought a lot of hatred into my life and made characters of little known Braves for years. One of those players was Mark Lemke, whom my mother despised more than any baseball player til Albert Pujols, because Lemke always had a 5 o’clock shadow which she found disgusting. Well the light hitting 2nd baseman just hit a home run, and if my mom was watching in 1993 I’m sure she said, “oh I hate that guy”. 2-1 Atlanta

High- Holy Walkathon Batman- Top 8th

Jim Eisenreich pinch hits for Schilling to start the 8th and walks on 4 pitches. One of the things you need to understand about Greg Maddux and his pitching is that he did not walk people. Not like “oh he had a couple years where he didn’t throw that many walks” or even “What an underrated WHiP for a guy playing in the 90’s”, but real talk Greg Maddux doesn’t walk people. He’s gone over 50 innings without giving up a walk multiple times. In the 1997 season (where he healthily started 33 games) Greg Maddux walked 20 batters. 2-0, 20! Dykstra follows up this walk with a double down the first base line “oh yeah that’s foul” says Whitey, but Ed Rapuano will not be made to look a fool so he calls it fair and Eisenreich scores from first to tie the game 2-2!

Maddux then walks Kruk and Hollins to load the bases for Darren Daulton… Who walks! 5 walks in a game, something he would only do 4 more times in his career and not again til 95 and then not til 2002 (he never walked 6 men in a game)! Maddux only gave up 53 walks all season (that’s 9.5 percent of his walks)! 4 walks in an inning, I have no idea if he ever did this again (I did try to google it)! The Phils go up 3-2!

 

Low- Early Wild Rides- Bottom 8th

With Primary Set-up man Larry Andersen on the DL, Jim Fregosi calls in David West who hasn’t given up a run in his last 11 appearances. He quickly disposes of the first two Braves hitters before giving up a single to Terry Pendleton. Then things go awry when Dave Hollins cleanly fields a grounder that should end the inning, but instead Dave disposes the ball into the outfield allowing runners on the corners.

Future Phillie Ron Gant doubles past Duncan to score a run and tie the game.  “Can you believe it?” asks Harry, but for the first time this season it’s in exasperation. Whitey mentions how Fregosi would have went to Andersen vs Gant as some guy named Bill Pekota singles in two more runs to make it 5-3. “You give em 4 out sometimes that happens” summarizes Whitey.  “It’s been a frustrating game” Harry counters. I agree.

Wild Rides

The Braves decide to throw out palm ball specialist Greg McMichael instead of closer Mike Stanton to face the Phillies. He quickly takes care of Milt Thompson and Mariano Duncan, but Jim Eisenreich hits a double to the gap and forces the Braves to bring their closer to the mound. As the tying run, Dykstra takes two pitches before lining out to David Justice to end the game. The Phils lose both games to start the series against the Braves.

Final: Philadelphia Phillies 3 (24-10) Atlanta Braves (22-16) 5

Words of Wisdom from Harry and Whitey (and I guess Wheels)

“Jim Fregosi looks calm, but inside he’s seething” Harry observed the manager after the balk.

“Pendleton way up on third, though Dykstra never bunts.” Wheels’ inflection on never was very funny to me.

“That’s the pitch he should he swung at. The first one was a ball. Of course called a strike” Whitey, not a fan of the umpire tonight.

“I’m beginning Wheels to think we ought to start using the honor system” Whitey is beside himself with the balk.

“The best umpired games are where the umpires are not noticed!” Harry Kalas is pissed.

 

Final Conclusions

Curt Schilling takes a no-hitter into the 6th inning but Greg Maddux and the Braves do just enough to win the second game of the much-ballyhooed series.  If you enjoyed this wonderful blast from the past please feel free to share, like, or comment on it. The hope is to have more people watching 93 Phillies games on youtube and talking about it. So hit me up @Kevin_Seamus on twitter or @loudphilliesguy on Instagram, or get these e-mailed to you by signing up for my substack. We have the final game of the three game set vs the Atlanta Braves coming at you on Sunday afternoon where Danny Jackson faces off the just turned 26 year old John Smoltz.