June 11, 1993- Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets
Schilling It
An Introduction…
I’m the guy who doesn’t draft New York Mets in fantasy baseball, because my fantasy is a world
where the Mets do not exist. With the chance of the season dwindling and only the KBO to salve my
baseball addiction, I made the decision to go back in time. Thanks to the internet and more
specifically the saint who runs the ClassicPhilliesTV youtube channel
I’m going back and watching the 1993 Phillies, day for day just like if it was 27 years ago (but with
the internet). To reminisce about the legends of John Kruk, Mitch Williams, and Darren Daulton,
mixing the knowledge we have now, with jokes of how dumb things were then. Follow along for the
month of June and if it works out, I’ll continue to the month of July.
Where We Last Left Our Intrepid Heroes
The Phightin Phils beat the New York Mets last night after spotting the boys from Queens five runs
after five innings. The comeback was completed with a three run home run by Pete Incavigla, and
the Phils won 7 to 6. Philadelphia is now 41-17 with a 9 ½ game lead in the NL East and have won
7 of their last 10 games, but it’s not all joy and happiness for the Phillies. They have learned today
(in 1993), that after a bad slide into first base, third baseman Dave Hollins will miss the next 4-6
weeks of Baseball. With the Phillies already attempting to clog the season long hole at shortstop,
this new breach in the infield hull could cause some serious issues.
The hardest thing when talking about the 1993 New York Mets, is deciding where to start. They
currently sit in last place behind the expansion Florida Marlins in the NL East with a 19-38
record. Former Phillies manager and World Series Champion Dallas Green had been brought in 3
weeks previously to attempt to right the ship but they have gone 4-11 since the change and are still
capsizing. The strict Green was chosen to settle the chaos that had been stirring around the team
since 1992 when the Mets overpaid for Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Doc Gooden, and Eddie
Murray and still stunk. Bonilla, who is still receiving checks from the Mets, was the highest paid
player in baseball in 1993 making 6.2 million dollars that season (the highest paid Phillie, Mitch
Williams, earned 3.5 million), but all of the money spent resulted in very few wins. The 1992 season
would be written about by Bob Klapisch in a book titled “The Worst Team Money Could Buy”, when
Bonilla read excerpts of the book, he verbally attacked Klapisch with a homophobic slur. In reply to
a preseason quote from Met Howard Johnson, “We have to show that we’re much better than the
way things turned out last year.” Sports Illustrated’s Season Preview would say, “Which in a nutshell
is the Mets’ problem: they aren’t better than that.”
Today’s Game
It is Friday June 11th, 1993 at Chipper Jones’ personal vacation home Shea Stadium. Our game is
being presented on WPHL 17 in Philadelphia and thankfully our game crew is Harry Kalas and
Richard “Whitey” Ashburn (with Wheels thrown in from the 1st to 6th innings).The Phils are without
their clean-up hitter for the foreseeable future and the Mets are wearing a uniform that says “METS”
on the front that they only wore in 1993 and 1994 before going back to the “NEW YORK” shirt front.
Since we haven’t seen the classic Phillies broadcast team much in June, let’s reintroduce one of
them. “His Whiteness” Richie Ashburn of course was a long time Phillie (and short term Cub and
Met) from 1948-1962, he was a 2 time NL hitting champ, and a 6 time all star. After retiring, he
became the color guy in 1963 for the radio broadcast and eventually television. In times of tense
silence, he could be heard clearing his pipe, and when hungry during late games he could be heard
asking for free pizza on the air. His number (1) was retired in 1979 and he would go into the Hall of
Fame in 1995 (with Mike Schmidt).
Watch for Yourself at:
Today’s Line-up:
CF Lenny Dykstra (.385 OBP 1st in NL in Runs)
SS Mariano Duncan
1B John Kruk (.492 OBP)
C Darren Daulton
RF Pete Incavigla (10th in NL in RBIs)
LF Wes Chamberlain
3B Kim Bastiste (.302 avg)
2B Mickey Morandini
P Curt Schilling
On the Mound
The Phillies are starting Curt Schilling today, he is coming off his worst start of his season so far
giving up 8 hits, and 5 runs over 5 innings against the Colorado Rockies. In his second season as a
Starting Pitcher, Schilling has accumulated a 7-1 record with a 3.13 ERA. Much can be said about
the douchiness of Schilling off the field and since his retirement, but nothing can be taken away
from how good he was in 1993, during the season and especially in the playoffs.
For the opposing team, Pete Schourek is starting today, he, with the rest of the Mets, is struggling
with a 2-7 record (losing his last 4) and a 5.73 ERA. Schourek, a 6 foot 2 left hander from Virginia,
would have one dominant season in 1995 where he would be 18-7 with a 3.22 ERA and finish 2nd
in the Cy Young voting behind Greg Maddux (Schourek received 0 first place votes). That one
season would account for a third of Schourek’s career statistics as injuries would render the rest of
his career pretty ineffective. A barely interesting point of note from Wikipedia is that Schourek was
pitching on the day that MLB umpire John McSherry died from a heart attack in the middle of the
game.
Highs (Hopes) and Lows
Low- Bottom 2nd- Schill Struggling
As noted, Schilling had his worst start of the year the previous Friday, and after an easy first inning,
those issues showed up again. Schilling, during his career, was elite in his ability to minimize walks,
ranking in the top 10 in walks per nine innings 10 times in 19 seasons. He came into today’s game
average 2.2 walks per nine innings (and would finish 10th in the NL in 1993), but allows two walks in
the 2nd inning to load the bases with one out. On a bad wheel from the night before, John Kruk
makes a weird play to record the second out, but allows a Met to score. 1-0 Mets.
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| Nailed it. |
Low- Orsulak is killing me
Some guy named Joe Orsulak decided to have the game of his life, he gets the first walk against
Schilling in the 2nd inning scoring the first run on the Kruk play. During his second at bat, he
reaches out and hits a Schilling slider over the right field fence to make it 2-0 Mets. Orsulak would
add two more singles during the game ending 3-3 with 2 runs and an RBI. Couldn’t track down
empirically that he had a better game in the majors over his 14 year career, but seeing that he only
hit 57 career home runs, there probably weren’t many better days at the office for him.
Low to High- half perfect
For the first 14 batters, Pete Schourek was perfect, striking out 1 while giving up no hits, walks or
runs. He made the team leading the league in runs, home runs, and walks look completely
pedestrian for an entire half of a game. Then Wes Chamberlain came up to bat, and put an end with
Schourek’s date with destiny. Making it 2-1 Mets with a home run to Left Field. Schourek would end
up going 8+ innings while only giving up 4 hits to the Phillies, the problem being that half of them
were home runs. Whitey would say of Schourek’s performance after he was replaced, “ He
deserves a better fate whatever his fate will be.”
High- More Messes for Kim Batiste to Clean Up
After his stint at starting shortstop, Kim Batiste has now been tasked with taking over third base for
the injured Dave Hollins. Hollins would enter the Disabled List in the top 5 for RBIs and walks, and
on his way to being named an All Star reserve, so the task for Batiste is quite large. Batiste shows
his ability for the job with a game tying home run in the 8th inning after Schourek started cruising
again post the Chamberlain home run. After the Phillies would take the lead in the 9th off an error by
Mets 3rd basemen Chico Walker, Kim Batiste would provide insurance in the form of a 2 run single
to make the score 5-2.
High- Harry Kalas calling Home Runs
Times are terribly depressing right now, allow me to life your spirits for 12 seconds with the home run
call by Harry Kalas. The first in this series of write-ups. There's never been anyone better at bringing
excitement to the game of baseball than Harry Kalas, and no one has ever been able to call a home
run with more grace and beauty. Venerable sportswriter and co-host of PTI Tony Kornheiser said of
Kalas after his death, "It could be said that he had the voice of God"
High- Curt Schilling
Phillies pitching coach Johnny Podres was integral in moving Curt Schilling from ineffective relief
pitcher to borderline hall of fame starter. Schilling said of his coach, “he taught me how to pitch, how
to act- he taught me about life.” Podres saw in Schilling what few other saw in him when he came
into the league from Alaska, and after a first year where Schill went 14-11 with a 2.32 ERA and
0.998 WHiP, the coach was being rewarded for his instinct. Today, after the small struggle in the 2nd
inning, Schilling showed the elite skills he possessed, by pitching a complete game 4 hitter with 4
strikeouts (and no more walks after the 2nd). With the win Schilling moves to 8-1 with a 3.03 ERA,
and Philadelphia improve to 10-3 in games he starts.
Wild Ride
With a 5-2 lead earned in the top of the 9th, Schilling enters having already thrown 111 pitches, but
that doesn’t scare Jim Fregosi. No sir! Mitch Williams pitched yesterday, and Schilling is going for
his 5th complete game of the season so no reason to bring in anyone else. Incavigla makes a big
diving catch for the first out, which makes Eddie Murray 0-19 in his career against Curt Schilling.
After a second pop-up to Inky, the dreaded Orsulak gets his third hit of the game, but four pitches
later Chico Walker grounds out meekly to shortstop. The Phillies win.
Final: Philadelphia Phillies (42-17) 5 New York Mets (19-39) 2
Words of Wisdom from Harry and Whitey (and sometime Wheels)
“No more stolen bases this year. Whatever I have now, put in in ink.” - John Kruk to Wheels
“That would be 2.”- Harry
“Mets and Phillies never play fast games. Somehow this game is going to slow down”- Whitey
“The players gotta suck it up and move on with it.” Whitey on the Hollins injury.
"And my partner Whitey said before this inning that Kim Batiste was going to tie the game with a
homer"- Harry
"Well ya gotta have a feel for this game, Harry"- Whitey
Conclusion
Curt Schilling struggles, but gets through it to pitch his 5th complete game of the season (16th for
the team) and 8th win. The Phillies rule, the Mets drool. 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. We’ve got two more games in New York, before the Phillies move on to
Montreal, so come back tomorrow to watch Danny Jackson vs Doc Gooden.
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| Keep your head up |
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