June 8, 1993- Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies
Kile Be Watching You
An Introduction…
I’m the guy who had to wear the largest jersey in little league because the number 1-12 delineated
the sizes, and I had to have Mickey Morandini’s number. 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
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 Phillies have started the season 39-16, which is the best 55 game start in the history of the
Philadelphia Phillies (up to 1993). They have won three straight games, and five out of their last six.
They have yet to lose to the Astros this season (4-0) after holding on for a 7-5 victory the night
before.
The Houston Astros are currently in 2nd place in the NL West and at 31-24 are 5 games back on the San Francisco Giants. While 7 games over .500, the Astros came into the season with high expectations after paying Doug Drabek 4.25 million per year, and Greg Swindell 3.75 million per year (in 2020 dollars that like 22 and 20 million per year, respectively), and were in some circles underachieving. In his impressive season prognostications where he correctly predicts the four division winners (but biffs the LCS winners), Delaware Valley Morning Call writer Mark Logic (please let this be a pseudonym), said of them, “The Astros could surprise with the addition of Texas natives, pitchers Greg Swindell and Doug Drabek...The Astros also have an excellent infield and one of the better Center Fielders in baseball.”
Today’s Game
It is Tuesday, June 8th, 1993 at the combination Football/baseball/toilet, lovingly known as the Vet. Today’s game is being brought to you on Sportschannel with the venerable Andy Musser, and Kent “Tek” Tekulve, that’s “teek” not “tech”, not to be confused with Wilford Brimley’s furry companion in Ewoks: Battle for Endor. Kind of surprising how few of these games have been Harry Kalas and Whitey, this is like noticing that it’s actually “Berenstain Bears” all over again.
 |
| Sadly this is Teek not Tek. |
Watch for yourself at:
The Line-Up
CF Lenny Dykstra
SS Mariano Duncan (12 Game Hitting Streak, the Phillies are 29-8 in his starts)
1B John Kruk (.483 OBP)
3B Dave Hollins
C Darren Daulton
RF Jim Eisenreich
LF Pete Incavigla (12 for his lat 25)
2B Mickey Morandini
P Ben Rivera
On the Mound
Toeing the rubber for the home team is “Gentle Ben” Rivera, coming off his best start of the season
(and arguably his past and future career) where he went 8+ innings gave up 2 runs and struck out 9
against the Reds. For the season, Rivera has a 4-2 record and a 4.09 ERA, and continues to
solidify the 5th starter position in the Phillies rotation. Rivera is the answer to a very fun piece of
Phillies trivia, as he was warming up in the bullpen as Mitch Williams faced Joe Carter in game 6 of
the World Series. As we know traveling in time, Rivera’s major league career is not going to last
much longer after tearing his rotator cuff during the 1994 strike-shortened season. He would go on
to pitch in Japan, Korea, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico before getting one last chance in the
form of a spring training invite from the New York Yankees in 2003, he would not make the team.
Personal favorite of this blog, Darryl Kile is the starting pitcher for the Houston Astros today. He’s a
tall 6 foot 5 inch righty with a big sweeping curve ball. At this point of his career, if his curveball is
good, he is good, eventually Kile would master the curve and add a nasty forkball for good
measure. On the current season Kile is 4-1 with a 3.51 ERA and on his way to earning his first All
Star appearance. In 1993, as the 5th starter for the Houston Astros, Darryl Kile would win 15
games with a 3.51 ERA, that September, Kile would pitch a no-hitter against the worst team on
Earth, the New York Mets. Later in his career, Kile would win 17 games with the Astros in 1997 and
finish 5th in NL Cy Young voting. After two disastrous years in Colorado, the St. Louis Cardinals
picked him up off the scrap heap, dusted him off, and inserted him at the top of their rotation. In
2000, Kile would win 20 games and again finish 5th in voting for Cy Young, while helping the
Cardinals make the playoffs. In Buzz Bissinger’s book about the Cardinals, “Three Nights in
August”, he dedicates a full chapter to Kile, “Spring Training is valuable for La Russa in assessing
new pitchers; he closely observes how they respond to the absolute pull-your-hair-out tedium of it…
How a guy reacts to -- gets after it or sloughs through it-- tells La Russa a great deal. He keenly
watched Kile, trying to gauge the elusive quality called professionalism. He watched one day. He
watched another. He got reports from the other coaches handling the drills, including Duncan
(pitching coach), of course. And what he said to Duncan about Kile was crisp and pointed because
he almost couldn’t believe how serious Kile was about everything”. The following season, Kile would
continue his high quality career by going 16-11 and again helping the Cardinals make the playoffs.
One of Darryl Kile’s greatest attributes was his determination to take the ball every 5th day, in his 11
year career from 1991 to 2002, Kile never once was on the Disabled List. Sadly, 4 days after
pitching 7 ⅔ innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002, Darryl Kile was found dead in his
Chicago hotel room from a heart attack (Kile has the terrible distinction of being 1 of 2 starting
pitchers I’ve had to drop from my fantasy team because they died during the season). That day’s
game between the Cardinals and Cubs was cancelled and for the rest of the season the Cardinals
wore black circles with the initials DK in white print on their uniforms in his honor. Bissinger
eulogizes Kile further in his book, “Kile was a great teammate, the ultimate bonding agent. He was a
mentor to Rick Ankiel and Morris as they rose and struggled and struggled and rose. He gave
Matheny, who caught him, a Rolex watch after he won his twentieth. He put his arm around Jason
Simontacchi when he was a rookie pitcher, still dazzled by the intimidating wonder of it all, and took
him out to dinner.” Rest in Peace, Darryl Kile.
Highs (Hopes) and Lows
Low: Top 1st- Early Holes
The continuing trials of Ben Rivera start off with his biggest weakness as a pitcher, his inability to
keep the ball down. After allowing Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell to get on base to start off the
game, Rivera hangs a meaty fastball for Eric Anthony who quickly drives in the Killer B’s and the
Astro’s take an early 2-0 lead.
High: Ben Cruisin
After that first inning hiccup, Rivera settles in and cruises from the 2nd through the 5th inning,
retiring eleven in a row. In the 4th inning he struck out the side all looking.
Low: Top 6th- The Cruise Ends
As every baseball coach (and armchair analytics expert) in 2020 knows, the biggest obstacle a
pitcher faces while starting is facing the opponent's line-up for the 3rd time in the game. Statistics
on top of statistics on top of statistics back-up the pretty obvious idea that when professional
baseball players see a pitcher for the third time, they have a better understanding of the pitcher and
a better chance to get a hit. This again proves out as Rivera gives up 3 hits and Lenny Dykstra
makes a big error to help the Astros score two crucial runs to make the score 4-1 (the Phils scored
on a Dave Hollins sac fly in the 1st inning).
Low: Leaving Men on Base
The Phillies left so many ducks on the pond, you would think they were holding auditions for an Aflac
commercial. Darren Daulton is the biggest perpetrator, popping up with two men on in the 3rd and
doing even worse in the 5th, with the bases loaded, mighty Daulton did strike out. The Phils would
leave 10 base runners stranded on the basepaths in this game.
High: Lenny Dykstra’s Month Goals
Lenny Dykstra led off every inning in which he bat today, which is kind of weird. More importantly in
those at-bats he went 3-5 two days after going 4 for 4, putting his batting average in an upward
trajectory. Dykstra had told Musser that he had planned to be batting .300 by the end of June. he
entered the month batting .269 and after today’s game sits at .284. In the 7th inning Dykstra lifted a
ball over the right field wall to cut the lead to 4-2, his fourth home run of the year.
 |
| The silver duding. |
Wild Rides
The Phillies enter the bottom of the 9th inning down 6 to 3 after a sacrifice fly from Mickey Morandini,
and a terrible error from Mariano Duncan that allowed two Astros to score. Up for the Phightins is
the top of the line-up, and they will face Astros’ closer Doug Jones. Dykstra grounds out. Duncan
grounds out. Kruk pops up. In accordance to the song, all fans feel shame.
Final: Houston (32-24) 6 Philadelphia (39-17) 3
Words of Wisdom from Musser and Tek
“A bonus not counted on” -Tek. He’s referring to addition of Jim Eisenreich to the bench of the
Phillies. Eisie came into the season as a nice bat off the bench, but at this point has played in all but
2 games this season.
“There’s Astro turf burn”- Musser
“Yeah that astro turf will chew off about 3 or 4 layers of skin in no time.” - Tek.
“(Doug Jones) has three change-ups, slow, slower, and stop… His one change will stop for lunch on
it’s way to the plate”- Tek.
“The Phillies just can’t find anybody who can play shortstop day in and day out who can make all of
the plays”- Musser. This is said after Duncan’s throwing error in the top of the 9th. While Duncan
and Batiste are hitting decently, and the Phils are winning, the hole at shortstop is getting larger and
larger. Duncan has always been a valuable bench player, but it’s obvious that he’s more
comfortable platooning at second with Morandini, and Batiste just doesn’t have the ability to play a
major league quality shortstop. The Phillies infield needs to Stock up in a bad way.
 |
| Oh no |
In Conclusion:
The Phillies trailed the entire game, and just were never able to get out of the hole they dug
themselves into during the first inning. Rivera pitched well, and Dykstra collected three hits, but it’s
not enough as the Phils lose 6-3. 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. The
Phils return tomorrow for the deciding game of the series against the Houston Astros as Terry
Mullholland takes the hill, see you then.
 |
| My compliments to Mrs. Thompson |
No comments:
Post a Comment