April 5, 1993 Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros
Open to Possibilities
An Introduction
I’m the guy who talks himself into every relief pitcher the Phillies sign. It’s crazy, but the Major League Baseball season was actually played in 2020, and the Phillies have done everything they could do to try to ruin my fanhood. 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 27 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 1-2 game recaps 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 1992 Philadelphia Phillies finished in last place in the NL East, which is very important to the narrative of the 1993 Phillies, but can be misleading when researched further. In fact, in many ways the 1992 Phillies are eerily reminiscent of the 2020 Phillies which was a surprising thing to realize when coming back to this project. The 92 Phils were a very potent offensive team with a just god awful bullpen. They finished 2nd in the NL in runs scored behind the NLCS losing Pittsburg Pirates and directly in front of the NLCS winning Atlanta Braves, while also being 3rd in the NL in Home Runs, On Base Percentage (OBP), and Weighted Runs Created (wRC+). The Bullpen on the other hand was last in Earned Run average (ERA) with a 4.20 (nice) ,Walks and Hits per inning Pitched (WHiP) with 1.5, walk percentage (BB%) with 12.2%, and Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) with 4.03. There’s no way to know how many times they lost 3 run leads though without slogging through that whole season too. Those Phillies went into the offseason with a great outfielder taken from a rival, a fun 1st basemen, a young gun 3rd basemen, a catcher in need of a new contract and one great starting pitcher, in need of a couple outfielders, a starter or two, and a fully revamped bullpen. Or as Jim Salisbury put it on Phillies.com recently about the 2020 offseason “even if the Phillies resign Realmuto, they still need to completely reimagine the bullpen, acquire a starter or two, acquire a shortstop and possibly even an outfielder or two.”
Houston went an honorable 81-81 in the 1992 season, their year was particularly harrowing when due to the Republican National Convention they went on a 26 game road trip from July 27th to August 23rd. In their offseason they got a new owner in Drayton McClane Jr, a billionaire who would end up putting a great deal of money into the team during his tenure leading to their first World Series appearance in 2005 before selling the team in 2011 to Jim Crane. To make a splash McClane would spend big money on starting pitcher free agents Doug Drabek and Gregory Swindell. Their coach Art Howe in fact looks nothing like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Hoffman was just that good of an actor. Bonus note, the 1993 Houston Astros season Wikipedia page begins with these two sentences “ The Houston Astros' 1993 season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Houston Astros attempting to win the National League West.”
Today’s Game
It is Monday, April 5th, 1993 in Houston, Texas, at the concrete monstrosity that is the Astrodome. This home of the climactic scene of Bad News Bears in Breaking Training was also where it was decided to premiere Robert Altman’s film Brewster McCloud in front of 23,000 people. The cavernous baseball field turned out terrible for hearing a film’s dialogue (particularly Altman’s overlapping fair) and was a disaster for both the film and Altman’s career post M*A*S*H. The Astrodome was opened in 1965 and the first game featured one inning of play-by-play from the one and only Harry Kalas calling his first professional baseball game. Kalas would work in Houston from 65-70 when the Phillies signed him away to help open their own concrete monstrosity the Vet in 1971. The game is being broadcast on WPHL 17 with the aforementioned Harry Kalas as well as Richie “Whitey” Ashburn and Chris Wheeler. Also in attendance, just short of four months from his removal from office by the will of the American people, former President George H. W. Bush. Some opening day fun facts, the Phillies have lost the last eight opening days spanning back since 1984 and eleven of the last 12. At this point in 1993 the Phillies have had ten different left fielders start on opening day since 1983. The left field streak would continue for two more years with Incavigla and Gregg Jefferies in 94 and 95 respectively, then in 96 it would go back to Incavigla then to Jefferies again in 97 with Jefferies officially ending the Defense Against Dark Arts curse by starting consecutive opening days in 97 and 98.
Watch for Yourself At:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig2PUFS7cMY
The Line-Up:
CF Lenny Dykstra
2B Mickey Morandini batted .340 in Spring
1B John Kruk 2nd in NL in OBP in 92
3B Dave Hollins 2nd in NL in Runs in 92
C Darren Daulton 5 Home Runs in Spring Training
LF Milt Thompson
RF Jim Eisenreich
SS Juan Bell
P Terry Mulholland
On The Mound:
Please feel free to go back and read my previous entries on Terry Mullholland to read my belief that he was an unheralded ace of the early 90’s. Let me just say this, in 1992, Terry Mullholland was really good on a pretty bad starting staff (the Aaron Nola of 93 if you will), finishing with a 13-11 record, a 3.81 ERA, 1.19 WHiP, and a 3.13 FIP. Most impressively he finished with 12 complete games, which was good enough to lead the NL.
Pitching for the Houston Astros is Doug Drabek, the 1990 Cy Young Award winner is starting his first game for the Astros after spending a majority of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Many teams made bids for Drabek’s services (even the Phillies) but his mind was made up when the opportunity to play in his home state Texas came around. It’s so nice to hear about athletes deciding that they would prefer to play for their hometown team. Wouldn’t it be great if say the best player in baseball would move back to the city he grew up near, where he owns season tickets to the local football team, and still has lots of family in the area, and go play for that team? What a magical world that would be. Drabek was great from 1987-1995, with his best season obviously coming in the 1990 season where he won 22 games while leading the Pirates to the NLCS, that year he also took a no-hitter 8.2 innings before giving up a lame single in an 11-0 win against the Philadelphia Phillies. Better known to more current Phillies fans for being the father of Kyle Drabek a Phillies 1st round pick who became a major piece in the Roy Halladay trade from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010.
Highs (Hopes) and Lows:
Lows: First Inning Malaise
Mickey Morandini tries to get the Phillies season off on the right foot by singling then stealing second, but with one out and John Kruk on first, Jim Fregosi decided to call for a hit-and-run. Dave Hollins, batting, then strikes out on a Doug Drabek curveball, and John Kruk is caught stealing second to end the inning. Not the best first trip to the heart of the Phillies’ line-up. In the bottom of the first with 2 outs and a man on first and third, Juan Bell decides to make his first terrible error of the 93 season and the Astros take the lead 1-0. Stumbling out of the gates is an understatement.
Highs: Top 4th- Taking the Lead
John Kruk takes his second walk of the game before a Dave Hollins hit, and is driven home by a huge double by Darren Daulton. Hollins scores two plays later on Jim Eisenreich’s first hit and RBI in the National League. Both Hollins and Eisenreich are left handed hitters who went opposite field for their singles which made me think of how they would have been played in today’s shift-heavy defensive schemes. Most likely there only would have been a 3rd baseman standing on the left side of the diamond with Astros expecting them to pull. Which poses the question, did baseball players stop being able to go opposite way? Or did going opposite way stop being a priority in the Three True Outcome (the only events in which the defense has no involvement, walking, striking out, or hitting a home run) era of hitting philosophy?
Highs: Bottom 8th- Terry in Trouble
With two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, Terry Mulholland is cruising with only the unearned run in the first inning as a blemish, when he allows a fly ball to center field. It’s a long run for Lenny Dykstra, and he gets there in time with a slide, but he is unable to make the catch allowing Chris James a double. The next play is a bouncer to short stop Juan Bell who throws low enough that Kruk is unable to handle it, leading to a man on first and third with two outs. Fregosi started up the bullpen after the double and at this point sends out his pitching coach Johnny Podres to the mound to buy time. In baseball today, there’s a near zero percent chance that Mulholland would stay in the game, right? Fregosi should pull his starter and bring in his best reliever to get the most important out of the game, right? Doesn’t that seem logical? Well too bad it’s 1993, and logic hasn’t really entered into the reality of bullpens yet. So Mulholland, seeing that Podres is coming to the mound shakes his head “no”, and Podres scurries back. This is Terry Mulholland’s game now. Three pitches later, Steve Finley grounds out weakly to second base to end the threat.
Highs: Top 9- Insurance
With only a 2-1 lead, the Phillies go to work on a cushion with an opposite field double by John Kruk who is moved to third on a sacrifice by Dave Hollins. Catcher Darren Daulton is then walked and Art Howe decides to make a pitching change to face Milt Thompson. Jim Fregosi counters with pinch hitting Pete Incavigla to face his former team, Inky then promptly singles in the insurance run to make it 3-1. Going into the offseason, Fregosi made it a mandate to the front office that he needed professional hitters to fill his bench if they wanted any chance to compete in the National League. Lee Thomas, the General Manager, responded by signing Jim Eisenreich and Pete Incavigla, both who knocked in runs in their very first game in Phillie pinstripes.
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 to summarize
the game. The Phillies have a 3-1 lead and a starting pitcher who refuses to leave the mound during his first start of the season. Mulholland’s first pitch to Jeff Bagwell is a foul ball that looks like it is obviously going into the seats, but it just hangs there and hangs there, and Eisenreich keeps drifting over and over. Then Boom! in the slightest of spaces Eisenreich makes an amazing catch for the first out of the inning.
One pitch one out, and followed up with a second pitch and second out on a grounder to second base. Ken Caminiti causes some drama with a single up the middle which brings the tying run to the plate, but one more pitch is all it takes to induce the last out on a comebacker to Mulholland himself who tosses over to first base to end the game.
Final: Philadelphia (1-0) 3- Houston Astros (0-1) 1
Words of Wisdom from Harry and Whitey (and sometimes Wheels)
“These fans are applauding a deep fly ball.” - Harry Kalas
“They thought that was pretty neat when Biggio tagged up… it’s alright if they don’t clap at the right times”- Wheels. Houston was not quite known as a baseball town in the 80’s and early 90’s.
“This is a uh not a good play. It’s not an easy play but its a play a major league shortstop has to make with two outs” Wheels talking about Bell’s error in the first inning. He ain’t wrong.
“This is one of those borderline pitches outside corner again. Too close to take… oh that was outside. Well he had two strikes on him.” Whitey talking himself out of the ump’s call on a 3rd strike for Terry Mulholland. If it was a Phillie batting, Whitey would have been livid.
“Lenny was there, he almost made a great play. He got to the ball… diving. See he’s there, actually there fairly easily. Actually he should have caught it” -Whitey talking himself out of giving Dykstra credit for missing a catch in the 8th.
Final Conclusion:
Terry Mulholland continues his completing games thing, by going 9 innings allowing only 4 hits and one unearned run for a gem of a first game. The Phillies start the season 1-0, and their new players are contributing. 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. Sadly April is a bit scarce on our benevolent and almighty youtube page, so our next game will be April 14th, 9 days away, but don’t worry we’ll catch up.
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