May 12th, 1993: Dutch Ado About Nothing

May 12th, 1993: Philadelphia Phillies (23-8) vs  Pittsburgh Pirates (16-15)  

Dutch Ado About Nothing

An Introduction…

I’m the guy who got his mom to sew the front of his 1993 NL Championship shirt to another black shirt so that I can keep wearing it. 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)

There was no joy in Mudville last night (in 1993), as the Phillies lost their 8th game of the season and only their third game in May, starting the month 7-3 after and 18-5 April. The leader and unofficial captain of this Phillies team is their catcher Darren “Dutch” Daulton. A 25th round draft pick in 1980, Daulton has spent his entire career with the Phillies organization, and besides the three at bats as a September call-up in 1983, he’s never played for a winning baseball team. His ascent to his position among the Phillies was in all sense of the term “rocky”, blocked by Ozzie Vigil in his early seasons, in 1986 he was hit with his first major knee injury after a home plate collision with Mike Heath. He returned to the team to find himself once again a back-up this time to big name acquisition Lance Parrish (a million dollar contract and a “Lance us to the Pennant” campaigned resulted with 2.3 WAR in 2 years), finally in 1989 Daulton became a full time starter, and in 1990 had his first good season slashing .268/.367/.416 and earning a three year deal. In 1991, Daulton had another career setback when with Lenny Dykstra after John Kruk’s bachelor party the pair got into a drunk driving accident, putting them both on the shelf for most of the season (Kruk also did not take it well, blaming himself, and slumping on the field). Finally in 1992, it all clicked for Daulton (7.2 WAR, 3rd in baseball)  while the opposite happened with the rest of the team. Yet even while the team was firmly entrenched in the cellar, they all rallied around Daulton for the final month of the season on a team quest to have Daulton lead the NL in Runs Batted In. Daulton succeeded with a league high 109 RBIs in 1992 and became only the 4th catcher in history to lead the league in RBIs (something that wouldn’t be done again until 2021 by Salvador Perez). Before the 1993 season, Daulton was rewarded with a 4 year 16 million dollar deal “This means the best catcher in Baseball will be in a Phillies uniform for the rest of his career” said GM Lee Thomas at the time and though he was wrong about Daulton staying with the Phillies (traded to win a ring in 1997) he was right that Daulton is the best catcher in baseball. Just two games ago he beat the Pirates with a 7th inning grand slam to break a 1-1 tie. The Phillies enter the game 24-8 with a 6 game lead in the NL East over the St. Louis Cardinals.     

The Pittsburgh Pirates sit 1 game over .500 with a 16-15 record in the 1993 season which is pretty impressive when you remember the loss of Barry Bonds, and Doug Drabek in the offseason. They’ll be a season high 2 games over .500 on June 4th, but after that they’ll be in the basement of the league for the next 20 years until they finally returned to the playoffs in 2013.  While a lot of time and effort has been put into the 1992 NLCS against the Braves  because of the Sid Bream slide in game 7, let’s take a look at their 1991 squad. Arguably the best of the 3-peat NL East winners, the 91 version of the Pirates finished with the best record in baseball at 98-64 and a 14 game cushion over the 2nd place St. Louis Cardinals (20 games over the 3rd place Phillies). After surprising the league in 1990, the Pirates in 91 were settled in juggernauts, taking the NL East lead on April 27th and never falling out of first place. Led by outfielders Barry Bonds (25 home runs and 43 steals, suck it Ronald Acuna) and Bobby Bonilla (102 RBIs, 100 runs, 150 WRc+) the Pirates scored the most runs in the NL, while their two staff aces Doug Drabek and John Smiley racked up 15 and 20 wins respectively, Pittsburgh hasn’t had a 20 game winning pitcher since. Meeting the Pirates in the NLCS would be a team that went from last to first from 90-91, and would become the most dominant team for the next decade plus, the Atlanta Braves. The upstart Braves surprised the hell out of everyone in the league with their stellar young pitching (Tom Glavine and Steve Avery) and surprised the much favored Pirates when they beat them 4 games to 3. Bobby Bonilla would leave that offseason for the New York Mets and a contract that is still being paid out today, as the exodus from the Steel City began.         

Today’s Game:

Tonight is Wednesday, May 12th 1993, and it is a gross day in Southern Philadelphia (in those nascent days of a fully constructed 95) as the 29,000+  (announced) fans have sat through a 2 hour 13 minute rain delay. Today’s game will be presented on the aptly named SportsChannel which was the sister channel of PRISM on cable, but not premium, it’s essentially the grandfather of Comcast Sportsnet after Spectacor was bought in 1996 by Comcast and built the empire that would eventually buy the Philadelphia sports complex as well as (checks notes) the National Broadcasting Company. All 9 innings of coverage today will be brought to you by stalwart Phillies radio man Andy Musser (who as a teen won a contest to help do play-by-play for a Phillies game in 1956) and former relief pitcher Kent Tekulve (who is still kicking around after retiring from broadcasting in 2017)   

Watch for yourself at: 

https://youtu.be/ACu6f7u8MEg 

The Line-up

CF Lenny Dykstra .

2B Mickey Morandini

1B John Kruk 8-20 against Randy Tomlin

3B Dave Hollins

C Darren Daulton  

RF Wes Chamberlain

LF Pete Incaviglia 6-9 against Randy Tomlin

SS Juan Bell batting .320 at the Vet

SP Tommy Greene .200 lifetime hitter

On the Mound:

Taking the ball for the Phillies is Tommy Greene, the Right Hander is 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA so far in the young season. Greene is coming off an injury plagued 1992 (to be fair his entire career could be described as injury plagued) where in September when he returned he went 1-2 with a 4.36 era in 6 starts. Greene was such a question mark coming into camp that it wasn’t even assumed he would be in the rotation, after going 22 innings and only giving up one earned run in Spring Training the Philadelphia Inquirer added the caveat “Too bad he has to start the season in the bullpen”. The thinking was that Ben Rivera was guaranteed the 4th starting spot and with the schedule Greene could start the season in the bullpen. Luckily for Greene (and the Phillies) Ben Rivera got the flu and needed some extra time to get ready for the season and Greene started the season in the rotation. Acquired in 1989, Tommy Greene was essentially a throw-in added to the Dale Murphy trade, but GM Lee Thomas had optimism for the 6 foot 5 225 pound pitcher from North Carolina  “when Murphy's career is over, we'll still have another guy from the trade," Thomas said. Greene would make his Phillies debut just days after Terry Mulholland’s no hitter in 1990, giving up a three run home run to Jack Clark (the guy the Phillies targeted before Dale Murphy) and taking the loss “he threw one bad pitch” then Manager Nick Levya said at the time. From the Inquirer after his first start, 

“The fast-working, big righthander - who looks bigger, and mean, which he's not, with his five days' worth of beard stubble - threw a rising fastball that tailed away from lefthanded hitters and toward righthanded hitters.

He also threw a late-breaking slider and a sinker and demonstrated excellent location. And good velocity, too. When catcher Darren Daulton caught the rookie's heater in the pocket of his mitt, you could hear the pop throughout the ballpark. Even Tony Gwynn, who strikes out about once a week, swung right through a couple of his pitches, not even close to making contact.”

In his last start in 1993, Greene went 7.1 innings while giving up 3 runs with 6 strike outs in a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Pitching for the Pirates of Pittsburgh is Randy Tomlin, a left handed pitcher from Liberty University (where he became a born again Christian while at school and still holds the record for Complete Games). He enters today’s start with a 1-3 record with a 4.41 ERA in 6 starts. Kent “Tek” Tekulve is happy to report that Tomlin throws a “vulcan change” which means he holds the ball like Spock to throw a change-up (I didn’t know this was a thing!). Tomlin’s first start ever came against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1990 when he threw a complete game 3 hitter and impressed so much his spot start gave him a rotation position.  His best season came in 1992 when he went 14-9 with an impressive 3.28 FIP over 208.2 innings pitched, but his most memorable and impressive start occurred in the 1991 NLCS when the Pirates were down 2 games to 1 in the series and gave the ball to Tomlin. He would pitch 6 innings and give up 2 runs but importantly kept the Pirates alive as they would overcome the Braves in the 10th inning with a 3-2 win to tie the series at 2 games apiece. Injuries would limit Tomlin to only 16 more Major League starts, but he would spend the next few years on minor league contracts and Independent League stints before retiring and becoming a pitching coach. Fun fact: he’s the first pitcher to hit John Kruk with a pitch (1 of the 2 times in his career).

Highs (Hopes) and Lows

Low- Tommy Greene’s one mistake- Top 4th

On a night where Tommy Greene looks legitimately untouchable he gets touched up only slightly in the 4th inning when a long drive from the Pirates’ 3rd baseman Jeff King gets past Lenny Dykstra in a strikingly similar track down to Aaron Rowand’s memorable face breaking catch. This time though Dykstra just runs into the wall at a high speed and does not catch the ball and the only Pirate of the night passes 2nd base with a triple before a sacrifice fly from future Phillie Andy Van Slyke scores him. 1-0 PIT 

High- Clutch Dutch- Bottom 4th

After John Kruk’s second single (more on him later) and a walk by 3rd Baseman Dave Hollins, the old backstop Darren Daulton is up to bat. In Daulton’s section of Beards, Bellies, and Biceps both the writers and the quotes from former Phillies hammer down the fact that what made Daulton special was his leadership. “I could tell you a lot more about Darren Daulton, but I’d bore you with superlatives. He never sought admiration but I never saw a leader like him in baseball” said teammate and future GM Ruben Amaro Jr. “The bottom line is that Dutch had the rare ability to make people around him better than they were” said Pete Incaviglia. And on this night Darren Daulton takes the game into his own hands 3-1 PHI

 

High- Tommy Greene Dealing-

One of the best parts (there are no bad parts) of the 1993 video yearbook Whatever It Takes Dude (perfectly edited by Video Dan Stephenson) is when they interview Tommy Greene’s grandmom (to be fair it’s probably a segment from the weekly Sunday recap show) about teaching him how to pitch. The story goes (and you can watch it on youtube here) that a young Tommy had no catcher and turned to his grandmother to catch his fastball, but if he pitched too low and hit her legs is when she called it quits. It’s adorable. Both his mother and grandmother are at the stadium tonight and Tee the Greene is trying to impress. Seemingly infuriated by the 2 hour delay to his start, Greene is on a warpath tonight setting down the Pirates inning after inning at a pace that would give boners to the pitch clock enthusiasts of 2023, the duration of the entire game is 2:02 minutes and if it weren’t for the dumb Phillies hits, Greene could have got it done in 90 minutes. In the top of the 7th Greene puts two men on base for the only time in the game but strikes out Tom Foley to end the feeble attempt of a rally. 3-1 PHI

HIGH- John Kruk Profesional hitter- Bottom 8 (all game)

It’s time to take a moment and show some proper respect for the professional baseball hitter that was John Kruk. Yes, he is possibly the greatest color analyst in baseball, yes he did recently spend 5 minutes explaining the WWE match Money in the Bank and his fandom of Rhea Rhipley, yes he’s a rotund man,  but the true gift John Kruk was given by God was his ability to hit and people forget that. The first thing that ever comes up with John Kruk’s career is his weight and it’s wildly unfair, even a 200 word blurb about him getting an MRI starts with “The thought of Kruk’s plump body being put into a confining MRI cylinder- something akin to stuffing a two-pound sausage into a one-pound skin” Why? Because everyone seemed to think they knew what was best for John Kruk better than John Kruk. There’s never really been anyone like him, his ability to flick balls on the outside corner, seemingly miles away from his straight standing shoulders up approach in the batter’s box, to the opposite field is still unmatched. Yet his biggest advantage in his era was his batter’s eye, Kruk never had a walk rate lower than 10% with a career average of 14%, he controlled exactly what pitches he could control and turn into singles and doubles. While fans and pundits complained that he didn’t hit enough for power, Kruk quietly rivaled Barry Bonds in On Base Percentage, finishing 2nd to Bonds in 92 and 93 (Kruk is currently ranked 77th all time in OBP 77th! There have been so many baseball players). In the 8th inning tonight after Mickey Morandini reached second on an error, Kruk singled him in for an insurance run to go 4-4 on the night. And because he’s John Kruk, the fun doesn’t stop there as Kruk gets caught off first base and does the amazing strategy (it’s a bold strategy) of running backwards to avoid being tagged (Spoilers: he fails). 4-1 PHI

Wild Rides

Tommy Greene is at 91 pitches when he starts the bottom of the 9th inning and determined to get this thing finished so his grandmom can go to bed (“Look at her she’s a bundle of nerves,” Musser comments when they cut back to her fully covering her face and cowering). And like the rest of the night, he cruised, putting away the Pirates’ 4-5-6 hitters in order in 12 pitches (just missing the Maddux) striking out Dave Clark to cement the victory. Greene’s final pitching line: 9 innings 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, with 6 strikeouts as he improves to 4-0 to start the season with his first complete game since September 21, 1991. 

Final: Philadelphia Phillies 4 (24-8) Pittsburgh Pirates (16-16) 1

Words of Wisdom from Andy Musser and Tek

“He said he was ‘Amphibious’ I think he met ambidextrous” - Musser with the old joke about Randy Tomlin’s high school football prowess.

“He got h… wait a minute! Wait a minute!” Andy Musser with a literal premature ejaculation for the end of the game that’s prevented by it being a foul tip.

Final Conclusions

The Phillies take the rubber match and the series from their cross state rival on the back of a gem by Tommy Greene.  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. Coming up is the first series of the 93 season between the Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, I bet it’s not even that interesting.