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:
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.
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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.
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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
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!
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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.
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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.
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