June 19, 1993
There’s Something About Mariano
An Introduction…
I’m the guy who knew it was true friendship with some one when he ran into the guy at the Vet. With
the chance of the season barely hanging in hope 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
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 (and Villains):
After losing three straight games for the first time all season, the Phillies shut down the Florida
Marlins last night 7-3. Catcher Darren Daulton is currently leading the fan vote for the All Star game,
while Lenny Dykstra sits in 4th for Outfielders, and John Kruk is 2nd to San Francisco Giants’ Will
Clark for First Base. The Phillies’ 46-20 record is the second best mark for a Phillies team at 66
games (that I could find) with the 1976 Phillies starting better with a 47-19 mark in a year in which
the Phils would win 101 games before running into a Big Red Machine. The '93 start matches the
2011 Phillies who would win the most games in franchise history (102), and is better than both the
35-31 start of the World Series winning 1980 team and the 39-27 tally of the 2008 champion team.
Other Phillie teams of note's 66 game starts: 36-30 1915 NL Champs, 36-30 in 77 (101 win team),
39-27 Whiz Kids ('50), 32-34 Wheeze Kids ('83), 36-30 Cliff Lee’s Kids ('09).
The Marlins enter the game with a 31 and 34 record which doesn’t seem that impressive but is the
best start of a season for a franchise team in MLB history. Coach Rene Lachemann has leaned
heavily on his bullpen to help shorten games for his young pitching staff. His best weapon and the
best player on the 93 Marlins is not future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman, but former California Angel,
Bryan Harvey. Selected in the expansion draft after an injury filled 1992 season in which he only
pitched 28 innings while collecting an 0-4 record, through June of the 1993 season, Bryan Harvey is
the best reliever in baseball recording 20 saves with a 1.21 ERA, a ridiculous 1.1 FIP, and a 13:1
strikeout to walk ratio.
On the Mound
Terry Mulholland and his 8-5 record is starting for the home team. He owns a 2.59 ERA with a 1.04
WHiP and has spent the last month dominating other teams. In his last 4 starts he has 3 CGs and a
start where he went 8 ⅓, during that 35 ⅓ inning stretch he gave up 5 earned runs with 29 strikeouts
against 4 walks. Fun Fact, Terry appeared in a 2003 episode of Comedy Central’s The Man Show and pitched against Jimmy Kimmel in a spring training sketch (season 4 episode 3).
Starting for the only team in Florida Marlins is a tall blonde man by the name of Jack Armstrong, who
currently owns a 4-7 record and a 4.04 ERA with a 1.31 WHiP. Before the pros, Armstrong was
named MVP of the Cape Cod league, the wooden bat league that would produce future fictitious
Phillie Ryan Dunne. Armstrong was a first round pick for the Cincinnati Reds, and was with the team
(with Danny Jackson and Mariano Duncan) for the 1990 World Series Championship. To start that
season he went 9-3 in his first 13 starts with a 1.99 ERA and 2.45 FIP, and was named the NL starter in the 1990 All Star game. He would end that season 12-9, and wouldn’t start a game in the playoffs, but he did get that ring. He would go on to start 20 more games in his career before a torn
rotator cuff would end his time as a Major League Baseball player.
Today’s Game
It is Saturday June 19th, 1993 at the end of the Broad St. line, also known as Veteran’s stadium.
Today’s game is being broadcast on Prism and is starting a half hour late due to an old timer’s game
between the NL champion 1983 Phillies and a collection of whatever other 1983 players they could
find. In the booth is Gary “Wheels” Wheeler, with Jay Johnstone and Garry Maddox, also Hall of
Famer Michael Jack Schmidt stops by the booth since he was in town playing in the Old Timer’s
Game.
Watch for Yourself at:
Today’s Line-up
CF Lenny Dykstra
SS Mariano Duncan
1B John Kruk
C Darren Daulton
RF Jim Eisenreich
LF Milt Thompson
3B Kim Batiste
2B Mickey Morandini
P Terry Mulholland
Highs (Hopes) and Lows:
High: Bottom 1st- The Dude
“He’s a table setter” is a constant refrain about Lenny Dykstra during the 1993 player, as he goes so
too do the Phillies. The same things would be said about Jimmy Rollins in his 2008 MVP season.
Coming into today, Dykstra is still on his quest to reach .300 after starting .235 throughout the first 35
games, he is batting .280 when he walks into the batter’s box in the bottom of the first inning.
“(Lenny Dykstra is) like the old Dodger lead off man Maury Wills. He gets on base with a walk or hit,
steals a base, then the Phillies will scores on a sac fly or grounder.”- Jay Johnstone, then…
“Like I said, Lenny hits a lot of home runs to lead off kind of like Rickey Henderson.” Jay Johnstone.
This is Dykstra’s 11th career lead off home run, and his 14th game in a row scoring a run. This is
also the 6th game in the row for the Phillies to score in their first frame.
High: Bottom 2nd- Duncan Comes Through
In the top of the inning the Fish tied the game with three singles off of Mulholland, in the bottom of
the inning the Phillies took the lead back with a sacrifice fly by Mickey Morandini. Later in the inning,
with 2 outs and the bases loaded, Mariano Duncan steps to the plate. Offensively, Duncan is only
hitting .253 (with a dismal .288 OBP), but has become integral since the departure of Juan Bell, and
the Dave Hollins injury. He also has continually come up big in high pressure situations, with none
more famous examples than when he hit a grand slam off Lee Smith on Mother’s Day earlier in the
season. Making 2 million dollars in the 1993 season, Duncan was one of the highest paid Phillies
while not being a starter, this made Duncan a popular punching bag on Philadelphia sports radio.
Confounding the problem was GM Lee Thomas and coach Jim Fregosi’s decision to protect Duncan
from the expansion draft. As described in More Than Beards, Bellies, and Biceps, “What’s special
about keeping guys, who don’t even start on a last place club?” But the architects of the team were
adamant, “You win by having a full bench.” If the next guy needs to step up, the next guy better be a
good player, and Mariano Duncan, starting or not, was a good player.
Mids: Terry Escaping
Handed a 5-1 lead (after an additional Kruk RBI), Terry Mulholland is on the struggle bus for the first
time in a long while. After giving up a solo shot to one time Baseball Tonight analyst Oreste
Destrade, Terry Mo finds himself in a lot of trouble in the top of the fourth after giving up 3 hits to load
the bases with no outs, when pinch hitter Geronimo Berroa (great name) strolls to the dish. In a
move Houdini would be impressed with, Mulholland induces a 6-2-3 (3rd base to catcher to first)
double play, and another ground out to end the inning unscathed. Mulholland would only go 5
innings scattering 8 hits but allowing just 2 runs. 5-2 Phils.
Low: Kim Comes up Limp
On a routine ground ball, Kim Batiste leaves the game after being called out, with an unknown injury.
With Hollins already out at 3rd, an out of position back-up playing short, and one half of a platoon
playing 2nd, the already thin Phillie infield is only getting thinner. Batiste had gotten an injury
shortly after being handed the starting short stop job after the exile of Juan Bell, but since Hollins
went down, Kim decided to try to play through the injury for the team. During his time as the 3B
starter Batiste is batting .297 with 8 RBIs and 5 multi hit games in the 9 game stretch. Joe MIllette,
the former starting second basemen of the Scranton AAA team, replaces Batiste at third.
Wild Rides
A well rested Mitch Williams comes in for the 9th and cruises through the bottom of the Marlins’ line-
up. He strikes out Brett Barberie and gets a fly ball and grounder over 14 pitches for a perfect 1-2-3
inning. It’s Mitch’s 20th save of the season to go with a 3.04 ERA and 2.86 FIP.
Words of Wisdom from Michael Jack Schmidt and Jay:
“The man can take a 3-0 fastball and ht it the other is beyond me… I’ve never seen a 3-0 pitch hit
the other way”- Schmidt, a hall of famer, and arguably the greatest hitter in Phillies' history, on John
Kruk
“He’ s so patient. He’s got the most unorthodox swing you’ll ever want to see then takes that pitch
and lines it down the left field line” Jay Johnstone on Kruk as well.
“Throughout my career I had to explain to many people the value of the base on balls. so many
times, I was maligned for not swinging at that 3-1 slider, you know for taking that base on balls. All
that did was create something for the guys behind me and allow me to score 100 runs pretty much
every year. There’s nothing better than a walk.” -Michael Jack Schmidt. A fucking Men. If someone
could just tell the Phillies front office from 2010-2019, that would be great.
In Conclusion:
The Phils but a bunch of runs on the board early and cruise the rest of the way thanks to a 1 pitch
appearance by Larry Andersen and a 1-2-3 save from the Wild Thing. They improve to 47-20 for the
year and 31-14 against right-handed pitching. 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.
Tomorrow’s game if the last in the 4 game set with the Fish, but does include the 45 year old
knuckleballer Charlie Hough, so tune in next time.
