The 1930 Philadelphia Athletics won 102 games, and the second of three consecutive American League pennants, but this was probably the least dominant of those teams; they may not have even been the best club in the AL that season, as Washington actually had a better Pythagorean record despite finishing eight games back. They still had peak Cochrane (137 wRC+), Simmons (171 wRC+) and Foxx (157 wRC+) in the middle of the lineup, and Lefty Grove (185 ERA+) had one of his greatest seasons, but the supporting cast wasn't quite as good in 1930; Grove, especially, was left on an island when the pitching staff got much less quality from George Earnshaw and Rube Walberg.
The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies won 101 games, but were denied the franchise's first trip to the World Series in almost thirty years by the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. Those 101 wins were a franchise co-record until 2011 and, while the the 1976 team might have been a little better, this was still one of the all-time great Phillie teams. They had the best offense in the NL that year behind Mike Schmidt (155 wRC+) and Greg Luzinski (157 wRC+), and big platoon seasons from Bake McBride (152 wRC+) and Richie Hebner (130 wRC+), but the pitching relied on Steve Carlton (153 ERA+) and a deep, effective bullpen that pitched almost 400 innings of sub-3 ERA baseball while bailing out the rest of a mediocre starting rotation.
So What If these two clubs met for Philadelphia bragging rights? Would the A's roll behind Grove and their Hall of Fame hitters, or would the Phillies use the long ball and their pen to weather the storm . . .
The assemblage at Shibe Park didn't have to wait long after settling into their seats to see some action. In the bottom of the 1st, Mickey Cochrane (3-for-5, two runs scored) started the inning with a sharp line drive single to left which Greg Luzinski attempted to grab off of his shoestrings; he came up empty, the ball rolled all the way to the wall in left-center, and Cochrane circled the bases to the glee of the crowd. in the 3rd, Max Bishop and Al Simmons led off with singles, moved up ninety feet on a groundout, and scored on Mule Haas' two-run single. After Haas had himself advanced on another ground ball, Jimmy Dykes singled him home to give the A's an early 4-0 lead. While the Athletics were treating Carlton so roughly, the Phillies were getting nowhere with Grove - he allowed only five hits over the first seven innings while whiffing seven, and was sitting on a six-run bulge after Simmons (3-for-4, two RBI) doubled home a pair in the 6th. But the Phillies, with a little help from the A's defense, found their rhythm in the 8th inning and made a game of it. Davey Johnson led off with a grounder that Joe Boley failed to handle at short and Ted Sizemore singled. After Mike Schmidt struck out, Luzinski walked to load the bases. Grove got Garry Maddox to pop to second base, but Jay Johnstone singled home two runs, and Bob Boone (3-for-4, two doubles) doubled across two more and suddenly the tying run was at the plate without the benefit of an earned run. Connie Mack patted Grove on the shoulder, but took the ball from him anyways and handed it to Eddie Rommel, who got Larry Bowa to sky to right for the final out of the inning. In the 9th, Sizemore (four hits) singled with one away, but Rommel forced Schmidt to bounce into a force out to end the game. Philadelphia (A) 6-12-1, Philadelphia (N) 4-9-1. [scoresheet]
Again it was the A's who got out of the block first, as Bing Miller doubled to lead off the 2nd and scored on a Dykes single. Joe Boley singled him to second and, two outs later, Cochrane struck a run-scoring base hit to left field for a second run. A third came an inning later when Miller, Dykes and Boley laced consecutive singles, and it was starting to look like another one-sided afternoon on Lehigh Avenue. But the Phillies got things moving in the 4th - Maddox led off with a base hit, Boone singled one out later to being him in, and Johnson's single with two outs plated Boone to make the score 3-2. It stayed that way through six innings as the two starters stiffened in the middle innings. Mack went to Bill Shores in the 7th after getting six good innings from Walberg, and the right-hander from Abilene ran into trouble immediately. Bake McBride pinch hit for Christenson to begin the inning, and he singled. After Johnson and Sizemore both popped out McBride pilfered second base and this seemed to unsettle Shores, who walked Schmidt and Luzinski to load the bases. Maddox (3-for-5) then delivered the big blow, doubling beyond the reach of Haas in center to empty the bases and put the Phillies in front. Jimmie Foxx (3-for-5) tripled in Simmons with no outs in the bottom half, but Warren Brusstar froze the tying run at third when Haas grounded sharply to second with the infield in, Miller popped to shallow right and Dykes grounded out to short. The momentum seemed to swing in the Phillies' direction at that point, and Simmons's running catch of Boone's liner to start the 8th ought to have been a warning to new pitcher Glenn Liebhardt. Lots of solid contact followed as Bowa singled, then stole second and third, and scored on Tommy Hutton's PH single. Johnson (4-for-5) then doubled, Sizemore lifted a sac fly, and Schmidt hit a two-run homer off of Roy Mahaffey that put the game out of reach. Philadelphia (N) 10-16-0, Philadelphia (A) 4-13-0. [scoresheet]
The Athletics seemed to adjust well enough to their first look at the Astroturf at Veterans Stadium, as Cochrane drew a leadoff walk and scooted home when Foxx lined one into the left-center field gap. But the Phillies were relieved to be back to playing in color rather than black-and-white, and responded with a barrage when they came to bat. Richie Hebner walked to start things off, and then McBride and Schmidt homered back-to-back for a quick three runs. Luzinski followed this with a walk, Boone singled and Luzinski scored on Sizemore's force out to make it a four-run inning. The Phils were rolling again in the 3rd when Luzinski walked to lead it off and Maddox singled. Sizemore walked to fill the sacks with one away, and Bowa bounced one off of the left-field wall for a double that scored two runs for a 6-0 lead for the National Leaguers. The Americans, meanwhile, somehow appeared mystified by the deliveries of the 32-year old Lonborg, collecting only five safe hits over the first seven innings and not getting a runner to second base after the 1st inning. McBride (2-for-4, two HR, three RBI) homered again in the 6th, and two relievers came on to aplly a clean finish to Lonborg's gem and give the Phillies the lead in the series. There was some tension in the late innings, after Shores hit Schmidt with a pitch in the 6th immediately following McBride's home run (and sending the Phillies' star out of the game), and then Charlie Perkins tossed one into the ribs of McBride an inning later, but the icy stares failed to escalate into anything more confrontational. Philadelphia (N) 7-7-0, Philadelphia (A) 1-6-1. [scoresheet]
Grove was back on the hill for the A's and the Phillies countered with swingman Twitchell, saving Carlton for Game Five. And Robert Moses was sharp again, holding the Phils hitless for four innings after wriggling free of a first-and-third two-out jam in the 1st. Meanwhile, the Athletics were showing off their slugging capabilities as they scored first for the fourth straight game - Bishop homered with the bases empty in the 2nd and Simmons went deep with Cochrane (3-for-5, double) aboard in the 5th to give Grove three runs with which to work. The Phillies got one of these back in the 7th when Johnson (2-for-3, walk) doubled and scored on a pair of groundouts to the right side, but it was still 3-1 for the A's with Grove in fine fettle as the Phils came to bat in the bottom of the 7th. Maddox led off and swung through a third strike, but Grove landed awkwardly after the pitch and, after a long visit from Mack and the club doctor, the Athletics' ace left the contest walking gingerly on an angered right ankle. While the A's retired the next two Phillies to end the inning, this would prove to be a pivotal moment. In the bottom of the 8th, Bill Shores again struggled with his command; he walked Bowa to start the inning and, after fanning PH Hebner, also passed Johnson and Sizemore freely to load the bases. This brought up Schmidt and Luzinski, and Shores was caught in between - he worked so carefully to the Phillie third sacker that he walked in a run, and not carefully enough to the Bull. A long drive into the right-field stands by the big left fielder scored four runs and suddenly the Phils were in control of the game with only three Athletic outs remaining. Gene Garber took care of those, allowing a leadoff double to Cochrane and a long, loud out to the center-filed fence by Bishop before whiffing Foxx for the final out of the game. The Phillies had broken serve against Grove and won their third on the trot to secure a three games to one lead in the series. Philadelphia (N) 6-4-0, Philadelphia (A) 3-7-0. [scoresheet]
In their final home game of the series, the Phillies finally got on the scoresheet first. Johnson led off the home 1st with a walk, advanced to third on a Sizemore single and a Schmidt double-play ball, and scored when Boley muffed Luzinski's three-hopper with two away. The A's scratched one out similarly in reply in the top of the 2nd - Bishop walked, moved to third on Miller's hit-and-run single, and scored on Boley's force out grounder to short. And that was all of the offense the clubs could muster through six innings; Walberg and Carlton each held the opposing batters to three hits and fanned eleven between them. In the 7th, though, the Athletics broke through with some help from the Phillie defense. Bishop drew a leadoff walk, then Miller reached when Carlton tried to force the lead runner on his sacrifice bunt. Haas followed with another sacrifice to put men at second and third with one out, but Boley grounded one at Schmidt, whose throw home beat Bishop for the second out. The threat appeared to have been extinguished when PH Jimmy Moore rolled one at Bowa, but the usually sure-handed shortstop was not this time; the ball rolled up his arm, Miller scored, and then Dykes (4-for-5, two doubles, triple) laced a two-run triple over Maddox in center to give the A's a three-run lead. Grove came on to pitch in the bottom half and hold the lead now that PHA was in front, but the American Leaguers scored two more times in the 8th, powered by a Bishop double and Miller (3-for-4, two runs, two RBI) triple, and then three times in the 9th behind three singles and another Phillie error to win going away. Philadelphia (A) 9-11-1, Philadelphia (N) 1-4-2. [scoresheet]
After the brief interruption on Game Five, the A's were back to their score-first ways in front of the home crowd. Foxx doubled to start the 2nd, moved to third on a groundout and then scored the game's opening run on Miller's sacrifice fly. There was more to come in the following inning, as Earnshaw drew a one-out walk, Dykes singled and Simmons did as well to score a run. This brought up Foxx again, and he doubled again to score two more runs that put the Athletics ahead by a 4-0 score. In the 3rd, Miller and Boley singled, Walberg squeezed one run home, Dykes singled in another and Cochrane doubled to make it a seven-run lead and it looked to be routine for the American Leaguers. But the Phillies made it a fight - three straight singles began the top of the 5th, Maddox doubled with one out to score two of them, and Boone grounded out to score the third. Earnshaw steadied the ship from there through the 8th, and Rommel allowed a solo shot to Schmidt (3-for-3, two walks) in the 9th to complete the scoring and bring the A's all of the way back to a series deadlock with one game remaining. Philadelphia (A) 7-12-0, Philadelphia (N) 4-10-0. [scoresheet]
The Athletics had the Series where they wanted it - one game for all of the marbles, and Grove on the hill. But Lefty had pitched three innings two days ago, and six-plus the day before that, so it was going to be a challenge for Mack to gauge how long his star arm could hold out on the series' final day. It turned out to be not very long. Johnson started the game with a leadoff home run, Sizemore and Schmidt followed with singles, and Luzinski roped one down the right-field line for a two-run double that made it 3-0. Mack sat tight, and a sacrifice fly, Foxx error, groundout and Bowa single conspired to produce two more runs that ended the deciding game's first half-inning with five runs on the board for the Phillies. Any hope the PHA manager had that Grove would come around was doused in the 2nd when another Foxx bobble helped set the table for a two-run Maddox single and Rommel had to be summoned to get out of the inning. Still, it was early, and the A's scored twice in their half of the 2nd to stay within reach after Miller doubled and Haas walked with two outs; Boley singled home one, and a second crossed the dish when Bowa couldn't pick Jimmy Moore's pinch-hit ground ball. Mack was looking everywhere for some shutdown relief as his boys tried to mount a charge, but 46-year old Jack Quinn could not hold back the tide in the middle innings. Maddox doubled on the first pitch Quinn threw after entering the game in the 5th, and Bowa was intentionally walked to face the pitcher's spot. McBride pinch hit, and he shook the A's with a two-run triple that opened up a 10-2 lead and moved the game into "foregone conclusion" territory. Both teams added runs in the late innings, but the Phils were never threatened and Garber whiffed Bishop for the final out of the Series. Philadelphia (N) 12-15-2, Philadelphia (A) 6-11-3. [scoresheet]
It played out fairly closely to the potential script - Grove was untouchable for long stretches, but the Phillies hit extra-base hits at key times and their bullpen held the Athletics largely quiet in the late innings. One clear difference between the clubs was the base on balls - the Phillies drew thirteen more walks than did the A's and twelve of their free passes came around to score. Two fine starts by Lonborg were key, especially with Carlton losing both of his outings - those innings allowed the Phillie bullpen the freedom to cycle into the late innings of every game and Reed, McGraw and Garber were up to the task. [Series stats]
Cases could be made for McBride, Johnson or Luzinski (as well as Grove and the electric Jimmy Dykes, who hit a searing 9-for-14 after being elevated to the leadoff spot in Game Five) but Phillies 3B Mike Schmidt (.280/.471/.640) led the Phillie offense in runs scored, walks and homers while reaching base sixteen times in the seven games.
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