After a tight start to the game the Phillies got on the board first in front of the Veterans Stadium crowd, Pete Rose leading off the 4th with a single and then scoring on Mike Schmidt's two-run blast. A Bake McBride single and Greg Luzinksi double followed immediately and Leonard was on the ropes before recovering to get out of the inning while allowing only one more run. That 3-0 Philadelphia lead held up into the 7th, but then quickly evaporated when Bob Walk (ahem) issued free passes to the first two Royals to bat in the inning and an Amos Otis scratch single loaded the bases. Walk walked out, Ron Reed walked in, and Clint Hurdle greeted him with a gigantic blast deep into the right-field seats for a grand slam that put KC in front. Leonard got the first two outs in the home half of the 7th but McBride singled and Luzinski followed with his own tape-measure drive, and the Phils were back on top. Tug McGraw came on in the 8th and put runners into scoring position in each of the final two frames, but stranded them all to preserve the narrow Series-opening victory. McBride had three hits and scored twice for the Phils. Philadelphia 5-10-0, Kansas City 4-8-0. [scoresheet]
The Royals came out intent to quiet the Philly crowd, and the Phillies defense helped them to do so. A pair of infield errors, a walk, and triples by UL Washington and Willie Mays Aikens led to four 1st-inning Royals runs against 24-game winner Carlton, and doubles by Hal McRae and George Brett pushed that lead to 6-2 through four innings. What seemed like a comfortable road to victory got very bumpy in the 7th, however; Garry Maddox led off with a single and Manny Trillo drew a walk to put two aboard with no one out. One out later, Luzinski pinch-hit for Dickie Noles and belted his second homer in two days to suddenly make it a one-run contest and, when three 8th-inning singles scored another run to tie the game at 6, the crowd was in a frenzy and Uncle Mo was wearing red pinstripes. In the top of the 9th, Brett and McRae singled with one away, Otis walked to load the bases, and John Wathan hit a fly ball to medium center field that was deep enough to allow Brett to tag and score the go-ahead run. Dan Quisenberry, who had come on the finish the 8th, put a man on with one out in the 9th but Rose bounced into a double play to end the game and even up the honors in the Series. Brett and Aikens had three hits apiece. Kansas City 7-13-0, Philadelphia 6-10-1. [scoresheet]
After the offenses had their day in Game Two, the opener at Royals Stadium looks to be a pitcher's affair. The teams combine for three hits over the first four innings before Kansas City are the first to string together a rally - Otis singles to start the 5th, Hurdle follows with another bingle, and one out later U.L. Washington drives Otis home with a knock over second base. In the 6th, though, it is the Phillie power that answers . . . Lonnie Smith singles to start the inning and, after he swipes second with one away, Schmidt cranks one out of the yard for two runs and the lead. The Royals pull it back when they piece together a walk and two singles in the 7th, but the longball is again their undoing in the 8th. With two outs, Schmidt triples over the head of Otis and McBride then goes one base better, yanking a home run that makes the score 4-2 in favor of the Phils. Reed and McGraw are again up to the late-inning task, although again McGraw has to find a little magic to get out of a bases-loaded two-out mess and retire McRae on a comebacker for the final out. NL MVP Schmidt had three hits and both scored and drove home a pair. Philadelphia 4-5-0, Kansas City 2-11-0. [scoresheet]
The first day game of the Series turned into one of the wildest World Series games in recent memory, as the teams combined for thirty hits and the lead changed hands five times. It didn't appear early on as if that would be how things played out, as the Royals jumped on Larry Christenson for six runs in the 2nd inning behind eight hits, capped by Frank White's two-out three-run double. But Philadelphia was quick to fight back, scoring four in the 3rd on six singles and three in the 4th on five more one-base hits (not one of PHI's sixteen hits went for extra bases). The Royals certainly could have packed their bags after coughing up a six-run lead so quickly, but they responded with three of their own in the 5th with the help of two walks and a damaging two-base error by Maddox, his second of the game ("The Secretary of Defense"!). The way things were going, you somehow knew that the resulting 9-7 lead would not be enough, and it was not.White mishandled Bob Boone's grounder to start the top of the 6th, and that was followed by a single and a walk to load the sacks with Phils with no outs. Paul Splittorff retired McBride and Schmidt without damage, but couldn't put away Del Unser and the veteran's single through the box tied the game once again. The see-saw affair was finally decided in the bottom of the 8th, when Brett took Kevin Saucier into the seats for a solo home run and Quisenberry twirled a 1-2-3 9th for the save and a level Series. Five different players had three hits on the afternoon, and Unser and Brett each had three RBI. Kansas City 10-14-1, Philadelphia 9-16-2. [scoresheet]
Twenty-two year-old rookie Marty Bystrom was handed the ball in a pivotal World Series game, and he responded by tossing 7.1 sterling innings, allowing only one earned run while striking out five. The young righthander, who had been exceptional in five late-season starts, allowed an unearned run in the 4th and three singles and a run in the 8th as he began to tire. But by then the Phillies had built a 6-1 lead on the strength of a four-run 7th inning - the visitors had runners on second and third with two outs and Schmidt coming to the plate when Jim Frey decided to give him a free pass to have Gura face Luzinski instead and, well, that didn't work out. The big leftfielder clubbed a grand slam that put PHI well out in front and the law firm of Reed and McGraw relieved Bystrom and recorded the final five outs. McBride had three hits, including a pair of doubles, to help put the National League club one win away from a title. Philadelphia 7-8-2, Kansas City 2-6-1. [scoresheet]
Back in front of the home crowd once again, the Phillies got off to a good start - three singles produced a run in the 2nd - but Kansas City felt the wall against their backs and immediately pushed back with a pair of hits and an RBI groundout by Brett in the 3rd. The starters were sharp, and Carlton brushed aside a second-and-third, one-out situation in the 6th by fanning Aikens and Wathan in succession. In the bottom of that inning McBride and Luzinski singled after two were retired and Maddox came up with the big hit, doubling to right-center to score the go-ahead run before Renie Martin came on to strand two men in scoring position. The score was still 2-1 into the 8th, with the Royals' opportunities dwindling, when the Phils delivered the knockout punch. Rose led off with a single, and Schmidt and Luzinski walked to load the bases with one out. Maddox (three hits, three RBI) was again the man of the hour, singling home a pair before Trillo added another with his base hit, and Philadelphia had a four-run cushion with only three outs left to secure. The bullpen would not be needed to seal the deal this time, as Carlton survived a Schmidt error that led to a bases-loaded two-out jam, enticing Willie Wilson to loft a routine fly to Smith in left for the final out of the Series. Philadelphia 5-10-1, Kansas City 1-9-0. [scoresheet]
Their were two clear disparities between the clubs - first, the longball: the Phils hit seven home runs, accounting for 16 of their 36 runs, while Kansas City hit just two (and only one in the final five games). Second, while neither pen was lights-out, Philadelphia had more options behind McGraw with the KC choices being fairly thin beyond Quisenberry. And in a Series where every single game was within one run at some point in the 7th inning, that made a real difference. [Series stats]
Phillies RF Bake McBride (11-for-25 with six RBI and a 1.102 OPS) drove in the winning run in two of Philadelphia's four wins to narrowly get the MVP nod over Mike Schmidt. Of special note also were Greg Luzinski's nine RBI in 12 at-bats (!) and George Brett's superhuman (.577/.593/.885) performance in a losing cause.
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