Phillies' history in do-or-die games

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ST. LOUISIn 128 years of baseball, the Phillies have played in just two winner-take-all playoff games. Both times the series and the games were among the greatest in franchise history.

Before there was such a thing as a best-of-seven LCS, the Phillies did make it to a do-or-die, winner-take-all game in the playoffs. During the strike-shortened 1981 season, they rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the first-ever NLDS against the Montreal Expos only to lose the fifth game when Steve Rogers out-dueled Steve Carlton at the Vet.

However, to get to that deciding fifth game took one of the most dramatic home runs in Phillies history.

The Phillies lost the first two games of the series in Montreal by identical 3-1 scores. Especially frustrating was the opener, when Rogers beat Carlton in a not-so nifty 10-hitter. In fact, the first three batters of the series perfectly demonstrated the frustration when Lonnie Smith led off with a single only to be erased on a double-play grounder by Pete Rose. With two outs, Gary Matthews tripled and was stranded there when Mike Schmidt walked and Bake McBride struck out.

In Game 3, Larry Christensen got enough run support in a 6-2 victory to set the stage for the epic Game 4. In that one, the Phillies jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the third inning. However, Dickie Noles and Warren Brusstar allowed the game to be tied by the sixth inning before Sarge homered in the seventh to give the Phillies another one-run lead.

It was short-lived, because Gary Carter re-tied it with a double off Ron Reed and thats the way the game remained when closers Tug McGraw and Jeff Reardon traded zeroes for three innings.

Imagine two closers dueling for three innings these days

Regardless, to lead off the 10th inning, manager Dallas Green sent September callup George Vukovich to the plate to bat for McGraw. Two pitches later, Vukovich was circling the bases after clubbing a walk-off homer to force the Game 5.

That would be the last run the Phillies scored in the series because Rogers beat Carlton and the Phillies with his arm and bat. The Expos righty tossed a six-hit shutout and belted a two-run, bases-loaded single in the fifth in the 3-0 win.

Later, Vukovich was part of the one-for-five trade that brought Von Hayes to Philadelphia.

1980 NLCS Game 5 at the Astrodome
The mother of all do-or-die deciding games was the fifth game of 1980 NLCS at the Astrodome where the Phillies fell behind 2-1 in the series before taking the final two games on the road. That series featured four extra-inning games, 15 lead changes and one game where the Astros won 1-0 in 10 innings.

The Phillies forced Game 5 by scoring two runs in the 10th inning of Game 4, the memorable one coming when Greg Luzinski hit a two-out double where Rose bowled over Astros catcher (and current Giants manager) Bruce Bochy to score the go-ahead run. Actually, the Phillies were two outs away from winning Game 4 in the ninth inning, but reliever Brusstar couldnt stop Terry Puhl from driving in the tying run.

Puhl went 10 for 19 in the series and if the Astros would have advanced to the World Series, his performance would be more than a footnote of the series. Four of Puhls hits came in the deciding fifth game where ace pitcher Nolan Ryanthe current owner of the Texas Rangerscarried a three-run lead into the eighth inning.

Before the eighth inning began, Rose told leadoff man Larry Bowa that if he could get on base the Phillies would win this thing. So Bowa singled to center and Bob Boone, perhaps the slowest runner in Phillies history, beat out an infield hit back to Ryan. Still with no outs, pinch-hitter Greg Gross (now the Phillies hitting coach) dropped a bunt up the third-base line to load the bases for Rose.

Seven pitches after digging in, Rose forced home a run with a walk and forced Ryan out of the game.

Against lefty Joe Sambito, rookie Keith Moreland grounded into a force to plate another run before Schmidt, in his biggest plate appearance to date, struck out looking on three pitches. But Del Unser followed with a two-out single to tie the game, setting the stage for NLCS MVP Manny Trillo to clear the bases with a triple.

Just like that, Ryans lead was gone

Only to have the Phillies lead wiped out by McGraw.

This was back in the days when the closer would come into the game as soon as possible and since the Phillies grasped the lead with six outs to go, Green turned the game over to McGraw. This despite the fact he had used his ace in every game of the NLCS, including for three innings in Game 3 and two innings in Game 1, as well as three of the final four games of the regular season when the Phils were trying to fend off the Expos in the battle for the NL East.

McGraw worked a lot in 1980 with little or no rest. Of the 57 games he appeared in that season, 16 were part of back-to-back games and another 12 were with one day of rest. McGraw also finished 48 games, piled up more than 92 innings and missed most of April and July with injuries.

But when September rolled around, McGraw pitched in 16 games for 26 13 innings, allowing just one earned run. Moreover, when pitching in back-to-back games, McGraw held the opposition to a .092 batting average. Better yet, 11 of McGraws 20 saves in 1980 came when he pitched more than an inning.

In other words, going with Tugger, despite the taxing workload, was the move to make.

In the eighth, the Astros rallied with a one-out single from Craig Reynolds, and a two-out single from Puhl. But after Enos Cabell whiffed for the second out, back-to-back singles from Rafael Landestoy and Jose Cruz knotted it up again.

Green also lost McGraw for the ninth for a pinch-hitter, but Game 2 starter Dick Ruthven was as rested as any pitcher available, so it looked as if the right-hander was in for as long as he could go.

Why not? Ruthven piled up 223 innings, six complete games and 17 wins in 1980. He also pitched eight games on just three days rest in 1980, too, making Greens choice elemental. Ruthven was going to pitch all night if need be.

Fortunately for the Phillies he only needed to pitch two innings.

Thats because Unser came through with a one-out double after Schmidt struck out for the third time in the game. When Trillo flied out for the second out, Garry Maddox belted a first-pitch double to center to drive in the run to send the Phils to the World Series. In the bottom of the 10th, Ruthven needed 12 pitches to retire the side in order.

One more caveat about Game 5 the starter for the Phillies that day was rookie pitcher Marty Bystrom, a September callup only because Nino Espinosa got injured just before the playoffs.

Yes, a September callup with just five big-league starts on the mound in the biggest game in franchise history against Nolan Ryan.

Strangely enough, Bystrom said he didnt know he was going to start the deciding game until the Phillies won in Game 4.

I hadnt pitched in nine or 10 days and Dallas came up to me after Game 4 and said, You got the ball tomorrow, kid, Bystrom said. I said, Im ready.

Bystrom called that NLCS finale the toughest game I ever pitched. More than just the pressure of a game with the World Series on the line, Bystrom recalled that the noise from the fans in the Astrodome was deafening.

I took a suggestion from Steve Carlton and put cotton in my ears, Bystrom said, adding that pitching with Rose, Schmidt, Bowa and Boone on his side in the field made things a lot easier.

Green later tabbed Bystrom to start the pivotal fifth game of the World Series in Kansas Citya game best remembered for the Phillies ninth-inning rally and McGraws heart-stopping pitching to win it.

It was a moment I dreamed about since I was five or six years old, Bystrom said of pitching in the World Series. Then, all of sudden, it was today is the daythis is the day I was dreaming about all of those years.

The Phillies have their first do-or-die playoff game in 30 years on Friday night. Will we be talking about it in another 30 years?

E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com.

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