The Royals would take on the Phillies in the showdown of the greatest 3rd basemen
ever to perhaps play the game. The Royals offered up the A.L. MVP... a .390 hitter...
the best the game had seen since 1941. The Phillies countered with the
N.L. MVP... Mike Schmidt who had just slammed 48 HRs and set Philadelphia's all
time Home Run record. Game 1 at Veterans Stadium started off strong for Kansas
City. Amos Otis hit a 2 run bomb in the 2nd followed by another 2 run blast in
the 3rd from Willie Mays Aikens, but Bake McBride countered with a 3 run shot
and then the train came off the rails as Philly scored 2 more, then another in
the 4th and 5th for a 7-4 lead. Willie Mays Aikens tried to live up to his namesake
slamming his 2nd 2 run homer of the game but Tug McGraw held on to the one-run
lead as the Phills took game one. Steve Carlton came on for game 2 to battle
Larry Gura. Carlton was on cruise control through the 7th with a 2-1 lead before
Jim Frey accused Steve Carlton of cheating. The umpires felt that Carlton
may have been using a spitball or some sort of sticky substance, and ordered Carlton
to wash up. When he returned, he gave up 3 straight walks and then Amos Otis
ripped a double. The Royals were up 4-2 now going into the bottom of the 8th.
Quisenberry who had been so effective, then gave up run after run as Del Unser
and Bake McBride began hitting the ball hard before Mike Schmidt put it away
with a blast as the Phillies came back to win 6-4 and went up 2 games to none. |