SERIES #7 - (5) 1934 CARDINALS v (12) 1977 PHILLIES

Back to the National League for a matchup in the Sparky Anderson Bracket between the 5th seeded 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and the 12th seeded 1977 Philadelphia Phillies.  This is one of five representatives for St. Louis in the competition.  This particular Cardinals bunch is right in the middle of the five.  For the Phillies, this is one of two teams they bring to the competition.  Let's take a look at how both teams earned their seeding.

1934 St. Louis Cardinals
This version of the Cardinals was affectionately known as the Gas House Gang.  It got the moniker for the team's general shabby appearance and rough-and-tumble tactics on the field.  The team was led by playing manager Frankie Frisch and included other stars such as Joe Medwick and Ripper Collins.  Many of the other players on the roster, including the Dean brothers, Bill DeLancey, Pepper Martin, Spud Davis and Burgess Whitehead were either Southerners or Southwesterners from working-class backgrounds.

The team featured five regulars who hit at least .300 (Frisch, Davis, Medwich, Collins and Ernie Orsatti).  Brothers Dizzy (30-7, 2.66 ERA) and Paul Dean (19-11, 3.43 ERA) fronted a pitching staff that had the second-best ERA in the league.  Dizzy's 30-win season is the last a pitcher has recorded in the National League.


The team didn't move into first place in the NL until there were just three games left in the season, eventually winning the crown by two games over the New York Giants.  In the World Series, the Cards and Detroit Tigers split the first two games in Detroit.  The Tigers then took two of the next three games in St. Louis to get within one win of the series.  But in the end, the Cardinals prevailed, taking the final two games back in Detroit, including an 11-0 embarrassment in the finale.


1977 Philadelphia Phillies

The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 95th season in the history of the franchise. The Phillies won their second consecutive National League East division title with a record of 101-61, five games over the division/state rival Pittsburgh Pirates.  The power tandem of third baseman Mike Schmidt and leftfielder Greg Luzinski anchored the best offense in the National League. They combined for 77 home runs and 231 RBIs. Each had an on-base percentage over .390 and a slugging percentage over .570. Though Schmidt would have a much better career, it was “The Bull”, as Luzinski was nicknamed, that was actually a little bit better with the bat in 1977.

Steve Carlton led the piching staff, going 23-10 with a 2.64 ERA in 283 innings of work and earning himself his second of four career Cy Young Awards.  The rotation behind Carlton was more of a question mark, requiring the bullpen to play a major role.  Gene Garber and Ron Reed combined for the saves. Tug McGraw and Warren Brusstar all helped carry the load. All four pitchers had ERAs at 2.75 or lower.

Philly matched up with the LA Dodgers in the NLCS, and after winning the opening game on the road, optimism was high.  But unfortunately, the game one win was their last of the season as the Dodgers went on to win the next three to end the Phillies season.

PREDICTION
So far, through the first six series of the tournament, the higher seed team has won every matchup.  On paper, this should be more of the same.  But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the Phillies prevail in this spot.  Carlton can easily win two games alone.  I think the deep bullpen, along with their powerful offense, can carry Philadelphia to at least one other victory.  PHILLIES 3-2

Game 1
Stadium: Veterans Stadium
Game Time: 8:05 PM
Weather: 53 degrees, overcast
Wind: 16 mph out

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
St. Louis 1934 (0-1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0		2	4	1
Philadelphia 1977 (1-0)	0	0	2	3	2	0	0	0	X		7	10	0
	W: S. Carlton (1-0)   L: D. Dean (0-1)

HR: B. McBride (1, 3rd inning off D. Dean 1 on, 1 out), G. Luzinski (1, 5th inning off D. Dean 1 on, 1 out)

Game one featured a matchup of two Hall-of-Fame starting pitchers as Steve Carlton took to the hill to face Dizzy Dean.  Cardinals held hitless through three innings.  Phillies got to Dean for a pair in the bottom of the 3rd on a Bake McBride wind-blown blast to right.  The Cardinals came right back with a run in the 4th.  But Philadelphia plated three more in the 4th and and two in the 5th to break the game open.  Greg Luzinski goes 3-4 with a homer.  Carlton scatters four hits and goes the distance for the victory.  The Phillies picked up the game they needed to open the series.

Game 2
Stadium: Veterans Stadium
Game Time: 8:05 PM
Weather: 51 degrees, clear
Wind: calm

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
St. Louis 1934 (0-2)	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0		3	13	2
Philadelphia 1977 (2-0)	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1		4	10	1
	W: G. Garber (1-0)   L: J. Haines (0-1)

HR: G. Luzinski (2, 1st inning off P. Dean 1 on, 2 out)

Philadelphia struck first in the 1st inning on a 485 foot monster two-run blast to left-center by Greg Luzinski, his second of the series.  St. Louis had their chances against Phillies starter Jim Lonborg.  Frankie Frisch was thrown out at the plate in the top of the 1st trying to score.  They stranded the bases load with only one out in the 2nd.  The Cards managed to push across single runs in both the 3rd and 4th innings to tie the score, but stranded runners in scoring position in both frames.

The game headed into the 6th still knotted at two apiece.  Warren Brusstar had relieved Lonborg on the hill for the Phils.  After retiring the first two batters he faced in the inning, the Cards mounted a rally, loading the bases before Ripper Collins singled home the go ahead run.  The inning could have continued for St. Louis if Frisch was not thrown out at the plate for the second time in the game!  Paul Dean continued on the mound for the Cards in the bottom half.  After giving up a leadoff walk to Luzinksi to start the inning, Greg Maddox drove him home with a double off the wall one batter later.  The game was again tied heading into the 7th.


And this is where the Philadelphia bullpen earned their money.  Tug McGraw came in and tossed two no-hit innings in the 7th and 8th.  Gene Garber did the same in the 9th.  Jesse Haines had releived Dean in the 8th.and got out of that inning without incident.  But after giving up a leadoff single to Tommy Hutton to begin the 9th, Bake McBride came up one batter later and delivered a walk-off triple to center to send the home team home victorious.  St. Louis stranded 12 baserunners in the contest.  They managed to collect 13 hits off of Phils starter Lonborg along with three walks in only 4.1 innings, but couldn't make the big inning materialize.  Series now heads to St. Louis with Philadelphia holding a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Game 3
Stadium: Sportsmans Park
Game Time: 8:05 PM
Weather: 86 degrees, clear
Wind: 12 mph left to right

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Philadelphia 1977 (2-1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	5	0
St. Louis 1934 (1-2)	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	X		5	10	1
	W: T. Carleton (1-0)   L: L. Christensen (0-1)

In game #3, another pitcher named Carelton comes through for his team.  This time it's James "Tex" Carelton throwing the gem, a five-hit shutout to keep the Cardinals hopes alive.  St. Louis plated two in the bottom of the 1st and that's all they would need.  Game was costly for the Phils as starting catcher Bob Boone was injured in the 3rd inning and he'll miss the remainder of the series.  Leo Durocher was also injured during the game for the Cardinals, but his injury isn't considered serious.  St. Louis will look to even things up in game #4 and send the series into a deciding fifth game.



Game 4
Stadium: Sportsmans Park
Game Time: 8:05 PM
Weather: 56 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 10 mph left to right

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Philadelphia 1977 (3-1)	0	0	0	0	3	1	2	0	1		7	10	1
St. Louis 1934 (1-3)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		1	7	1
	W: W. Brusstar (1-0)   L: W. Hallahan (0-1) SV: T. McGraw (1)

HR: L. Bowa (1, 9th inning off B. Walker 0 on, 2 out)

Both starting pitchers knew the importance of this contest from the first pitch, and both brought their "A" games to the mound.  St. Louis starter Wild Bill Halahan and the Phillies Ron Reed both held the other team in check through four innings of work.  But then the Philadelphia bats came alive, scoring three in the 5th, another in the 6th, and two more in the 7th to put the game out of reach and send the Phillies onto the second round of the tournament.

Series Recap
As predicted, the Phillies were able to take down the higher seed in this matchup.  Game one was probably the key as Steve Carlton was able to go the distance and put the Cardinals on their heels.  Once Philadelphia dispatched St. Louis in the second game, it was too much for the Cardinals to overcome.  The Phillies as a team held St. Louis without a home run in the four games.  Frankie Frisch, the Cardinals player/manager, did have a fine series though, hitting .462 with a double and a pair of triples.  Several Phillies played key roles in the series victory.  Steve Carlton threw a complete game in the opener.  Bake McBride homered in the first game and was the hero in the second with his 9th inning walk off triple.  Reliever Tug McGraw threw five shutout innings and picked up the save in the fourth and final game.  But the guy that stands out for MVP honors is Greg Luzinski.  The Bull homered in each of the first two games at Veterans Stadium.  He also knocked two triples in the series and finished with a batting average of .429 in the four games.  Philadelphia will go onto the second round and play the winner of the matchup between the #4 seeded 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the #13 seeded 1998 San Diego Padres.