Wildest Game- Phils 23, Cubs 22

Major League Baseball’s Wildest Games: Phillies 23, Chicago Cubs 22 at Wrigley Field …

The game was the largest scoring game in the majors since August 25, 1922, when these same two teams met and duked out a 26-23 run-fest.

One of the wildest ballgames in all of baseball history ocurred 27 years today — May 17, 1979.  It was the rubber game of a 3 game series where the Phils and Cubs had each registered a win.

In a game started by Randy Lerch and Dennis Lamp, where neither of them lasted beyond a 1/3 of an inning, 11 home runs; 5 for the Phils, 6 for the Cubs went sailing out of wind-blown Wrigley Field.  The box score lists Dave Kingman’s 3 home runs, Mike Schmidt’s 2, including the 10th inning game winner shows that even starter Randy Lerch got into the act amidst the 7 run outburst by the Phils in the 1st inning off over Lamp and Donnie Moore.

But, in the Cubs half of the 1st, they struck back for 6  including ‘King Kong’ Kingman’s first of his 3 homers, a 3 shot, as Lerch and Doug Bird were touched up.

Things quieted down temporarily as both teams registered goose-eggs in the 2nd inning.  But in the 3rd, there was a second huge Phillies uprising as they scored 8 runs while the Cubs were retired in their 3rd without scoring; 15-6 Phils.

The 4th inning had the Phils scoring twice, the Cubs 3 times; 17-9 Phillies.  The Phils scored 4 in the 5th and the Cubs followed with 7 in their half of the 5th, including Bill Buckner’s Grand Slam off of Tug Mcgraw as ‘the Tugger’ was tagged for all 7 Cubs runs and lasted but 2/3 of the 5th inning; 21-16 Phils.

The Cubs followed with 3 spots in the 6th and the 8th while the Phils managed another run in the 7th; game tied at 22.

Both sides rgistered goose-eggs in the 9th and the game went to the 10th with Cubs closer Bruce Sutter having shut Phils down in the 9th and Rawly Eastwick doing likewise to the Cubs in their half of the 9th.

With 2 out in the 10th, Mike Schmidt ended the scoring with his 2nd home run of the game, a solo shot off of Sutter.  Eastwick retired the Cubs in order in his 2nd shut out inning and was credited with the win.  Bruce Sutter pitched almost as well, 1 run, 1 hit in 2 relief innings, but that 1 run was the game winner to Schmidt.  Sutter was tagged with the loss.

The two teams combined for 45 runs on 50 hits in a game where 21 different players scored runs and the 2-team total of 47 extra bases on long hits (24-Phi) set a ML mark for an extra inning game.

The game was the largest scoring game in the majors since August 25, 1922, when these same two teams met and duked out a 26-23 run-fest.

On more interesting side-light;

The Phillies had won the National League East division championships in 1976, 1977 and 1978 but could not reach the next level; to the League Pennant and to the World Series.  In 1979, On May 17, upon winning the game, the Phils seemed on their way toward contending or winning yet another divisional title.   They had acquied Pete Rose through Free Agency for a 5 year contract in the off-season.   Their record upon the conclusion of the slugfest with Chicago was 24-10.   The Phils’ fortunes fell however, after this game.  A month later, after having won 10 and lost 19, their record was 34-29.  The trend of win a few, lose a few set in and top management was not happy.

On August 30, 1979, the Phils went as far as to fire their Manager, Danny Ozark, who had managed the team for 6 1/2 years and who led them to the three previous divisional titles.  General Manager Paul Owens appointed Dallas Green as temporary manager through the end of the 1979 season. The team ended 1979 with an 84-78 record.

In 1980,  Green took over fully as team manager and led the Phils to the Division Championship, the NL Pennant and the World Championship.

Source: Blogging-Baseball.com

The Game- BOX SCORE Thursday, May 17, 1979 Wrigley Field Attendance: 14,952, Time of Game:  4:03 Phillies 23 24-10 1st Place Danny Ozark at Cubs 22 16-16 4th Place, 7 GB Herman Franks
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E Phillies 7 0 8 2 4 0 1 0 0 1 23 24 2 Cubs 6 0 0 3 7 3 0 3 0 0 22 26 2 Philadelphia Phillies

Batting	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS	PO	A
Bake McBride RF	8	2	3	1	0	2	.226	.662	2	0
Larry Bowa SS	8	4	5	1	0	0	.307	.742	2	8	2·2B,SB
Pete Rose 1B	7	4	3	4	1	0	.351	.918	16	0	2·2B
Mike Schmidt 3B	4	3	2	4	4	0	.277	1.080	0	3	2·HR,2·IW
Del Unser LF	7	1	1	2	0	2	.382	.802	2	0	SF
Garry Maddox CF	4	3	4	4	0	0	.299	.871	0	0	HR,2·2B
Greg Gross PR-CF	2	1	1	1	0	0	.231	.651	3	0	3B,SF
Bob Boone C	4	2	3	5	2	0	.258	.744	4	0	HR,2B,HBP,2·IW
Rudy Meoli 2B	5	0	1	0	2	2	.188	.547	1	3	SB
Randy Lerch P	1	1	1	1	0	0	.143	.429	0	0	HR
Doug Bird P	1	1	0	0	1	1	.000	.250	0	0
Greg Luzinski PH	0	0	0	0	1	0	.275	.856
Nino Espinosa PR	1	1	0	0	0	0	.143	.325
Tug McGraw P	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	2.000	0	0
Ron Reed P	0	0	0	0	1	0	.250	.900	0	1
Tim McCarver PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	.182	.629
Rawly Eastwick P	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	0
Team Totals	53	23	24	23	12	7	.453	1.450	30	15

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/8/2012.

2B: B Boone (6, off B Caudill); P Rose 2 (14, 1 off W Hernandez, 1 off D Moore); G Maddox 2 (10, 1 off W Hernandez, 1 off D Moore); L Bowa 2 (6, 1 off W Hernandez, 1 off D Lamp).

3B: G Gross (1, off B Caudill).

HR: B Boone (2, off D Lamp; 1st inn, 2 on, 1 out); M Schmidt 2 (14, 1 off B Sutter, 1 off D Lamp; 1st inn, 2 on, 1 out; 10th inn, 0 on, 2 outs); G Maddox (6, off W Hernandez; 3rd inn, 2 on, 2 outs); R Lerch (1, off D Moore; 1st inn, 0 on, 2 outs).

SF: G Gross (1, off W Hernandez); D Unser (2, off W Hernandez).

IBB: B Boone 2 (6, 2 by W Hernandez); M Schmidt 2 (3, 2 by W Hernandez).

HBP: B Boone (1, by W Hernandez).

TB: G Maddox 9; M Schmidt 8; L Bowa 7; B Boone 7; P Rose 5; R Lerch 4; G Gross 3; B McBride 3; R Meoli; D Unser.

RBI: B Boone 5 (16); P Rose 4 (19); M Schmidt 4 (32); G Maddox 4 (22); D Unser 2 (8); R Lerch (1); L Bowa (8); G Gross (1); B McBride (15).

2-out RBI: G Maddox 4; R Lerch; M Schmidt.

Team LOB: 15.

With RISP: 10 for 26.

Fielding

DP: 2. L Bowa-P Rose; M Schmidt-R Meoli-P Rose.

E: M Schmidt 2 (6).

Baserunning

SB: R Meoli (1, 2nd base off B Sutter/B Foote); L Bowa (6, 2nd base off B Caudill/B Foote).

Chicago Cubs

Batting	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OPS	PO	A
Ivan de Jesus SS	6	4	3	1	1	1	.236	.651	3	0	2B
Mike Vail RF	5	2	3	1	0	0	.391	1.201	1	0
Ray Burris P	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.500	1	0
Scot Thompson PH-RF	2	1	1	0	0	0	.333	.777	0	0
Bill Buckner 1B	7	2	4	7	0	0	.268	.753	8	1	HR
Dave Kingman LF	6	4	3	6	1	1	.292	1.018	3	0	3·HR,GDP
Steve Ontiveros 3B	7	2	1	1	0	1	.310	.767	2	0	HR
Jerry Martin CF	6	2	3	3	0	0	.281	.756	3	0	HR,2B
Bruce Sutter P	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.333	0	0
Barry Foote C	6	1	3	1	0	0	.204	.595	7	0	2B
Ted Sizemore 2B	4	2	2	1	0	0	.262	.685	0	3
Bill Caudill P	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	0
Bobby Murcer RF-CF	2	0	1	0	0	0	.287	.872	2	0
Dennis Lamp P	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	0	1
Donnie Moore P	1	0	1	1	0	0	.200	.800	0	0	3B
Willie Hernandez P	1	0	0	0	0	1	.500	1.000	0	0
Steve Dillard PH-2B	1	2	1	0	1	0	.167	.611	0	1
Larry Biittner PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.558			GDP
Mick Kelleher 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	.154	.308	0	3
Team Totals	56	22	26	22	3	4	.464	1.367	30	9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/8/2012.

2B: J Martin (10, off R Lerch); B Foote (4, off T McGraw); I de Jesus (7, off R Reed).

3B: D Moore (1, off D Bird).

HR: B Buckner (4, off T McGraw; 5th inn, 3 on, 1 out); J Martin (3, off T McGraw; 5th inn, 1 on, 2 outs); S Ontiveros (1, off D Bird; 4th inn, 0 on, 2 outs); D Kingman 3 (12, 1 off R Reed, 1 off R Lerch, 1 off D Bird; 1st inn, 2 on, 0 outs; 4th inn, 1 on, 2 outs; 6th inn, 0 on, 2 outs).

TB: D Kingman 12; B Buckner 7; J Martin 7; S Ontiveros 4; I de Jesus 4; B Foote 4; M Vail 3; D Moore 3; T Sizemore 2; S Thompson; S Dillard; B Murcer.

GIDP: L Biittner (1); D Kingman (2).

RBI: B Buckner 7 (21); D Kingman 6 (30); J Martin 3 (18); S Ontiveros (11); T Sizemore (9); M Vail (6); B Foote (10); D Moore (1); I de Jesus (9).

2-out RBI: J Martin 3; D Kingman 3; T Sizemore; B Foote; D Moore; S Ontiveros.

Team LOB: 7.

With RISP: 7 for 19.

Fielding

E: D Kingman (3); I de Jesus (7).

Philadelphia Phillies

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	IR	IS
Randy Lerch	0.1	5	5	5	0	0	1	4.00	6
Doug Bird	3.2	8	4	4	0	2	2	7.00	18	1	1
Tug McGraw	0.2	4	7	4	3	1	2	4.50	10	0	0
Ron Reed	3.1	9	6	6	0	0	1	2.55	19	1	0
Rawly Eastwick, W (1-0)	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	6.35	6	0	0
Team Totals	10	26	22	19	3	4	6	17.10	59	2	1

Chicago Cubs

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	IR	IS
Dennis Lamp	0.1	6	6	6	0	0	2	4.42	7
Donnie Moore	2	6	7	7	2	1	1	7.43	14	0	0
Willie Hernandez	2.2	7	8	6	7	1	1	4.79	24	2	2
Bill Caudill	1.1	3	1	1	2	3	0	7.36	9	0	0
Ray Burris	1.2	1	0	0	0	1	0	6.53	6	2	0
Bruce Sutter, L (1-1)	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1.42	8	0	0
Team Totals	10	24	23	21	12	7	5	18.90	68	4	2

Balks: None.

WP: None.

HBP: W Hernandez (1; B Boone).

IBB: W Hernandez 4 (6; M Schmidt, M Schmidt, B Boone, B Boone).

Pickoffs: None.

Other Info

Umpires:HP – Dick Cavenaugh, 1B - Bill Lawson, 2B – Dennis Riccio, 3B – Dave Slickenmeyer.

Time of Game: 4:03.

Attendance: 14,952.

Field Condition: Unknown.

Start Time Weather: Wind 18mph in unknown direction.

Starting Lineups

	Philadelphia Phillies				Chicago Cubs
1	Bake McBride	RF		1	Ivan de Jesus	SS
2	Larry Bowa	SS		2	Mike Vail	RF
3	Pete Rose	1B		3	Bill Buckner	1B
4	Mike Schmidt	3B		4	Dave Kingman	LF
5	Del Unser	LF		5	Steve Ontiveros	3B
6	Garry Maddox	CF		6	Jerry Martin	CF
7	Bob Boone	C		7	Barry Foote	C
8	Rudy Meoli	2B		8	Ted Sizemore	2B
9	Randy Lerch	P		9	Dennis Lamp	P