Sports
Phillies Faced Improbable Task Against Astros: Philly Sports Chatter
In 1980, the Philadelphia Phillies were on the brink of elimination and up against Nolan Ryan. They rallied and then won the World Series.
PHILADELPHIA, PA āItās an improbable task.
We will soon find out starting Friday night whether the Philadelphia Phillies can beat the Houston Astros in the World Series.
Itās an improbable task. But itās not impossible.
The impossible task the Phillies faced was 42 years ago against the Astros and a Hall of Fame pitcher named Nolan Ryan, one of the most dominant players in the game.
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I dug out a 25th-anniversary edition I have on DVD of the Phillies 1980 World Championship season and watched the classic Game 5, which would decide who would play in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.
The Phillies āled by Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Pete Rose āwere facing the brink of elimination. The Astros led 2-1 when the National League Championship Series was only five games.
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The final two games were at the Astrodome. The Phillies pulled off a victory but Game 5 was against Ryan and the odds were stacked against them.
And it wasnāt looking good. This team was down 5-2 in the 8th inning to Ryan.
Improbable comeback. Insurmountable odds.
Before that though was the biggest play of the game in the second inning when a ball went into the right field corner. Bake McBride tossed the relay to Manny Trillo, who threw a perfect strike to catcher Bob Boone to nail a runner at the plate. To this day, I will never forget that play.
Like I wrote about earlier this week with these current Phillies, Magic and Momentum.
The 1980 Phillies would not die.
They loaded the bases with nobody out on three straight singles. They scored twice to cut the lead to 1 before an RBI single by Del Unser tied the game.
Trillo, who would be named series MVP, put the Phillies ahead with a two-run triple.
The Astros came back and this nail-biter went into extra innings. The Phillies got doubles from Unser and Garry Maddox to take an 8ā7 lead.
And the Astros went down in the 10th, giving the Phillies their first pennant since 1950.
These Phillies hope to have that same luck starting Friday.
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