1978 NLCS We have another repeat matchup on the National League side of the playoffs, with the Los Angeles Dodgers (95 - 67) and the Philadelphia Phillies (90 - 72) squaring off once again. This is the third straight NLCS appearance for the Phils, but they’ve yet to win a playoff game at Veterans Stadium, much to the disappointment of their energized fans. Although the Phillies lead the NL East for most of the season, there was fear of a 1964-esque collapse in September. The Pirates and Cubs were chasing them down, but Danny Ozark’s squad rallied for a strong finish to stave off their pursuers. The pitching staff was solid, yet unspectacular. Carlton and Christenson provided both quality and quantity in terms of innings, and the bullpen was as reliable as ever with Reed, McGraw, and Brusstar. The Phillies had an elite offense just a year ago (5.23 R/G 108 OPS+ 1st in NL), but their run production slipped this season (4.37 R/G 99 OPS+ 3rd in NL). This was largely due to a significant drop in power from the likes of Mike Schmidt (.574 SLG in ’77 -> .435 SLG in ’78), and Bake McBride (.564 SLG -> .392 SLG), not to mention paltry bench production compared to the previous year. Greg “The Bull” Luzinski put together another excellent campaign (35 HR 101 RBI 153 OPS+) and will look to continue his great postseason play. He’ll need his teammates to join him this year if they want to advance to the World Series. The Dodgers road back to the World Series was certainly more challenging than last year, as they trailed both San Francisco and Cincinnati in the NL West at the beginning of August. They proceeded to finish out the year 33 - 19 while the Giants and Reds sputtered down the stretch. Although not as dominant as they were in ’77, Tommy Lasorda’s Dodgers were quite formidable. The lineup boasted a quartet of 30 HR hitters last year, but did not have a single guy reach that mark this season. That is not to say those guys had bad years. To the contrary, Reggie Smith (29 HR 93 RBI 162 OPS+), Steve Garvey (21 HR 113 RBI 138 OPS+), and Ron Cey (23 HR 84 RBI 134 OPS+) provided more than enough punch to lead the NL’s top offense (4.49 R/G 108 OPS+). Bounce back seasons from veteran Rick Monday and pinch-hitter extraordinaire Lee Lacy offset letdowns from Steve Yeager and Dusty Baker. The starting rotation was best in the league once again, with Sutton, Hooton, John, and Rau all winning at least 15 games and throwing nearly 200 innings or more. General manager Al Campanis added much needed bullpen help with a free agent signing of a former White Sox and Pirate standout, Terry Forster (22 SV 1.93 ERA 65 IP). The lefty fireballer has been money in the late innings for LA. As the Dodgers get ready to defend their NL Pennant, their thoughts are with their hitting coach, Jim Gilliam. The former All-Star second baseman, who spent all of his MLB playing and coaching career with the Dodgers, suffered a brain bleed in late September and has been in a coma ever since. Unfortunately, he will never wake up from that coma. Gilliam had always felt lucky to be a Dodger, and they were lucky to have him. If the Dodgers are able to win this series, it will be for Jim Gilliam. Game 1: PHI RHP Larry Christenson (13 - 14 3.24 ERA 228 IP) vs. LAD RHP Burt Hooton (19 - 10 2.71 ERA 236 IP) Game 2: PHI RHP Dick Ruthven (13 - 5 2.99 ERA 150 IP) vs. LAD LHP Tommy John (17 - 10 3.30 ERA 213 IP) Game 3: LAD RHP Don Sutton (15 - 11 3.55 ERA 238 IP) vs. PHI LHP Steve Carlton (16 - 13 2.84 ERA 247 IP) Game 4: LAD LHP Doug Rau (15 - 9 3.26 ERA 199 IP) vs. PHI LHP Randy Lerch (11 - 8 3.96 ERA 184 IP) Audio clips from joeydbball on Youtube - ABC Broadcast with Al Michaels, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Bench As always, shout out to Baseball Reference and SABR for statistics, boxscores, background information and much, much more. Catch you next time, P.C.O.
