The Philadelphia Phillies Clinch the Division, October 4, 1980 in Montreal

In the midst of an up and down season, the Philadelphia Phillies found themselves six games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in August of 1980.  It was a critical moment in Phillies history.  The Phillies had won the National League East Division in 1976, 1977 and 1978, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs.  Pete Rose was signed as a free agent in 1979 to help the Phillies get over the hump, and make it to the World Series.  The plan did not work in 1979, as the Phillies saw their division rivals, the Pirates, take the division, and go on to beat the Orioles in the World Series.  If this crew of talented veterans was going to win it all for the City of Philadelphia, time was running short.

The Phillies roared back into contention in the months of August and September.  The charge was led by future Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt.  But te Phillies found help from an unlikely source.  September call-up, Marty Bystrom, proceeded to win all five games that he pitched in September, being honored with the title Pitcher of the Month.  By the end of September, the Phillies had battled into a two team race for the division with the Montreal Expos.

The Expos came to Veterans Stadium for three games from September 26th through the 28th.  This was the opportunity for the Phillies to bury their opponents, and take command of the National League East.  Instead, the Phillies dropped two out of three from that series, and sat half a game behind the Expos in the standing with a game in hand.

Although the Phillies swept the Cubs in a four game series at the Vet, the Expos were hot on their tail.  Montreal had managed a three game sweep of St. Louis at Olympic Stadium.  With three games left in the regular season, the Phillies and the Expos were tied for first.  The Phillies traveled to Montreal for the final series.  Whichever team won this series would win the division and advance to the playoffs.

The Phillies struck first, with Mike Schmidt leading the way.  He accounted for all of the Phillies offense in a 2-1 victory in the game one.

Game two pitted Steve Rogers, who had won 16 games already on the season and boasted a 2.98 ERA, against the Phillies workhorse, Larry Christenson.

Tension mounted early, as Rogers walked Bake McBride and Mike Schmidt in the first inning.  A wild pitch to Greg Luzinski permitted McBride to advance to third.  But Rogers settled down, striking out the Bull, and retiring Del Unser on a fly ball.

The excitement continued in the Expos' half of the inning, when Manny Trillo uncharacteristically committed an error allowing Rodney Scott to advance to second with one out.  Rowland Office then grounded out to Trillo.  The ever alert Pete Rose kept a close eye on Scott, who attempted to score.  With a throw to catcher Keith Moreland, Scott was out at the plate to end the inning.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third.  Rogers had worked a lead-off walk off of Christenson.  Jerry White brought him home with a two run home run.  The Expos now led 2-0.

But, just as they had done all season, the Phillies battled back.  In the top of the fifth, Larry Bowa led off with a walk.  Christenson advanced Bowa to third on a single.  With runners at the corners, Pete Rose hit a single to left field that scored Bowa.  When Bake McBride singled to load the bases, the Phillies looked to be on the verge of a big inning.  But Rogers got out of the jam by striking out Schmidt and causing Luzinski to line into a double play.  The Phillies had cut the lead in half to 2-1.

In the top of the seventh, the Phillies again loaded bases off of singles from Rose, McBride and Schmidt.  The Bull came to the plate, and banged a hit to center field.  Rose and McBride scored.  Schmidt was caught in a run down, and was tagged out between second and third.  The Bull, meanwhile, was caught off first base to end the inning.  But the Phillies had taken a 3-2 lead.

A comedy of errors gave the Expos the chance to regain the lead in the bottom half of the seventh.  Another Many Trillo error allow Chris Speier to reach first.  With Ron LaFlore pinch running, Keith Moreland lets loose an errant throw to second, allowing LaFlore to advance to third.  Sparky Lyle replaced Ron Reed, and immediately gave up a walk to John Tamargo.  Tim Raines, pinch running for Tamargo, stole second, placing the go ahead run at second base.  A Jerry White sacrifice fly scored LaFlore.  Then a Rodney Scott double scored Raines.  When the dust settled, the Expos had taken a 4-3 lead.

The ninth inning saw the Phillies down to their last out.  Bob Boone, now catching for the Phillies, strolled to the plate with Bake McBride on second.  With the Phillies' season riding on his shoulders, Boone hit a single to score McBride and tie the ballgame.

It was time for the Tugger to take his place on the mound.  McGraw had been practically unhittable since coming off the disabled list in July.  And he didn't disappoint now.  McGraw kept the Expos scoreless through the ninth and tenth innings.

The top of the eleventh inning gave the Phillies faithful a chance to see extra inning magic.  With Rose on base, Mike Schmidt hit a monster shot to left field for his league leading forty-eighth home run of the season.  The two run shot put the Phillies ahead 5-4.  All that was left was for the Tugger to keep the Expos off the board.

McGraw, in rare form, retired all three hitters he faced, ending the game with a Larry Parish strike out.

The Phillies had done it!  They ensured their spot in the postseason, winning the Eastern Division for the fourth time in five years.

But now the Phillies had something to prove.  With Nolan Ryan and the Astros awaiting them in the NLCS, the Phillies had a tough road ahead if they wanted to reach the World Series.

William J. Kovatch, Jr.