World Series Phlashback: 1983—Game Three
June 20, 2009 by kevin mcguire
Filed under Fan News
The 1983 Phillies, nicknamed the “Wheeze Kids” for their average player age of 32, were fueled by a mini reunion of The Big Red Machine with Pete Rose, Tony Perez, and Joe Morgan.
Lead by MVP Mike Schmidt the Phillies pulled away from the Pittsburgh Pirates for the NL East division championship in September and then got revenge on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
Waiting for the Phillies in the 1983 World Series was a very tough Baltimore Orioles squad.
With a young Cal Ripken Jr. and players like Eddie Murray, both of whom finished one-two in the AL MVP voting (Ripken edges Murray), the Orioles had eliminated the Chicago White Sox to advance to their first World Series since 1979, where the Orioles blew a thee games to one lead on Pittsburgh to lose the championship in seven games.
We continue our phlashback with a look at game three, played in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Phillies (90-72) vs. Baltimore Orioles (98-64)
Game Three: Orioles win 3-2, Take 2-1 Series Lead
The Baltimore Orioles had other plans though.
Steve Carlton took the mound for his first time of the World Series. Carlton became the first 300-game winner to pitch in a World Series game in 55 years. Lefty put on a clinic through the first six innings of the game, shutting down the Orioles offense by getting 1-2-3 innings through the first three.
Gary Matthews gave the Phillies an early lead with a lead off home run in the bottom of the second inning. The Phillies left two runners in scoring position in the inning though with Carlton grounding out to end an early threat.
Joe Morgan increased the Phillies’ lead to 2-0 with a lead off home run in the bottom of the third inning. Morgan took a 3-0 pitch from Orioles starting pitcher Mike Flanagan and delivered it over the right field fence.
Baltimore tried to respond in the top of the fourth but failed to score on a bases loaded situation with one out. The Orioles finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning when Dan Ford hit a solo home run to left field off of Carlton.
A controversial move was made in the bottom of the sixth inning when Phillies manager Paul Owens decided to let Carlton bat with two outs and two runners on base. In a one run game it may have been the better decision to go with a pinch hitter in that spot.
Carlton was struck out by Orioles reliever Jim Palmer to end the inning. In the top of the seventh inning the decision to leave Carlton in may have hurt the Phillies.
Up 2-1 the Phillies were poised to pick up a victory in game three. Carlton was cruising along and recorded the first two outs of the seventh inning with little trouble. But then Rick Dempsey hit a two out double and Benny Ayala hit a single to left field, scoring Dempsey to tie the game.
Al Holland then came in to relieve Carlton, but Holland’s first pitch was hit for a single by John Shelby. Dan Ford then reached first base safely on an error by shortstop Ivan DeJesus. The play scored Ayala to give Baltimore the 3-2 lead.
The Orioles shut the door of opportunity on the Phillies by coming up big in the late innings with strike outs and catching Morgan stealing. Baltimore held on to win the game by the score of 3-2 and looked to really take control of the World Series heading into game four.