History of The Houston Astros - The 1980 NLCS - A Hard-fought Battle

A Hard-fought Battle

The Astros had a coast-to-coast flight lasting six hours the night before game one of the NLCS and had to face Steve Carlton who had beat the Astros six straight times. With that said the experts gave the Phillies the edge in beating the Astros in game one of the NLCS. The Phillies would win game one, but the Astros did not make it easy. The Astros went up 1–0 in the third and Astros pitcher Ken Borsch, who gave up four hits in the first three innings, settled down retiring the side 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth innings. Pete Rose reached on an infield-hit inn the sixth, but Forsch went right back to work retiring the next two batters. Then Greg Luzinski stepped up to the plate. Luzinski worked Forsch to a full counted, fouled of the next pitch and then sent a bomb to 300 level seats of Veterans Stadium for a two run homer. The Phillies added an insurance run in the next inning when Greg Maddux stole third and ex-Astro Greg Gross looped a single to left allowing Gross to score. Tug McGraw came in for the eighth inning and the Astros went three up, three down. Luis Pujols was able to work McGraw for a walk in the ninth, but that would be all the Astros would get from him as McGraw retired the next three batters leading the Phillies to a 3–1 and one game up in the series.

Nolan Ryan would get the call in game two of the NLCS to go against Dick Ruthven. The first two innings were scoreless. Craig Reynolds scored on a Terry Puhl single in the third to give Houston the lead, but the Phillies came right back in the fourth when Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski hit back-to-back doubles and then Maddox singled scoring Luzinski. The Astros tied it in the seventh when Phul doubled and brought Ryan home following a walk to the Houston pitcher. The Phillies threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Larry Bowa and Bob Boone singled and then advanced on a Gross sacrifice bunt. Lefty Joe Sambito was called in to relieve Ryan and walked Rose to load the bases. Sambito struck out Bake McBride and was pulled in favor of the right-handed Dave Smith who promptly struck out Schmidt to end the inning with the bases full of Phillies. Each team would score in the eighth to tie the game and both teams would go scoreless in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Phul had his third hit in the tenth and moved to second on a Enos Cabell sacrifice. After an intentional walk to Morgan, José Cruz singled home Phul to give the Astros the lead. A Bake McBride error advanced the runners. Cedeño's grounder scored pinch runner Rafael Landestoy with the second run of the inning. Dave Bergman who was a defensive replacement for Art Howe in the eighth hit a triple off Phillies reliever Kevin Saucier to give Houston a 7–3 lead in the middle of the tenth. The Phillies were able to score one run in the bottom of the tenth but Joaquín Andújar was able to end the game by getting Schmidt to fly out to Phul for the final out. The Astros were feeling good about their chances as the final three games moved to Houston.

Game three of the 1980 NLCS was a classic pitching duel and somewhat typical of the Astrodome. The Astrodome was a pitchers' park and the Astros teams of the time were built on good pitching, solid defense and geared to stealing bases and scrapping out runs. If the Astros could score just one run, their chances of beating the other team were good. Thus was the case when Joe Niekro got the call in game three facing Larry Christenson of the Phillies. Both teams went scoreless through nine innings. Christenson would pitch six good innings for the Phillies, but Niekro would go ten. Dave Smith came out in the eleventh to hold the Phillies back. Tug McGraw who had entered the game in the eighth faced Morgan in the bottom of the eleventh who had a lead off tripled over McBride to start the inning. Manager Bill Virdon would replace Morgan with Landestoy to pinch run. Denny Walling gave Houston a 2–1 series lead when he hit a fly ball, scoring Landestoy. The Astros won the game, but not without paying a hefty price. In the sixth inning César Cedeño was lost for the remainder of the playoffs when he dislocated his ankle trying to beat out a double-play ball. In addition Morgan was infuriated with Virdon for pulling him for pinch runner Landestoy creating a personal rift that would result in Morgan leaving the Astros at seasons end.

Game four of the series proved to be just as exhilarating as the previous three games. Again fans saw a hard fought game go into extra innings with the Phillies taking the lead and the win in the tenth inning. With the game tied in the tenth Pete Rose started a rally with a one-out single. Schmidt flied out for the second out and Luzinski step up to the plate pinch-hitting for McBride. Luzinski doubled off the left field wall in left and Rose rounded third never intending to hold up. Cruz relayed to Landestoy who threw to catcher Bruce Bochy. Rose then bowled over Bochy to score the winning run. The Phillies then got an insurance run to take the lead 5–3 and tie the series. It was then Ryan versus Rose.

Rookie Phillies pitcher Marty Bystrom was sent out by manager Dallas Green to face veteran Nolan Ryan. The rookie gave up a run in the first inning but then held the Astros at bay until the sixth inning. The Astros lead did not last long as Bob Boone hit a two out single giving the Phillies the lead in the second. The Astros tied the game in the sixth with a Alan Ashby single that brought home Denny Walling. Houston took a 5 – 2 lead in the seventh, but the Phillies came back in the eighth with a single by Larry Bowa, a ground ball that Ryan was not able to handle thus killing a chance for a double play, then a textbook but by Greg Gross to load the bases. Ryan had pitch great ball in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings striking out six and holding the Phillies to just the two runs they had scored in the second. Now it was Ryan versus Rose. With the count 3–2, Rose fouled on off. Ryan then threw a costly ball four that allowed Bowa to score. Rose had won the battle and Ryan was pulled for Joe Sambito. The Phillies scored on a force at second leaving men on the corners and one out. Ken Forsch was brought in by Astros manager Bill Virdon to face Schmidt. Forsch struck out Schmidt for the second out of the inning. Forsch gave up a single letting another run score to tie the game 5–5. Manny Trillo the shocked the Astros and their fans when he tripled to left scoring two runs and giving the Phillies a 7–5 lead. The Astros came back in the eighth to rough up Tug McGraw for four single and two runs that were scored with two-outs. With the game tied 7–7 the two teams went to extra innings for the fourth straight game. The winner would advance to the World Series. Garry Maddox had the hit of his career when he doubled in Del Unser with one out to give the Phillies an 8–7 lead. That would be all they needed as the Astros failed to score in the bottom of the tenth.

Houston was on the brink of going to the World Series and had a taste of the post season for the first time. Astros teams were no longer looked at as mediocre. They would prove to contenders in the coming decade.,