Driving to work this morning, I got a treat because Lee Arthur Smith was a guest of Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason's WFAN radio show. I always liked the big guy and thought the Red Sox should have kept him instead of Jeff Reardon in 1990.
He talked mostly about closers because he's plugging a book, Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball, for which he wrote the foreward.
The conversation turned a little SoxandPhils when he was asked about the 1984 NL East Champion Cubs.
"It was like a family," Smith said. "And the one guy for me that held the ballclub together was Gary Matthews."
Everybody loves Sarge, even one of the nastiest closers of my generation.
Smith didn't feel as bad about losing with his only other playoff team, the 1988 Red Sox. "'84 was tougher for me," Smith said.
He was also asked whether there was one hitter he couldn't get out. His answer? Mike Schmidt, who killed the Cubbies. Michael Jack had a .986 OPS against Chicago, his third highest against any team, and a 1.048 OPS at Wrigley, the highest mark he had in any park.
I like it when a player's memory reflects reality.
Today's games: After 30 innings, the Phillies finally scored a run. For days, Christine was convinced they would not score another run all season. At first, I thought she was just being melodramatic, but I was starting to wonder ...
The Phillies weren't satisfied with that run and scored another, and then one more to give them their first lead in a week. It was a pure offensive onslaught by the Phightin' Phils who held on for the 3-2 win against the Marlins, despite a nervous 9th by Jose Contreras.
If the Phillies night was an onslaught, the Red Sox offense was firing on all cylinders with five runs. But the Royals bats put both teams to shame, knocking out Tim Wakefield in the 3rd inning with nine runs. They embarrassed the once-again deflated Sox 12-5.
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