Phillies, Astros met before in epic 1980 NLCS

I’ll admit, I’m not a big fan of either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Houston Astros (my two favorite teams are the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox). That said, I’m actually kind of excited for this year’s World Series.

Why is that, you might ask?

That’s simple. Because the last time the Phillies and the Astros met in the postseason, they engaged in one of the most exciting playoff series ever — the 1980 National League Championship Series.

It would be safe to say the 1980 NLCS was not just epic, but it was, in the words of Barney Stinson, legen — wait for it — dary. Legendary.

Why do I say that? You want the list? Here it is.

Four of the five games went extra innings. Back in 1980, the NLCS was a best-of-five affair (the NLCS and ALCS did not expand to best-of-seven until five years later). And every game was hard-fought and went to the wire. Even the first game, the only game in the series that did NOT go extra innings, was a pitchers duel between Steve Carlton and Ken Forsch. Philadelphia won 3-1, by the way.

Game Two was knotted up at 3-3 after nine innings, but the Astros scored four runs in the top of the 10th and held off a Philies rally to even the series as it went back to Houston.

Game Three was scoreless after 10 innings — this was back in the days of the Astrodome, the epitome of a pitcher’s park — with the Astros winning it in the bottom of the 11th. Joe Morgan tripled to lead off the inning. After a pair of intentional walks loaded the bases, Denny Walling hit a sacrifice fly to win the game and give Houston a 2-1 lead.

The Phillies tied the series at 2-2 by winning Game Four. Greg “The Bull” Luzinski doubled home Pete Rose with the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning — the second time in the NLCS that Luzinski drove in the eventual winning run — then Luzinski scored on Manny Trillo’s single to cap the rally.

In the winner-take-all Game Five, the Astros led 5-2 after seven innings, only to see Philadelphia rally for five runs in the top of the eighth to take a 7-5 lead. However, Houston scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game and again go extra innings.

With a trip to the World Series on the line, Garry Maddox and Del Unser each doubled in runs in the top of the 10th inning to take the lead, then starter Dick Ruthven came into pitch the bottom of the inning and retired Houston 1-2-3 to give the Phillies their first pennant in 30 years.

Hall of Fame talent. Both the Phillies and Astros of 1980 were led by Hall of Fame talent. Philadelphia was led by Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt (the National League MVP that year) and Steve Carlton, who won his third Cy Young Award that year, plus Pete Rose, Luzinski and ace reliever Tug McGraw (also known as Tim McGraw’s dad).

Meanwhile, Houston was led by a pair of Hall of Famers they signed as free agents before the 1980 season in Nolan Ryan (who grew up in nearby Alvin, Texas) and Joe Morgan (who began his career in Houston). The Astros also featured 20-game winner Joe Niekro and Vern Ruhle, who was less than three innings shy of finishing in the top five in ERA in the National League that year.

Postseason history was made. Before 1980, the Astros had never made the postseason in their first 18 years of existence — and it took a one-game playoff with the Dodgers to end that drought in 1980.

Meanwhile, the Phillies made the NLCS by winning the NL East for the fourth time in five years, but had never won the World Series up until then, and had not even appeared in the Fall Classic since 1950.

After Philadelphia won the NLCS, the Phillies then defeated the Kansas City Royals — a first-time pennant winner — in six games to capture the first championship in its history.

So even if, like me, you’re not really a fan of the Phillies and Astros, this World Series might be worth watching, if only to see if it compares any to that legen — wait for it — dary series between the two teams more than 40 years ago.

Mike Buhler is a staff writer for the Daily American Republic. Contact him at mbuhler.dar@gmail.com.