Allentown Morning Call - March 17, 1980
Luzinski likes ‘gimmick’ and show it with pair of home runs
Jack McCallum, Call Sports Writer
CLEARWATER. Fla. – The batting tee standing alone in the middle of the Phillies' batting cage seems a little too gimmicky. You can almost hear the huckster extolling its merits 'Yes. you too can be a major league slugger with the new. amazing Tee-It-Up, guarenteed to improve your stroke and your success with women.’
But Greg Luzinski doesn't think it s' a gimmick. And the way Greg Luzinski is looking these days, nobody is going to argue with him.
"A lot of batting coaches are going to it." said Luzinski after his two home runs provided most of the excitement in the Phillies' 4-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Javs yesterday afternoon at Jack Russell Stadium.
"I know that Billy (DeMars. the Phillies' batting coach) picked up on it from the Reds. Ted Kluzewski uses it a lot over there and guys like Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench have done a lot of work on it.
"Of course it's not the whole answer. But what it does is make you go back to fundamentals. If you take a swing at a stationary object, you can really feel what you're doing. Since the ball isn't moving, you can concentrate just on the parts of your swing. It's proven something to me, and that is you've got to stick with fundamentals. It's more or less my timing device and I think I'm going to use it even during the season."
It is ridiculously early to tell, of course, whether Luzinski will return to his 1978 form (.265 average. 35 homers, 101 RBIs) or suffer through a recurring nightmare of 1979 (.252, 18. 81) which was made to appear worse by a .187 average at home. But everyone here is talking about the return of Luzinski's quick, compact and powerful swing.
"It's a great feeling for me right now to realize how well things are going." continued Luzinski. "No matter how much anybody says the spring doesn't matter, it is important for me mentally. I had a lot of personal frustration last year and I went out and did something about it.”
Luzinski is referring, of course, to his donning of eyeglasses and his overly well-chronicled loss of weight (about 25 pounds).
"I can feel the difference, no doubt about it." said Luzinski who will not shy away from the subject. "Dallas has us putting in a pretty long day out here and even after playing and running I don't go back and take a nap. I feel like doing something. At this point. I couldn't be happier about what's happened."
Luzinski hit his homers in the first and third off of Toronto starter and loser Jim Clancy, a righthander. Both came on a 1-2 count. One traveled over 400 feet to left-center, while the other easily cleared the fence 340 feet away in left.
An even better sign for Luzinski was the type of pitches he hit.
"The first one was a little off-speed curveball and I followed it real well," said Luzinski who says he his having no problems with the thigh muscle he pulled in 1979. "In the first game (against Detroit) I had a pitch like that and I fought it of (for a single into right-center). That's important for me, too. When I was going good in 1978 1 was able to fight those kind of pitches off for basehits which is what a hitter like Steve Garvey does.
"The other homer was in on me and. if I'm swinging right, that's where I should hit it."
Luzinski has Dallas Green a little excited, too.
"He's hitting the ball about as long as we can expect right now" said Green. "His quickness with the bat. which is the key thing with him, appears to be back."
NOTES: Green has to be pleased, too. with his pitching. He got three decent innings out of starter Larry Christenson yesterday two hits and.
once again, good relief pitching from his younger players. Yesterday it was Carlos Arroyo. Dan Larson. Jose Martinez and Lerrin LaGrow who held the Jays scoreless, and HITLESS. after Christenson left….
Everybody in the Phillie camp. however, knows today's game against the Boston Red Sox at Winter Haven is the real pitching test because it marks the competitive return of Dick Ruthven. Ruthven, who won his first six starts last year, developed trouble in his right elbow in May and underwent surgery in the offseason. A healthy Ruthven is one of the keys, if not THE key, to the season, so feels the Phillie brass.
"We're not anxious to see a lot of innings from him this early." said Green, "so. he'll probably work only two. We're going to be watching him very, very closely."...
Green has already been watching LaGrow closely and it appears the big righthander (6-5. 230) is going to be an important part of the Phillies' plans this season He's 32 and he's had some off years in his seven full season in the majors but Green sees him as the man to "take the pressure off of (Tug) McGraw and Ron Reed in the bullpen."
Sparky Anderson: You must have the pitching
Jack McCallum, Call Sports Writer
CLEARWATER. Fla. – The sun was shining and Sparky Anderson was talking, neither of which was unusual. Almost as soon as the Detroit manager – well, let's call him a "skipper" since no one in baseball better fits that perky little cliché – stepped onto Jack Russell Stadium on Friday afternoon, he began discoursing on any number of interesting subjects. To whit; "I've seen some good first basemen this year. But, damn, I've seen some ugly ones, too."
But his "most favorite" subject – as Sparky himself might say and, indeed, DOES, say when he serves as a television commentator – is pitching. Sparky's contention is that you can have Curly, Moe and Larry playing in your outfield, but that if you have pitching, you are still a team to be reckoned with and the reverse, of course, is true, too.
"You take the Oakland A's," began Sparky, selecting a team that DOES have Curly. Moe and Larry in its outfield. "Everybody laughs when they talk about the A's, right? But they may have the best staff in baseball, the very best. And for that reason and that reason alone, they are a presentable ballclub. You will have to battle them right into the eighth and ninth inning. It makes a difference."
As a counterpoint, Anderson selected the Boston Red Sox.
"Look at that team. Who can wood (for you English teachers out there, it is now common athletic practice to make verbs out of nouns; it's called "verbizing" better than those two guys they got in the outfield (Fred Lynn and Jim Rice)? Nobody. Those SOBs scare the hell out of you. But you know what? In the long run. it don't mean nothing because of the pitching."
A reporter doubted that it don't mean nothing and Sparky got downright pugnacious about it.
“Go ahead, pick a team that you think is good,” said Sparky. “Pick one.”
The reporter picked, rather meekly, Pittsburgh.
“Okay, good choice,” answered Sparky, warming to the subject. “Why are they good? Well, let me hold the answer to that. Let me compare them to another team – the Cardinals.
"Let's go around the infield. Who do you want, (Ted) Simmons (of the Cardinals) or (Steve) Nicosia? Right, Simmons.
"First base. Now be honest, who would you REALLY rather have for your ballclub, all things considered? Keith Hernandez or Willie Stargell. Right, Hernandez. That's two.
"Second base. Okay, I'll give you (Phil) Garner, reluctantly, but (Ken) Oberkfell's not far behind.
"Shortstop? I won't even talk about it." (Translation: The Cards' Garry Templeton is worlds better than the Pirates' Tim Foil.)
"Third base I'll give you, (the Pirates' Bill Madlock over Ken Reitz) but how about leftfield? You want (the Cards' George Hendrlck or (John) Milner or (Bill) Robinson? Right, Hendrick.
"Centerfield? Okay, you take Omar Moreno (of the Pirates) but, I'll tell you, I might take Tony Scott. I think it's debatable. Rightfield I'll give you with (Dave) Parker, but don't forget that Bobby Bonds is out there now for the Cardinals.
"Okay, whatta' we have? We have 4-4 at best and I'll fight you on one of those."
This was getting to be so much fun that, before Sparky could get to his point, another voice, a voice from the Phillies, wanted him to make a similar rundown between the Cards and the Phillies. He was, after all, standing on THEIR infield.
"Okay, you want Simmons or Bob Boone? You want Boone? Well, I'll fight you on that. How about first? Hernandez or Rose? You want Rose? Well, okay, I won't fight you.
"Second base, Oberkfell or (Manny) Trillo? You want Trillo? I think you're picking on name rather than ability but I 'll let it go. Here's one. Templeton or Bowa at shortstop? Bowa? I don't know. If you had to face Templeton, I'm telling you he frightens people with the bat.
"Third I’ll give you. (The Phils' Mike Schmidt over Reitz.) That's the first one that's clean. And the outfield, you gotta' say, is just about even. (There wasn't time to argue because Sparky wanted to get to the point.)
"What I'm trying to say is that you got three teams which are just about even and what makes the difference between them? Pitching. The Pirates have pitching. The Phillies might have it If everybody gets healthy, but the Pirates HAVE it. I'm telling you, that's the only thing that matters."
And what matters, more specifically, is relief pitching, according to Sparky.
"All you need is that one guy coming out of the bullpen and he can make a team. That's what (Kent) Tekulve does for Pittsburgh. He is what makes that team great.
"How about the Cubs? Where would they be without Bruce Sutter. Do you know what he does for them? If you're behind the Cubs in the eighth or ninth inning, you're going to lose. You must win the game before that.
"It's like when you play the Yankees. You don't play the Yankees, you play that damn Rich Gossage. Gossage and Sutter, they're the type of guys who are most valuable players. They can carry you.
"I remember when I was in the National League (managing Cincinnati) and Mike Marshall was hot for the Dodgers. I'm telling you, every time we played them I managed the whole game against Marshall. He was on your mind every minute."
Sparky, of course, has opinions on other things beside pitching. And some of those opinions are among the most refreshing in the game. Consider:
Anderson does not personally like the designated hitter rule in the American League, but he admits that the fans might like it and that ii deserves the test of democracy.
"Let's settle it once and for all." says Anderson who was hardly DH material in a 12-year career spent mostly in the minors, "by letting the fans vote. And don't make it a farce like the all-star game. Let every fan come to the park and register and vote once on whether they like the DH or not. Period. In 30 days you'd have your answer. If baseball is really for the fans, like we say it is, we shouldn't be afraid to try it.
Anderson admits that his suggestion is not exactly Topic 1 on Bowie Kuhn's drawing board and probably never will be. But baseball has always been ruled by men like Bowie Kuhn; men like Sparky Anderson just make it interesting.