Dodgers, Phillies at it again

LOS ANGELES – Back in the era of cookie-cutter stadiums, polyester pullovers and artificial turf, baseball had another familiar sight: Phillies vs. Dodgers for the N.L. pennant.

“It seemed like every time we turned around, there were the Phillies,” former Los Angeles center fielder Rick Monday recalled.

They played in the 1977 N.L. Championship Series and the next year, too. Both times, Tom Lasorda and the Dodgers won the best-of-5 matchup in four games.

Decked out in powder-blue uniforms, Philadelphia did better in the 1983 NLCS and beat the Dodgers in four.

They’re set to meet again in the NLCS, starting Thursday in Philadelphia.

“Obviously, this series brings back a lot of memories and just rekindles those games we had with them,” said former Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa, now the Dodgers’ third-base coach. “We couldn’t beat them those two years that I played, but they were good, competitive series and we just came up short.”

Bowa will see a familiar face across the field. Former Dodgers second baseman Davey Lopes is the Phillies’ first-base coach.

Eight players appeared in all three series between the teams, including Phillies star third baseman Mike Schmidt, pitchers Steve Carlton and Ron Reed and center fielder Garry Maddox.

Four Dodgers played in each one: shortstop Bill Russell, catcher Steve Yeager, left fielder Dusty Baker and Monday, in his 15th full season as one of the team’s broadcasters.

“To this day, Larry Bowa and I talk about some of the games we played against one another,” Monday said. “There was such a respect that I had for Larry and some of the other Phillies, because it was the truest sense of competition on one of the biggest stages that you can play on – the postseason. Now we have a chance to reflect on it a little bit more.”

Led by Carlton, the Phillies brought plenty of pitching. Their arms were not the only thing that made an impression on Monday.

“We also knew they had a pitching staff that, if they were in street clothes, would look like an NBA team traveling through the airport,” he said.

Ron Reed, who played two seasons with the Detroit Pistons, was the tallest member of manager Danny Ozark’s 1977 staff at 6-foot-6. Jim Kaat, Jim Lonborg and Carlton all were 6-5. Larry Christenson was 6-4, an inch taller than Randy Lerch and Warren Brusstar.

Carlton and Tommy John matched up in Games 1 and 4 that year. The series clincher was played in a steady rain, and John outdueled the Phillies’ ace 4-1 at Veterans Stadium to give Lasorda a pennant in his first season after replacing Walter Alston as manager.

“Tommy went nuts and let a lot of emotion out after that game,” Monday said. “You have to realize, there was a great deal of attention focused upon Tommy since day one of spring training on how he was going to fill the shoes of a Hall of Fame manager.

“Well, he filled then very well. He filled them with a Hall of Fame career of his own.”

The Dodgers lost the World Series to the New York Yankees in 1977 and ‘78. The Phillies got their chance to move on in 1983 – after losing 11 of 12 to the Dodgers and getting shut out five times during the regular season, they trounced L.A.

Gary Matthews homered in the final three games of that series and was MVP of the NLCS. The Phillies finished off the four-game victory before a raucous home crowd.