1977 National League Championship Series
1977 National League Championship Series
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1977 National League Championship Series

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1977 National League Championship Series

The 1977 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five matchup in Major League Baseball’s 1977 postseason between the West Division champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the East Division champion Philadelphia Phillies. It was the ninth NLCS in all. The Dodgers beat the Phillies three games to one and went on to lose the 1977 World Series to the New York Yankees.

Los Angeles won the series, 3–1.

The Phillies took the opening game of the series, winning their first postseason game since Game 1 of the 1915 World Series. They had lost the final four games in 1915, been swept in the 1950 World Series and were swept again in the 1976 National League Championship Series.

Game 1 had been billed as a classic pitching matchup between 1977 Cy Young award winner Steve Carlton and 20-game winner and Comeback Pitcher of the Year Tommy John. It didn't really live up to that, as neither figured in the final decision. The Phillies drew first blood in the first on a two-run homer by Greg Luzinski. They stretched the lead to 4–0 in the fifth on a bases-loaded, two-run single by Davey Johnson. In that inning, the Phils were helped when, on an apparent force-out of Bake McBride by Larry Bowa, Dodger shortstop Bill Russell glided off the second base bag as he received the throw before completing an attempted double play.

The Dodgers finally got on the board in their half of the fifth when Davey Lopes singled in Lee Lacy, who had pinch-hit for John and singled. Lacy scored after being advanced to second on a Carlton balk. The Phillies countered in the sixth on an RBI single by Carlton.

With two outs in the seventh and Lopes on first, Carlton appeared to be on his way out of the inning. However, he issued walks to Bill Russell and Reggie Smith. Ron Cey then made Carlton pay dearly for his loss of control by tying the game at five with a grand slam.

The Phils bounced back in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Mike Schmidt, his only RBI of the NLCS. They added another run to close out the scoring when Bowa scored on a balk by Dodger reliever Elías Sosa.

The Phillies got on the board first once again via homer, with Bake McBride hitting a shot off Dodger starter Don Sutton in the third. The Dodgers tied it in the bottom half on an RBI single by Davey Lopes, then broke it wide open on a grand slam by Dusty Baker in the fourth off Jim Lonborg. Meanwhile, Sutton settled in and shut the Phils down the rest of the way, yielding nine hits in the complete game. The Dodgers added single runs in the sixth and seventh on an RBI single by Steve Yeager and an RBI triple to center by Reggie Smith, chased down and briefly caught by McBride, but dropped when he impacted the unpadded wall.

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