PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Larry Bowa’s fiery personality made him a fan favorite during his playing days in Philadelphia, when the Gold Glove shortstop helped lead the Phillies to their only World Series championship in 1980.
His stint as Philadelphia’s manager wasn’t nearly as successful, as the passionate temperament that made him a hit as a player rubbed plenty of his players the wrong way.
Bowa was deemed too demanding, too abrasive to handle a core group of young players like Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell and Brett Myers and get them to the World Series. His win-at-all-costs mentality often clashed with a few of the laid-back players.
Bowa is back in Philadelphia for the NL championship series as the third-base coach for manager Joe Torre and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While Bowa’s rooting all the way for the Dodgers, he wouldn’t be disappointed if the Phillies won only their second World Series in their 126-year history.
“It’s a little weird, but I’m not going to sit up here and tell you if we get beat I want to see them lose the World Series,” Bowa said. “I’d like them to see the World Series.”
ith the Phillies and was the NL Manager of the Year in his first season in Philadelphia in 2001. He was fired with two games left in the 2004 season.
Burrell and Bowa chatted behind the batting cage before the start of Thursday night’s Game 1.
Bowa said the Dodgers should hold up fine among the boisterous and hostile crowds at Phillies games. He said Dodgers fans were too laid-back, and didn’t become “electric” until the last game in the first round of the playoffs. And Bowa certainly disagreed with Rollins’ comments from earlier this year that the Philadelphia fans were “front-runners.”
“They come out and support their team,” Bowa said. “Watching the playoffs against Milwaukee, it was quite a sight. I told our guys if they thought Chicago was bad, they’re in for a rude awakening because it’s not even close.”
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RAH FOR THE RAYS: Red Sox DH David Ortiz is a big fan of the Tampa Bay Rays making their first-ever postseason appearance.
“I think it’s good for the game,” Ortiz said. “People get tired of seeing the same teams every year over and over and over. I’m sure you guys know that people got tired of seeing the Yankees. Hopefully they don’t get of tired of seeing us.”
Boston is in the ALCS for the fourth time in the last six seasons. The AL East champion Rays had never won more than 70 games in a season before this year.
perience will play a key role when the matchup starts Friday night.
“I don’t know. I’ll tell you after the series,” Ortiz said. “Right now it’s even money. It’s just not having experience, it’s who plays the best. And those kids, you can’t take anything for granted when you play them.”
Both teams have strong pitching and defense.
“I would say now, they have the best pitching in the American League,” Ortiz said. “I think if you go to the starters, the bullpen, they’ve got guys that can make a pitch.”
Ortiz has had success against James Shields, Tampa Bay’s Game 1 starter on Friday night. He is 7-for-14 with two homers against the right-hander.
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NICE TIMING: Akinori Iwamura hit .389 with a home run and four RBIs in the first round of the playoffs, and Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon figures his second baseman will keep swinging a solid bat.
“His confidence is very high right now,” Maddon said Thursday. “I just want him to continue what he’s been doing to this point.”
Iwamura has had some of his better regular-season games against Boston. He has a .302 average against the defending World Series champions and has also hit five of his career 13 homers off Red Sox pitching.
“Boston is the team we’re facing right now. There’s no special feeling towards it,” Iwamura said through a translator. “But it’s a special team. It’s a strong team.”
with one homer against Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox starter for Game 1.
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BIG MOMENT: Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg called it his favorite moment of the season. Center fielder B.J. Upton said it “jump-started” the team.
Both referred to Dan Johnson’s game-tying, pinch-hit homer off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning of Tampa Bay’s 5-4 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sept. 9.
The Rays had dropped their first seven games this season in Boston before the late comeback against the Boston closer.
“It was a big thing for us winning in Boston,” Upton said.
Rays outfielder Jonny Gomes said the September series in Boston, in which Tampa Bay took two of three, provided a preview of what it would be like to play in the postseason.
“That’s what we needed,” Gomes said. “We needed the experience of playoff baseball. We went in there with the attitude of playoff baseball. To be able to sway momentum like that was great.”
Johnson was called up from Triple-A Durham before that game.
“The best part was how quiet it got,” Johnson said.
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BLACK FRIDAY: All these years later, Larry Bowa and Davey Lopes still disagree.
Now the Dodgers’ third-base coach, Bowa played shortstop for Philadelphia in the 1977 NL championship series. Lopes, currently the Phillies’ first-base coach, played second base for Los Angeles in that matchup.
Both were involved in the key play from Game 3 that tilted the series.
With teams tied at one game each, the Phillies took a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning. They still led 5-4 with two outs and a runner on third when Lopes hit a hard grounder that bounced off third baseman Mike Schmidt and straight to Bowa.
Bowa fielded the carom and threw to first, and Lopes was called safe on a bang-bang play as the tying run scored.
Bowa said he’s slowed the replay, sped up the replay and no matter the angle, Lopes was out.
“I know Davey says let it go, but he was out. He knows he was out and he can go look at that all day,” Bowa said.
Lopes said he was safe and has never seen a replay.
“Why Larry keeps dwelling on it, I have no clue,” Lopes said.
Lopes scored the winning run in a 6-5 victory and the Dodgers won the series with a 4-1 victory the next day.
“They had the chance to regroup and come out and kick our butts the next day, but they didn’t do it,” Lopes said.
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