The Dirty Inning: Recent Episodes
The Dirty Inning
The Phillies led the Orioles by a bunch of runs in 1896, but that wouldn't stop them from losing in truly insane fashion. If that's not enough for you, we've got 1890s Philadelphia wedding superstitions, a public dog-whipping, and a game recap the author abandoned in the middle out of disgust.
Opening day 1999, the Phillies offense bailed out their No. 1 starter, igniting a wave of optimism in the clubhouse: This team had more than one way to win. The next day, their No. 2 starter helped give up eight runs in the fourth to the Braves. This is the story of Chad Ogea, a man who probably shouldn't have been where he was, but wore the red pinstripes all the same.
Opening day is almost here, so join us as we travel through time, from 1891 to 1991, and discuss the losses, wins, ties, and weird kids who were just, like, around of various Phillies opening days along the way!
In 1962, the Phillies retired Robin Roberts' number even though he wasn't yet in the Hall of Fame--or even retired from the game.
With the arrival of 2022 comes many anniversaries, many of which do NOT involve Steve Carlton's terrifying 1972 season. Let's take a stroll back through the centuries and see what milestones this goofy little Phillies franchise could celebrate this year, if it wanted to.
Bubba Church pitched two thirds of an inning for the Phillies after getting blasted in the face. Erv Palica pitched a whole game for the Dodgers with the reputation of a hypochondriac. September 24, 1950 was a battle of wills at Shibe Park, and the result was the Whiz Kids' worst game of the season, but at least they weren't the "Blue Jays" anymore.
Jack Scheible was a young stud pitching his way across Pennsylvania when the Phillies called. Then he became the author of the "most grotesque game" in baseball's brief history. Sorry about Justin's audio for the first ninety seconds or so of this episode. He sounds like he's coming out of an old timey radio, so let's just call it "authenticity."
It's July 3, 2001, and after a speech from Larry Bowa, the Phillies could beat anybody. Except the Braves. Join us as we discuss Phillies pitchers Robert Person, Bruce Chen, and Jose Santiago on an odyssey of unpleasantness from the early aughts.
In the Thanksgiving episode of The Dirty Inning, Justin and Trevor discuss the Philadelphia legacies of two guys named Turkey, a man named Stuffy, and a fellow they called "Pie."
Death: it comes for us all. On July 4, 1947 in Philadelphia, it seemed to come for everybody at once. Escaped horses stampeded through the streets, UFOs lit up the night sky, and chaos reigned in the cradle of liberty as the Phillies played a doubleheader with the Braves--and got handed a couple of L's. Join Justin and Trev on a journey that should have ended their lives.
In the spring of 1970, the Phillies were a largely unknown entity. Their players were young, their manager was new, and after three wins to start the season, they lost the next seven. Justin and Trevor bring you the story of that seventh loss, a brutal one to the Mets while the nation's attention was thankfully elsewhere, on a crippled space craft, hovering above the planet.
On June 1, 1923, the Phillies made a little history, which is to say, they were made a part of a little history: For the first time in the 20th century, a team (the Giants) scored in every inning of a baseball game, bashing the Phillies 22-8, thanks in part to both the offensive contributions of Jimmy O'Connell, a hot young prospect with a worm in his gut, and Jesse Winters, a Phillies hurler who just stopped caring. Also: Just how in the heck hard was it to get a bowl of warm soup in Philadelphia in 1923? Apparently, harder than you'd think.
On May 14, 2005, the Phillies sent Ryan Madson to the mound against the Reds to hold a late lead. He blew it. Join Just and Trev as they travel back to early 2000s Philadelphia--a city on the rise--for an episode that has it all: Mysteries about Jimmy Rollins all-star appearances! Injections of crappy 2000s pop-rock! Justin accidentally saying Del Ennis as "Del Anus!" Get in here.
It was 1995, baseball was recovering from a strike, the Phillies were realizing they might be good, and humanity was grappling with the dawn of the internet. The Phillies were hosting the Padres as part of a lengthy home stand and, on a Sunday afternoon, offered free baseball to their fans thanks to a 4-4 tie.
Justin and Trevor dive into the story of Heathcliff Slocumb, the 1995 Phillies, and all the fear of “getting too online” permeating mid-nineties Philadelphia.
Old timey ball players... ineffective pitchers... passing sea birds... eventually, death's icy touch is felt on each of our shoulders. On this episode of The Dirty Inning, Justin and Trev go back to 1915--the LAST time the Phillies started 4-0--and discuss the loss that ended the team's early eight-game win streak. Along the way, they'll learn just how many players in that game felt the unwavering fear of what one baseball writer referred to as being called out "by the great umpire in the sky."*
*In reference to death.
On August 7, 1996, the Phillies played a game on Mike Trout’s birthday and lost, 14-1. It was on that day, Justin and Trev theorize, on which the six-year-old Trout declared that yes, they were his hometown team and he loved them, but he would NEVER play for the Phillies.
On September 6, 1930, the Phillies handed the ball to Hal Elliott, a former WWI balloon pilot, who proceeded to let the Brooklyn Robins pad their already 12-0 lead. Justin and Trev take you back to the day in Depression-era New York that the Phillies let a baseball game go so poorly, it barely even feel like baseball anymore.
The 1946 Boston Braves were ready to impress people. They tried to gut the Cardinals roster for talent and upgraded Braves Field in Beantown, including a flashy new coat of paint for the reserved seats. Days later, they had screwed up their home opener so publicly that they had to play the Phillies at Fenway Park.
Justin and Trev visit 1883 Philadelphia, where the Phillies--then the "Quakers"--are losing the first ever game in team history. And the fans, as you might have guessed, are NOT into it.
The first time the Phillies met Houston Colt .45s starter Don Nottebart in 1963, he no-hit them. The second time... Don Hoak and the rest of the Phillies offense didn't let that happen.
Justin and Trev discuss one reindeer who you won't find on Santa's sleigh: "Reindeer" Bill Killefer, a Phillies catcher from 1911-17 who one newspaper once called a "frail piece of bric-a-brac."
In 2014, Andrew McCutchen was the reigning MVP, on the cover of MLB: The Show, appearing in ESPN ads, and absolutely shredding the Phillies over 4th of July weekend.
Justin and Trev dive into Bryce Harper and Manny Machado's most terrifying performances against the Phillies, their potentially future team. Also, Justin's most infuriating Jean Segura memory, and Trev reads aloud from Kyle Kendrick's Wikipedia page.
On the latest episode of The Dirty Inning, Justin and Trevor discuss some of the worst, dumbest, or most grating innings in Phillies World Series history. Not for the weak at heart.
Justin and Trevor find the worst innings the Phillies played in 2018 against the two teams in the NLCS, the Brewers and Dodgers.
At the dawn of the '90s, the Phillies were a team in search of their next Mike Schmidt. By September 12, 1990, they still hadn't found him. As Philadelphia suffered through a financial apocalypse and a measles outbreak, the Phillies suffered right along with the rest of the city in a particularly poor showing by starter Jose De Jesus against the Cubs. Join us!
On September 17, 2007, every win counted. With Mets trounced by the Nationals, the Phillies had a chance to climb toward New York in the standings as Clay Condrey entered the game with a nine-run lead. There wasn't much else to do except win easily watch the bullpen start a series of dumpster fires.
Pass the potatoes and we'll tell you the tale of Phillies pitcher Russ Meyer; not a particularly enjoyable man to meet in a locker room. But on a pitching mound? Also not great. At least not on June 4, 1952, when he was part of a Phillies pitching collapse that allowed seven runs to score! So, why didn't the Phillies just score seven of their own runs? Well... they did.
As World War II erupted across the globe, the Phillies were trying their best to lighten the mood the only way they knew how: Losing five hundred baseball games.
The Phillies had a slight problem in early August 1894: The Philadelphia Baseball Grounds had caught fire, causing $100,000 in damage. If the Phillies had any frustrations about the loss, they took them out on the Louisville Colonels on August 18. Justin and Trev go back over a century to talk about the 29-4 drubbing the Phillies hung on their opponent in a time apparently before the unwritten rules had been not written.
Until Dave Dombrowski was hired, it was starting to seem like nobody wanted to work for the Phillies, unlike in 1920, when the Phillies struggled to find a candidate who was willing and available.
The end of the preseason. Your whole season ahead of you. This is going to be your year. You can feel it in your bones. Unfortunately, the one in your knee just exploded for no reason. On this episode, join us as we journey back to 1925, a time when Philadelphia still had two baseball teams, and they began each year by playing each other in a game with typically few consequences for the rest of the season.
The bad news? The Phillies horrendous 1928 season came to an end, largely due to a single a miscarriage of a play. The good news? Almost absolutely no one was watching. Justin and Trev commemorate the close of the Phillies' 2019 season by telling the twisted tale of the 1928 regular season finale, and reflect on the bittersweet nature of another year gone by.
We all know now that the last time a World Series was played in Washington, D.C., it was 1933. But if we zip back a few months before that, and up a few miles to Philadelphia, we can find another historic baseball moment: Two consecutive Phillies losses with an 18-1 score. Yes, both of them.
Ah, to be young, and also the team president of a professional sports franchise. That was William D. Cox, who was only 33 when he took over the team in the winter of 1943. Several months later, when baseball justice came for him, he was dealt with swiftly and abruptly, in exactly the way rule-breakers of today... are not.
It's springtime in 1954. The youths of Philadelphia are teaming up to commit felonies. The fumes of coal gas fills the air. And the local ball team is in Florida, losing two games simultaneously. Join Justin and Trev for a Phillies preseason story about a pair of Grapefruit League meltdowns involving a pitcher who didn't pitch and a kind-hearted manager turning heel at a time when everybody on the Dodgers was named "Don."
What's better than a single, isolated dirty inning? Two stacked on top of each other, course! Everyone stop booing me. Stop that right now. Come back to 1962 with Justin and Trev as they discuss the top AND bottom of the first inning at Connie Mack Stadium, on a night when the Phillies and Cardinals would both have their worst frame of the evening shortly after the first pitch.
Come late April 1966 in Chicago, the grain elevators were aflame, proms were preparing the young folk to step into adult life, and the Cubs were a reliably beatable squad. Gene Mauch and his Phillies came to town, and while Mauch mentioned they hadn't suffered a real bad loss at Wrigley for some time and were about due, his team came out and walloped the baby bears so hard, they completely checked out for the next day's game.
It's 1967. An invasion of filthy youths in Philadelphia and a secret germ warfare program is revealed at Penn! Also, the Phillies, or whatever.
It's 1976. The Phillies' backs are against the wall, down 2-0 in the NLCS. Nobody in Philadelphia believes that they can pull off the impossible against the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati. And they would be right, because they can't. Justin and Trev go back to a time when the Phillies were a playoff team for just one more day, and what a day of press coverage and fan sentiments it was.
In April 1986, the Phillies infield made a trio of costly errors in one inning that weren't even the last errors they'd commit all day. Let's learn about how a 41-year-old Steve Carlton felt about that, and how manager John Felske felt about Carlton's feelings.
Go back to 1996 for a day of poor reflexes and early exit at first base. Switching from third to first is supposed to be somewhat seamless, but it certainly didn't look that way for Todd Zeile on August 7, when he broke a National League record for defensive errors in one game and committed two on the same play.
In the nineties, one moment sparked a secret war between the Phillies and the NL umpires that the Phillies said was obvious and the umpires said of course was not and would never happen.
Trev and Justin take a fun little jaunt back to 2011, the easiest year of Phillies fandom ever recorded, to prove that hey; a terrible bullpen can pop up anywhere at anytime on any team.
Go back to 1960 with Gene Mauch and the Phillies, whose first game managing the New Phillies took place only days after a threatening message rang out across Connie Mack Stadium, warning fans to deny their base instincts to throw trash.
It sucked to hit against Tom Seaver in the seventies. His career vs. the Phillies had a lot of that. And he crushed them. A lot. Except for one back-up first baseman for no reason.
Remember when Hall of Fame third baseman, twelve-time all-star, twelve-time Gold Glove winner, nine-time Silver Slugger, and three-time MVP Mike Schmidt was booed? Well, by the time the Phillies were retiring his number in 1990, they weren't booing him anymore! They were booing several other people who ruined the entire evening for Schmidt and everyone else.
It's the anniversary of the day the Phillies traded Ryne Sandberg to Chicago, so we're going to talk about the time, decades later, when he came back. Retrace Sandberg's steps through a boring and stupid era of Phillies baseball, up to the dirtiest inning of Sandberg's final game.
Jack Taylor didn't play for the Phillies very long. In addition, Jack Taylor didn't play for the Phillies very well. Let's visit 1897 Cincinnati for some reason and check in on a city overrun by squealing pigs and struggling Phillies.
The Phillies have hired Bryan Price to be their new pitching coach, and already, we have questions: Who is this man? Where did he come from? And, when he was the manager of the Reds, what was the biggest loss he ever handed the Phillies? Join Justin and Trev as they go back only a few years to recall an inning in which Price helped make 2016 just as bad a year for the Phillies as we remember it was.
Arbitration: It impacts all of our lives. Mostly MLB players. Nevertheless! As the Phillies and J.T. Realmuto get set for an arbitration hearing in February, take a journey through the Phillies' at-times incredible history of taking part in the process, as well as what it is and what it means.
Look, we've all been ejected from baseball games. But have you ever been ejected from a baseball game... forever? Justin and Trev journey back to 1991 to witness the brief major league career of Phillies pitcher Amalio Carreno and discuss how you never know when you've done something for the last time.
His name was Jeff Parrett. Many times in his athletic career, he was clutch. Then one day, Phillies manager Nick Leyva sent him in to close out a game in the ninth. Next came an ugly night at The Vet when Parrett gave a performance for the birds.
It's time to go through some lesser-known stories about the Phillie Phanatic in celebration of the big guy's 43rd birthday. Why is it time for that? I don't know, I looked at the copy, and that's what it said.
How many times did you hear that the 2020 Phillies bullpen was the worst since the 1930 Phillies bullpen? Was it a lot? Rhetorical question. Justin and Trev dive into that 1930 pitching staff, who was on it, and what might have been the worst two-day period of its existence.
On their annual Opening Day-themed episode, Justin and Trev go back to April 19, 1900 when the Phillies suffered a late-inning collapse that almost cost them their entire dignity in the first game of the season. But... did it?!? Perhaps a twist ending is afoot!
With all these no-hitters happening in 2021, Justin and Trev took a look back at one that happened to the Phillies long ago: When a bummed out, pissed-off 1900 Phillies squad got even more demoralized by a guy named "Noodles."
The "Maddux." It's everyone's favorite baseball statistic, so let's not even explain what it is and dive into the best Phillies era of all: The late nineties.
In July 2020, former Phillies coach Mike Ryan passed away. Justin and Trev look back on his scrappy career as a defensive catcher, focusing on an anomalous night in 1970 at Veterans Stadium when both Ryan and fellow Phillies backstop Tim McCarver suffered the same injury in the same inning.
The Phillies have named their 2020 Wall of Fame honoree: 1980 World Series champion and NLCS MVP Manny Trillo. Justin and Trev talk about the skill, attitude, and impact Trillo made on that historic Phillies team... and how Trillo cost them a big win years later.
Ah, the extreme pain of the "What if...?" scenario. Trev and Justin discuss the career and 2008 Phillies legacy of little-to-not-at-all known pitcher Les Walrond: How he got to the majors, his appearances therein, and his dirtiest inning in a Phillies uniform.
A visit to a 1926 Phillies game reveals that umpire Bill Klem may have been very serious about his job, but he was even more serious about not being called "Catfish." Justin and Trev do what the listeners love--re-live their adolescent traumas in public--before breaking down an inning between some furious Phillies and Cardinals.
Darin Ruf signed a minor league deal with the Giants this winter, so you know what that means: A comprehensive look at his career as a prolific Phillies slugger that never was. Justin and Trev go back and remember Darin Ruf's time as a draft pick, prospect, and sort first baseman/outfielder for the Phillies, as well as his awesome career in Korea. They almost called this episode "Ruf Stuff," and then didn't.
With the passing of Phillies legend Dick Allen, Justin and Trev forego their whining for one episode (sort of) and talk about the 529-foot home run Allen slugged on May 29, 1965, as well as how Allen was able to hit it, and the massive bat he swung to do so.
Scott Kingery. A name that will serve as an example for many things that it maybe shouldn't. Or should it? Justin and Trev discuss the undoing of the super utility extension-haver.
Cole Hamels has tragically signed with the Braves. Many had hoped that the 2008 Phillies World Series MVP would come home, but it was not to be. Instead, Justin and Trev talk about Hamels' sun-drenched, at times excruciatingly painful path to the big leagues and the worst inning he ever pitched for the Phillies once he got there.
Meet Joe Cowley. Six-foot, five inches. Lexington, Kentucky-born. Phillies starter for five games in 1987. Hurler of one of the sport's worst no-hitters in 1986. He never won another game again. Join Justin and Trev for a look back at Cowley's time in the big leagues as he attempted to find his control in the eighties; an endeavor and a time period that both made very made little sense.
The DH in the NL. What??? One-time Phillies pitcher and career .275 hitter Jack Scott would have something to say about that. And it would probably be very witty, so imagine that instead of this tweet.
Former Phillies outfielder Jay "Moon Man" Johnstone seemed to fill every moment of his life with a memory; as likely to hit .300 as he was to set off a series of small explosions in the locker room. Justin and Trev talk about the Phillies career of a beloved player whose reputation preceded and followed him.
Chris Jones and Justin Klugh React to Bryce Harper's Walk-off Grand Slam vs. the Cubs by The Dirty Inning
On July 12, 2008, Adam Eaton did what he did best for the Phillies that year: Ruin everything.
There was not a lot to like about the Phillies’ 10-5 loss to the Expos on May 19, 1979. Including the uniforms. That's right. It's the Saturday Night Special episode of The Dirty Inning.
Justin and Trevor commemorate the Memorial Day holiday with a trip back to visit the late-’90s Phillies, a team that trotted out ineffective starting pitchers about as often as the offense put up a scoreless 1-2-3 inning.
Steve Carlton didn't make a lot of poor starts in the '70s. On June 29, 1972, he also didn't make one. But in the context of one of the best pitchers of all time during one of the best seasons of all time, surrounded by one of the worst teams of all time, this inning was a bit of a disaster.
By the fourth inning at Wrigley Field on May 18, 1951, the Cubs had scored ten runs. Then Milo Candini entered the game for the Phillies with a bruised skull. Things did not improve.
Opening Day, 2006! Scott Rolen, many years removed from his Phillies career, returns as a member of the Cardinals, the wounds of his rejection of our city still fresh. For the first time ever, booing did not stop a visiting slugger from owning everyone.
History could not be contained in this extra-long episode from 1917, for which the actual events are unknown.
Some spring training games are important developmental exhibitions. And some are Cole Hamels getting annihilated by the Dominican Republic national baseball team.
There was not an out to be had in the sixth inning of a Phillies-Giants match-up in September 1925, when Billy Southworth, High Pockets Kelly, Irish Meusel, and the perfectly named Giants hung 24 runs on Kaiser Wilhelm and his futile Phillies.
In this Valentine’s Day episode of TDI, Justin and Trevor take a look at a pair of innings from the 27-inning career of former Phillies pitcher Lynn Lovenguth.
When you're a thief, it doesn't matter how you get home. On September 13, 1953, Curt Simmons and the Phillies watched in horror as Stan Musial did what he did best: find a weakness and exploit it. Justin and Trevor tell the story of that unimportant and largely terrible day.
It’s time to party like it’s 1964, which of course means it is time to sit quietly in a room, crushed by the failures of the past. Join Justin and Trevor as they recollect one of our city's most terrible moments. Yay!
Tim Worrell was a relief pitcher. But in April 2004, he got to take a swing. Let Justin and Trevor tell you the story of that swing and the terrifically poor inning of baseball that preceded it.
Justin and Trevor have, after weeks of a hiatus, reopened The Dirty Inning files to both look back on the filthiest inning we could find on Gabe Kapler and to celebrate one of the finest innings in Phillies history, authored by the immortal hand of Roy Halladay.
Life in the mid-2000's was riddled with crop tops and full genome sequencing. Somewhere in between, Jon Lieber and the Phillies fit in a horrid frame against a mostly forgettable Rockies squad.
Sex! Cocaine! Phones! September 21, 1985 was an intersection of some of baseball’s most historic staples. Join Justin and Trevor as they encapsulate not only what the slightly terrible ‘85 Phils were about, but the story of the 1980s in America through a doomed appearance by Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross.
October 1, 1978. The playoffs were only a few harvest moons away. Their post season berth secured, the Phillies didn’t have much to play for against the Pirates. Except for their dignity.
I think we all know where this is going.
The Phillies lived in fear of two things in 1994: Labor disputes and their new weekday day game alternate blue hats.
The Good Phight''s Deputy Editor Justin Klugh and contributor Dr. Trevor Strunk continue their anthology of the worst innings the Phillies have ever played with the bottom of the third in a truly humiliating game against the New York Giants on June 30, 1938.
Learn more about the Phillies' final game, final loss, and almost final inning every played in the Baker Bowl, and get a glimpse at Trevor's past as a boppin' Brooklyn socialite in 2009 that eventually led to the darkest chapter of his life!
Eventually, folks... we all play our Dirty Inning.
It was 1957. The Braves were from Milwaukee. The Phillies logo was a picture of their hat. Nothing was the same. When Turk Farrell failed to contain Hank Aaron and the Braves, the Phillies countered the rally with Seth Morehead, the worst defensive pitcher in history. We join our Dirty Inning, already in progress...
It's The Dirty Inning's Tenth Episode Craptacular!
Here, you'll find some of our listeners' most heinous, unwatchable viewings of Phillies baseball.
At a time most associated with glory, the 2008 Phillies were still capable of bad losses. One game in particular saw the Marlins take it to Brett Myers. In a tale narrated by Dr. Trevor Strunk, re-live a Phillies loss that, for once, we can assure ourselves had, in the end, a happy epilogue.
Easter: a holiday of rebirth and renewal. But there seemed very little different on April 14, 1968, when the Phillies - in the midst of Love-In’s, war protests, and Steve McQueen jetting around the Bay Area blowing up gas stations - failed to hold off the Giants and the Hall of Famers in their lineup on a blustery day in San Francisco.
Opening day, 1981. A fresh start. A chance to recapture glory. A slim lead heading into the ninth with Tug McGraw in the bullpen.
An all.
New.
Nightmare.
Phillies pitcher Ed "Wild Elk of the Wasatch" Heusser threw the last pitches of his career on September 14, 1948. They were not good pitches.
We all have to start somewhere. This podcast starts with the bad and not good opening day of 2016. The Phillies started the year with the sort of baseball that smothered what little enthusiasm had by the fans. And YOU get to start listening to it now, ha ha ha h
With Y2K on the horizon, Paul Byrd and the Phillies took the field on April 14, 1999 with the intention of living it up before the world was swallowed by chaos.
On September 27, 1975, Steve Carlton departed a game and left the Phillies bullpen to pick up the pieces. Instead, they made more pieces.
A brigade of former Phillies in Cubs uniforms plowed through Phillies reliever Bill Campbell and the feelings of any supporters of Philadelphia baseball during the Reagan era for one unfortunate afternoon. Justin and Trevor relate the unwatchable game to your ears.
With Veterans Stadium days from its doom, the Phillies sent Vicente Padilla to the mound to keep the Braves at bey. This plan, much like The Vet’s imploding foundations, failed.