The Phillies and the Expos were tied in the standings entering the final weekend of the 1980 season with a three game series set between the two clubs at Olympic Stadium (Montreal).
[2] While the Phillies were putting their finishing touches on clinching the NL East during the last weekend of the season, the Astros had a meltdown at Dodger Stadium.
Houston would knock Goltz out the game early and go on to win 7–1, setting the stage for a Phillies versus Astros NL Championship Series.
Ramón Avilés, Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Warren Brusstar, Marty Bystrom, Steve Carlton, Larry Christenson, Greg Gross, Greg Luzinski, Garry Maddox, Bake McBride, Tug McGraw, Keith Moreland, Dickie Noles, Ron Reed, Pete Rose, Dick Ruthven, Kevin Saucier, Mike Schmidt, Lonnie Smith, Manny Trillo, Del Unser, George Vukovich.
The 1980 NLCS featured Joe Morgan on the Astros and Pete Rose on the Phillies, the leadoff and 2-hole hitters in the Big Red Machine batting line-up, who dominated baseball for much of the 1970s.
Starters Ken Forsch and Steve Carlton dueled for the first five innings, with only one run scored by Houston in the third on an RBI single by Gary Woods.
Houston opened the scoring in the third when Terry Puhl singled home Craig Reynolds after a sacrifice bunt by Nolan Ryan.
After loading the bases in the seventh but failing to score, the Phillies got a run in the eighth to tie the game 3–3 when Maddox singled home pinch-runner Lonnie Smith.
The Astros went 1–2–3 in the ninth but the Phillies loaded the bases with one out in their half of the inning on singles by Bake McBride, Mike Schmidt and Smith.
The tenth inning turned disastrous for the Phillies as Houston used three hits to score four runs, with an RBI single by Cruz (complete with an error that moved him to second base), a run-scoring groundout by César Cedeño, and a two-run triple by Dave Bergman.
Houston's Joe Niekro pitched ten strong innings but missed out on what would have been a win, while Phillies closer Tug McGraw took the loss.
After two intentional walks Denny Walling hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the game's only run and give Houston the victory.
Garry Maddox then hit a low liner back to the mound that Ruhle reached down and appeared to catch (replays were inconclusive).
Ruhle threw to first baseman Art Howe to either double off Trillo or retire Maddox (according to the call) and Harvey asked for a ruling from first-base umpire Bob Engel.
Woods reached second and attempted to advance to third on the miscue, but Smith recovered the ball and threw him out on a close play as the Astros protested once again.
In the sixth, a run for the Astros was taken off the board when Woods left third base too early on a sacrifice fly attempt and the Phillies successfully appealed.
Mike Schmidt then hit a grounder up the middle, scoring Smith to tie it and reaching first when Joe Morgan fielded but was hesitant and did not make a throw, as Rose took third.
The Astros saw Luis Pujols and Enos Cabell thrown out at the plate in the second and fifth, but finally broke through to tie the game at 2 on an unearned run in the sixth, due to an error by Philadelphia's LF Greg Luzinski.
Houston took what seemed like a solid 5–2 lead in the seventh on an RBI single by Denny Walling, a wild pitch from Phillies reliever Larry Christenson, and a run-scoring triple by Art Howe.
An RBI single by Del Unser tied the game at 5, and then series MVP Manny Trillo put the Phillies ahead with a two-run triple.
The Astros promptly came back to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth, with Rafael Landestoy and José Cruz each singling in a run.
Despite ABC's short transmitter difficulties that same inning, Philadelphia's Dick Ruthven retired the Astros in order in the bottom of the tenth the last out being a soft liner to Maddox, and the Phillies had won their first pennant since 1950.
The Astros could have possibly won this series and their first championship if J.R. Richard, one of baseball's dominant pitchers of the late 1970s, had not tragically suffered a stroke in the middle of the season.
After his professional baseball career ended, Richard became involved in unsuccessful business deals and went through two divorces, which led to him being homeless and destitute in 1994.
[11][12] Then-Astros catcher Bruce Bochy was the manager of the San Francisco Giants in 2010 when his team beat the Philadelphia Phillies 30 years later in the NL Championship Series.
Bochy was behind the plate for Houston in Game 4 of the 1980 NL Championship Series versus Philadelphia when Pete Rose ran him over to score the go-ahead run in the top of the tenth inning.
[13] The Astros had to wait 25 years before they would finally make their first World Series appearance in 2005, where they lost to the Chicago White Sox in a four game sweep.