Memorable moments from 1993 Phillies

THE 1993 PHILLIES had a bottle of beer in one hand and a bottle of lightning in the other. They were unshaven and not particularly hygienic, but boy could they play baseball.

The season ended with Joe Carter's walkoff home run, but the legacy is the dirt on Lenny Dykstra's chest, John Kruk's ripped pants and Mitch Williams' high-wire acts from the bullpen.

"Who's Ugly Now," the Daily News headline wondered after the Phillies had taken care of the pretty-boy Braves to reach the World Series.

If ugly is a guy stretching a double into a triple with a mouthful of chewing tobacco and a bellyflop dive into third base, then the 1993 Phillies were wonderfully hideous.

Capturing the magic

* The Phillies went from worst

to first for the only time in their

history. In 1992, the Phils were 72-90 and finished 26 games back of the Pirates. In 1993, they won 97 games and won the NL East by three games.

* The Phillies added mostly complimentary players in the offseason after 1992. The biggest acquisition was pitcher Danny Jackson. "We knew we weren't one player away," manager Jim Fregosi said. "We knew we weren't a David Cone away from being a contender. Sure, it was a temptation to go out and make a big splash. But most of the time when you go out and make a big splash, it doesn't work out on the field."

* Current radio analyst Larry Andersen had such a terrific year as a setup man (2.92 ERA), that he racked up $375,000 in contract bonuses mostly because he appeared in 64 games. Lenny Dykstra earned an extra $400k in bonuses.

* Dykstra had all sorts of financial problems after his playing days and, in fact, just got out of jail. After the Phillies clinched the division, he summed up the difference between regular season and playoff baseball. "Everything is on the line," he said, eerily. "It's like taking all your money out of your bank account and going betting. If you lose it all, you go home. But as long as you win, you keep playing."

* Catcher Darren Daulton, the strongest voice on a team loaded with alpha males, had endured numerous knee injuries, miserable seasons and free-agency flirtations before finally getting to the postseason. "I didn't care how we won it," he said after the Phils clinched a postseason berth. "I just wanted it to happen. I had chances to leave, but I wanted to win in Philadelphia. I wanted that more than to win anywhere else."

* Something special was afoot early when the Phillies began the season with a sweep in Houston, which led to an 8-1 start. When April ended, the Phils were 17-5 and led the division by 4 1/2 games.

* On April 26, the Phillies erased an 8-0 Giants lead to win 9-8. Three days after that, Milt Thompson helped win another game by robbing San Diego's Bob Geren of a grand slam.

* Mariano Duncan kept the momentum going by hitting an eighth-inning grand slam off Lee Smith, one of the greatest closers of all time. Duncan's Mother's Day blast turned a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 win.

* The first week of July featured Mitch Williams' game-winning RBI to win the second game of a doubleheader at 4:40 a.m. Four days later, the Phillies beat the Dodgers in 20 innings.

* But one of the most important moments of the season occurred in spring training when Ricky Jordan charged Cardinals pitcher Paul Kilgus after being the third Phillie to be hit by a pitch in the game. "We got hit more than any team in the league last year," Daulton fumed afterward, "and that won't happen again this year. It won't happen." And with that, Macho Row was established.

Playoff recap

NLCS: def. Atlanta, 4-2

* Game 1: Kim Batiste redeemed his

ninth-inning error that led to the tying run by knocking in John Kruk with a walkoff

double in the bottom of the 10th.

Daily News headline: KIM-BACK

* Game 2: Fred McGriff's first-inning homer set the tone as the Braves romped 14-3 to tie the series. John Kruk summed it up by saying the game was going fine until "Crime Dog [McGriff] killed a family of four" with that blast.

* Game 3: The host Braves continued rolling with a 9-4 win that put the Phillies on their heels. The next two games were in Atlanta.

* Game 4: Mitch Williams closed out the ninth inning of a 2-1 win with a typical Mitch Williams save: Two guys reached to start the ninth, a doubleplay ended it. Daily News headline: QUEASY DOES IT.

* Game 5: Williams, who came in with two on and the Phillies desperately holding a 3-0 lead, allowed the Braves to tie it in the bottom of the ninth as Curt Schilling watched from underneath a towel. Lenny Dykstra bailed him out with a 10th-inning homer off Atlanta fireballer Mark Wohlers to give the Phillies the win and a 3-2 series lead heading back to Veterans Stadium.

* Game 6: Key hits by Darren Daulton, Dave Hollins and Mickey Morandini chased Greg Maddux, who was in the middle of four consecutive Cy Young awards, and the Phillies rolled to a 6-3 win. Morandini started Maddux's misery by grounding out in the first inning on a ball that caromed off the pitcher's right leg. Daily News headline:

ATLANTA GETS SLIPPED A MICKEY.

World Series: Lost to Toronto, 4-2

* Game 1: Toronto's offense, which would be a problem all series, erased three Phillies' leads and stuck a three-spot up in the seventh inning to win, 8-5. "We were down a game against Atlanta, so there's nothing to panic about," John Kruk said afterward between sips of beer. "We're not supposed to be here, anyway."

* Game 2: Jim Eisenreich, who had hit seven home runs all year, connected with an unlikely three-run bomb off Blue Jays starter Dave Stewart to highlight a five-run third inning as the Phillies won 6-4. Stewart had been 9-2 in his last 12 postseason starts.

Daily News headline: SURPRISE-ENREICH.

* Game 3: With no designated hitter rule in National League parks during the World Series, Toronto manager Cito Gaston took a major gamble by starting usual DH Paul Molitor at first base and putting first baseman John Olerud on the bench. Olerud won the AL batting title that year with a .363 average. But Molitor went 3-for-4 with a homer and a triple as Toronto romped, 10-3.

* Game 4: This arguably was the most dismal game in Phillies history. Each team posted crooked numbers throughout and the Phillies held a 14-9 lead heading into the eighth inning. But Larry Andersen started a fire and Mitch Williams doused it with kerosene and by the time the inning was over, the Blue Jays led, 15-14. The score held up in a game that lasted 4 hours, 14 minutes - longest in World Series history at the time.

* Game 5: Curt Schilling, who would become one of the most clutch pitchers of his generation, picked up his first postseason win with a 2-0 shutout to send the series back to Toronto. Schilling had been the NLCS MVP, even though he failed to register a decision.

* Game 6: The Phillies erased a 5-1 deficit by scoring five times in the seventh, which included a three-run homer by Lenny Dykstra. But Mitch Williams started the bottom of the ninth by walking Rickey Henderson and ended it by giving up the dramatic walkoff homer to Joe Carter, which gave the Blue Jays the World Series title.

* And finally: Cowardly death threats against Williams followed the Game 4 loss, but Williams refused to call them a distraction. It's an indication of how popular the 1993 team was that Williams has become extremely popular in Philadelphia for how he responded to the crushing end.

Because, as Kruk said, no one expected them to be there in the first place.