The Phillies were the reigning World Series champs.

They were returning home for the season opener with a record of 1-and-2 after playing their first three games of the new season on the road.

The date was April 13, 1981 – nearly 24 years ago today.

The Phils had lost on Opening Day to the Reds in Cincinnati when World Series hero Tug McGraw walked Dan Driessen with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to break a 2-2 tie in the wrong direction. Sparky Lyle (0-1) took the loss.

After an off-day and a rainout, the Phils split two games against the Cardinals in St. Louis – winning 5-2 behind Dick Ruthven (1-0) on the strength of a three-run homer in the first by Mike Schmidt (1) – and then losing 7-3 the next day with Larry Christenson (0-1) taking the loss.

April 13th was a Monday. The temperature was in the mid-50s and the winds were gusty outside the park – but not inside.

There was a short pre-game celebration on the field to commemorate last year’s championship and to hand out the World Series rings – soon followed by Dallas Green exchanging lineup cards with Chuck Tanner. And then 60,404 screaming fans were on their feet cheering as the Phillies took the field.

For work, I managed the Holiday Spa at 15th and Chestnut streets in Center City.

About an hour earlier, I told my employees that I was going out for lunch – but I was lying through my teeth. Instead of eating lunch, I walked underground and hopped on the subway at City Hall. I rode the subway to the end of the line at Pattison Avenue. And twenty minutes after walking out the door, I was sitting in a plastic seat in General Admission in left-field.

The Phillies were playing the Pirates and Lefty was making his season debut against the Candy Man. John Candelaria, the 6-7 Pirates lefthander, was also making his first start of the season.

The Pirates were no longer the “We Are Family” Phillies nemesis they had been throughout most of the 1970s. The Pirates had only one player who could hit for average – Bill Madlock would bat .341 that season – and no one who could hit the long ball. Dave Parker was beginning a down year and Willie Stargell – who was 41 years old by then – wouldn’t hit a ball out of the park in 60 at-bats all year. Dale Berra – not to be confused talent-wise with his father Yogi – was starting at second base.

No one on the Pirates staff would win ten games.

The Phils, on the other hand, returned with basically the same roster that beat George Brett and the Kansas City Royals four games to two the previous October. Hopes were high that the Phillies would repeat as World Series champs.

Lefty was in mid-season form right out of the box. His fast ball was cracking Bob Boone’s mitt and his slider was sliding almost ten feet.

After a scoreless inning-and-a-half, Manny Trillo led off the bottom of the second with a walk. After Garry Maddox flew out to center, Trillo took third on Larry Bowa’s double to right.

Second and third. One out.

Trillo scored on an infield single by Bob Boone to make it 1-0. Bowa took third to put runners on first and third with still one out.

Lefty hit a ground ball to second. Berra fielded the grounder and threw to the plate, but Bowa slid under the tag to make it 2-0 Phils. Boone was safe at second and Carlton safe at first.

First and second. Two outs.

Lonnie Smith hit a potential double-play grounder to second. Berra flipped to Tim Foli to force Lefty at second, but Foli’s relay to first bounced in the dirt and trickled away far enough to allow Boone to score from second and make it 3-0. Lonnie Smith had to hold first.

Two outs.

Pete Rose singled, Smith advanced to third, and the crowd was clamoring for a big inning with Mike Schmidt stepping to the plate. Big Mike doubled off Candelaria in the first.

But Candelaria got Schmidt to fly to center to end the inning.

A hot dog and a beer were lunch.

The Phils added a run in third and another in the sixth. And Lefty gave up a harmless run in the fifth – but that was it. He gave up eight singles and a double, and struck out six and walked one in picking up the complete game victory as the Phillies won 5-1.

If you’re not a baseball fan, it’s hard to describe the feeling of esprit de corps you share with everyone around you when your team wins a ball game – especially something a little special like the first home game of the year. I felt the warmth as I rode the subway back to work. That’s when that feeling mingled with another – the feeling you get when you pull off something sneaky and get away with it.

But that feeling drained as soon as I got back to work.

“You bastard,” my second-in-command said to me as I walked through the door.

The cat was out of the bag. The four-hour lunch was a little hard to swallow – pun intended.

The win evened the Phils record at 2-and-2 – but the season wound up being a mess when the players staged a walkout in June. The strike canceled 713 MLB games between June 12th and when play resumed on August 10th – one day after a hastily-contrived All-Star game.

The strike resulted in a split-season.

The Phillies finished the first half in first place with a 34-21 record, but played sub-500 ball during the second half at 25-27. Their combined mark of 59-48 would’ve placed them in third place had it not been for the split season. Mike Schmidt led the league in home runs with 31 and RBIs with 91. Schmidt finished a fine all-around season with a .316 average and Pete Rose batted .325. Lefty went 13-4 in the strike-shortened season with a 2.42 ERA.

Thank goodness the strike happened in 1981 and not the year before when the Phillies won the World Series. That would have eliminated a historic year in Phillies baseball.

Barry Bowe is the author of Born to Be Wild, 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant, and 12 Best Eagles QBs.