Padres’ Bullpen Falters in 7-5 Loss : Everyone Used, but Braves Still Rally to Win in 10 Innings

Dick Williams dressed in order, socks first, pants second, shirt third. He puffed and he huffed then, showing us that, indeed, not everything was in order with his life, with his baseball team. He didn’t exactly want to talk about it, so he didn’t say much. He left.

But he wandered over to an elevator and made it to the press box, where he was about to do something very much out of the ordinary, something that may have taken a lot of guts to do. Saturday was the first day of Williams’ call-in radio talk show.

The show gives the fans a chance to ask him anything, like has Goose Gossage lost his fastball or has Tim Stoddard lost his job? And he had to do this show on a day the Padres had lost, 7-5, in 10 innings to the Atlanta Braves, a day that actually made you wonder if Gossage and Stoddard had lost it.

The people who knew Williams feared for the callers, feared that Williams might rip some cords out of the telephones if people asked the tough question. Williams, though, before he had left for the press box, had said: “It (the show) will be interesting. There’ll be some dandy calls. I think my answers will have to be nicer than to you guys (the media).”

And so he was cordial, since he had eased up considerably by that time. On his show, he said: “It’s kind of like a race horse cooling down. I think I’ve cooled down now.”

But he’d been so very hot before, mainly because a bullpen that before appeared to be so talented fell on its face. The Padres blew a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. He’d been hot because his moves backfired. Dale Murphy eventually hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning against Stoddard to end it, to begin rumors that this staff has no stuff.

“Even more so now,” Williams said when asked if he’d been concerned about his bullpen.

Actually, the day had been nice for a while. Starter Mark Thurmond was effective, giving up just four hits and two runs in five innings. And then Luis DeLeon came in, limiting the Braves to just one hit. Meanwhile, Al Bumbry had knocked in two runs with a fifth-inning double, and Terry Kennedy and Kevin McReynolds homered in the eighth inning.

It was 5-2, Padres.

At this point, as the Braves came up in the ninth, Dave Dravecky was pitching for the Padres, and he’d only given up one hit, a double to Claudell Washington. But he walked Murphy on four pitches to begin the ninth, and then threw two balls to Bob Horner.

Pitching coach Galen Cisco went to the mound to talk to Dravecky, who promptly gave up a home run to Horner. The score was 5-4.

“He (Dravecky) didn’t seem to have much on his fastball,” Williams said on his show. “And we only had a one-run lead, so I went to Goose.”

So Gossage entered, in only his second appearance of the season. Rick Cerone, pinch-hitting for pitcher Gene Garber, immediately singled to left, and Bruce Benedict bunted, moving Cerone to second (Paul Runge then became a pinch-runner for Cerone). Glenn Hubbard popped out, so there were two outs with a runner in scoring position. The Padres still led by a run.

Williams then got crafty. For the first time, he replaced Gossage with another pitcher in a pressure situation, asking lefty Craig Lefferts to face left-handed hitting Gerald Perry.

On a 1-and-1 pitch, Perry singled up the middle, scoring Runge and tying the game.

Inevitably, Williams would be second-guessed on this, too. Had he lost confidence in Gossage, wondering if he’d lost speed on his fastball? He would not say. Also, as a sidelight, it should be known that Perry is 2 for 3 lifetime against Lefferts and just 1 for 4 against Gossage, that Perry hits left-handers well and that Perry wanted Lefferts because they had beat each other up in last year’s brawl here.

Still, Williams would have looked intelligent had things worked out. He did go left-hander against left-hander, and there’s a lot to be said for that.

Said Williams to a brave caller on his talk show: “I think that I surprised a lot of people, going out to get the Goose. But I had a left-hander out there who did a great job for us last year. It didn’t work, but it was something I had to do. The situation called for it.”

When asked (by a reporter) if Gossage had tried to talk him out of the switch, Williams said: “Go ask him.”

Gossage, asked instead if he’d had good velocity, said, “I felt all right. Did I look bad out there?”

He then walked away.

Lefferts, whose pitch to Perry ended up being a high fastball, said of the switch: “Normally, that situation doesn’t occur very often. But with two left-handed hitters coming up (Claudell Washington was up after Perry), Dick did what he felt was best.”

After all this, Lefferts threw two balls to Washington, and Williams came out to tell him to walk Washington intentionally. Then, with runners on first and second, he turned to right-hander Greg Booker, one of only two pitchers left. Booker got Rafael Ramirez to fly out to right, sending the game to extra innings.

Bruce Sutter, making his first home appearance, walked Kennedy, and then faced Alan Wiggins, who pinch-hit for Booker, whom Williams said wasn’t a good enough bunter to stay in the game. Wiggins, who had strained knee ligaments during spring training and wasn’t supposed to play until Monday, had just one assignment: sacrifice Bobby Brown (pinch-running for Kennedy) to second. He did.

Sutter got Kevin McReynolds to fly out, then hit Tim Flannery with a pitch. But he got Garry Templeton to ground out, and it was on to the bottom of the 10th.

And only Stoddard was left, which was a shame because he had had a shaky spring and been demoted to the last pitcher. He faced just two batters. First was Brad Komminsk, who singled sharply to left. Then, on a 2-and-0 fastball, Murphy homered for the third time this year, a hefty shot that Stoddard didn’t even watch. The pitcher just turned and walked to the dugout.

“I’ve gotten him out a lot more than he’s hit me,” he said of Murphy. “No, I’m not extremely pleased with this result, though. I stunk. There’s not a whole lot more I can say.”

Williams said immediately afterward: “If he (Stoddard) can’t do it, he shouldn’t be here.”

So is Stoddard worried about losing his job, although it’s unlikely San Diego would get rid of him and his two-year guaranteed contract?

“What? Am I supposed to worry about it? Am I supposed to cancel the season because of a two-run dinger in my first game? The sun will rise tomorrow. It’s no fun losing, but I won’t jump off of a building tomorrow.

“Hey, I’m sure I’ll pitch again. They signed me for two years, so I hope I get to pitch again before my contract runs out . . . Don’t bury me too bad.”

And, in another corner of the Padre clubhouse, Cisco asked that his bullpen not be buried, either. He said the season is four games old, which is right.

Why get so mad so soon?

Padre Notes

Tony Gwynn’s ribs were so sore following Saturday’s game that he had ice strapped to his midsection. It’s not anything that will make him miss any games, but the injury, suffered in San Francisco is an aggravation. Gwynn was hitless for the first time this season on Saturday. “It’s nothing I can’t play with,” he said. Gwynn hurt himself as he dove back to first base in the third inning of Wednesday’s game in San Francisco. He had thought he was sliding back to first, but he actually did a belly flop, and that caused the injury. . . . In other injury news, Alan Wiggins made his first appearance of the season on Saturday, pinch-hitting only to bunt, not to stay in the game. Before the game, Wiggins had said: “I’m not 100 percent healthy, but I’m close . . . I can’t turn a base at full speed, but I can slide head first. I’m pretty sure by Monday, I’ll be able to play.” Originally, Wiggins hoped he’d play more this weekend, but he and Manager Dick Williams spoke on the airplane from San Francisco, deciding it’d be better to wait. “Sitting ain’t so bad,” Wiggins said. “The worst part would be being out another month if I hurt it again.” But Wiggins is itchy to play. He pitched part of batting practice here on Friday. “I just felt like doing something,” he said. “Have I pitched before? Everybody pitches in Little League. But I hadn’t pitched since then.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard FIFTH INNING PADRES--Tim Flannery singled and went to third when Brad Komminsk dropped Garry Templeton’s ball in left field, Templeton going to second. Mark Thurmond’s sacrifice popup scored Flannery, and Templeton scored on Al Bumbry’s single to center. Padres 2, Braves 0.

BRAVES--Chris Chambliss singled, Glenn Hubbard walked and Claudell Washington doubled, scoring Chambliss and Hubbard. Padres 2, Braves 2.

EIGHTH INNING PADRES--With two outs, Terry Kennedy homered. Luis DeLeon singled and Kevin McReynolds homered. Padres 5, Braves 2.

NINTH INNING BRAVES--Dale Murphy walked and Bob Horner homered against Dave Dravecky. With Goose Gossage pitching, Rick Cerone singled, and was sacrificed to second by Bruce Benedict. Paul Runge ran for Cerone. With two outs and Craig Lefferts pitching, Gerald Perry singled, scoring Runge. Padres 5, Braves 5.

TENTH INNING BRAVES--Brad Komminsk singled and Murphy homered. Braves 7, Padres 5.