Thurmond Is Let Down by Supporting Cast in Field, at Plate

Mark Thurmond actually pitched a pretty good game for the Padres on Thursday afternoon.

Well, maybe he did walk a couple of batters in the first inning. And maybe he did give up a two-run double to Candy Maldonado in the same inning.

It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, except Thurmond was pitching against Fernando Valenzuela. Now that was a big deal.

The way Valenzuela has been pitching this season, Thurmond could not have done anything but lose or tie--unless the Dodger defense had played down to its incapabilities.

But on this occasion, the Padres lost, 5-0. And in so doing, their defense provided an imitation of how the Dodger defenders usually perform--and that usually isn’t very good.

By the end of the first inning, the Padres had helped the Dodgers score four runs by committing two errors, walking two batters and letting a routine fly ball drop with the bases loaded.

“A lot of funny things happened in that inning,” said Manager Dick Williams, who wasn’t laughing. “It was unfortunate.”

Mariano Duncan led off the game with a slow roller to Garry Templeton. In Templeton’s haste, he mishandled the ball and was unable to get off a throw. It was ruled an error.

“We knew Duncan was fast,” Williams said. “Tempy had to charge the ball. I don’t know if he would’ve thrown Duncan out. Then came those darn bases on balls. You can’t give them up.”

The bases on balls were to Bill Russell and Sid Bream, loading the bases with no outs. Duncan had stolen second and advanced to third on catcher Terry Kennedy’s throwing error before the walks.

“I came out trying to be too fine,” Thurmond said. “I walked those guys and dug myself a hole. I was trying to make perfect pitches.”

Thurmond made anything but a perfect pitch to the next batter, Pedro Guerrero. However, Thurmond received his only break of the inning when third baseman Jerry Royster caught Guerrero’s line drive.

Mike Marshall followed with a blooper to left-center. Templeton went out on the ball while left fielder Carmelo Martinez and center fielder Kevin McReynolds came in. The ball dropped, allowing a run to score and causing Padre fans to boo their team for the first time this year.

Williams probably would’ve booed, too, if he was in the stands.

“That ball should’ve been caught by the center fielder,” he said. “It was one of those unfortunate things.”

The center fielder disagreed with his manager.

“It was one of those balls that was out of everyone’s reach,” McReynolds said. “You can’t fault nobody for it.”

Least of all could you fault the pitcher. But Thurmond accepted the blame for what happened next. Maldonado doubled inside first base, scoring two more runs to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

“I got the pitch up and over the plate,” Thurmond said. “If it had been down, it would’ve been a good pitch. That’s just baseball. If he had hit the ball a yard the other way, it would’ve been a double play.”

Of course, Thurmond was assuming that Steve Garvey would have made an accurate throw for the double play. That might have been assuming a lot.

The Dodgers then assumed a 4-0 lead on Mike Scioscia’s sacrifice fly. Thurmond might have assumed that the Padres had enough time to come back, but with Valenzuela on the mound, he was assuming too much.

Thurmond, like other Padres, thought back to June 27, 1984. On that night in Los Angeles, Valenzuela was beating the Padres, 5-0, with one out to go in the ninth inning. Before reliever Tom Niedenfuer could get that one out, the Padres had knocked out Valenzuela and scored four runs.

Thurmond didn’t get any help from his offense on Thursday, but some things that happened could help him eventually.

For one thing, Thurmond figured out why his breaking ball had not been working. It had something to do with a pitcher’s “mechanics.”

For another thing, Thurmond said he’s feeling better physically than he has in a long time. He is known as a seven-inning pitcher, but he made it through eight innings Thursday while allowing five runs (three earned).

“I don’t like to lose,” Thurmond said. “But I feel good physically, and it’s good to know what I was doing wrong with my breaking ball. It will help me in the future.”

Thurmond also would be helped in the future by a better defense behind him, fewer walks and some runs to work with.