Winning Big in 1984 Hasn’t Helped 1985 Padres : Fans’ Expectations of Another Runaway Give Way to Reality of a Pennant Race

Maybe the Padres made a big mistake in 1984.

Maybe they shouldn’t have won the National League West by 12 games. Maybe in doing so, they gave their fans the false impression that it would be as easy every year.

Lately, nothing has been easy for the Padres. Their six-game losing streak before Saturday’s 2-0 win over St. Louis had moved the second-place team closer to third than to first.

Anybody who imagined difficult times would not arrive has not been paying attention to baseball in recent years. No team has won its division more than once since the last baseball strike in 1981.

“Winning our division by 12 games last year might have been the worst thing we could have done,” Padre second baseman Tim Flannery said. “People thought we would win it for the next 10 years. Things don’t happen that way.”

If the Padres seem a lot worse off than a year ago at this time, there are two ways--one bleak, the other more bleak--to look at things.

They have just four fewer wins (53 to 57) than they did in 1984 at this time. However, they were seven games in front after 98 games last year. They are 4 1/2 games behind the Dodgers after 98 games this year.

What’s the difference?

Quite simply, it’s the Dodgers. Whereas nobody put pressure on the Padres last season, the Dodgers have been putting on the pressure--and then some--in the last three weeks.

Since July 4, the Dodgers have gained 10 1/2 games on San Diego while the Padres have stumbled along, losing 14 of 21.

“When we lost last year, everybody else in our division lost,” Kurt Bevacqua said. “Everything fell our way. It’s not that easy to win again. We have confidence, and we think we’re the best team in our division. But we don’t think all of the other teams are flukes.”

Over 162-game seasons, lengthy losing streaks occur. The Padres lost seven straight in May, 1984, but they had a lot more time to recover than they will this year--with or without a players’ strike.

After losing those seven last year, the Padres were in fourth place, two games out of first. When they snapped the streak by beating Montreal, 5-4, May 17, they went on a tear that won the West.

The Padres won 35 of 53 games before July 18, taking a 7 1/2-game lead. Then, they won 14 of 21 games before Aug. 6, increasing their lead to 9 1/2.

Even while losing 23 of their next 38 games, the Padres lost only one game off their divisional lead. Nobody else in the NL West was playing well then, either.

“People shouldn’t get disappointed that there will be a pennant race this year,” Flannery said. “If I paid money to watch, I’d want to come out when there was pressure on every pitch until the last game of the season. I’d love to win by 12 games again, but it won’t be that way this year.”

The Padres are not alone in their struggle to repeat.

The Chicago Cubs trail by 8 1/2 games in the NL East. Kansas City trails by four games in the AL West. World champion Detroit trails by 8 1/2 games in the AL East.

“We were the last one of last year’s divisional leaders to drop out of first,” Padre Manager Dick Williams said. “The Dodgers have been hotter than hell, and Cincinnati is coming up. We were dejected, but we hadn’t given up. It’s tough to repeat because people are coming after you.”

The Padres have been self-destructing lately.

Two of their last three losses were in extra innings, the other after holding a 6-0 lead after six innings. Those losses were preceded by 8-1 and 5-3 setbacks. The streak began when Pittsburgh’s Lee Tunnell won his first game in more than a year by beating the Padres.

“There are two kinds of timing in this world,” Goose Gossage said. “There is good timing and bad timing. If you’re in the wrong spot, you’re in an accident. Sometimes it’s been our pitching, sometimes it’s been our hitting. I’ll tell you what, it’s been a team effort. But we’re not going to concede the season just because the Dodgers got hot and we got cold.”