Lately, Opposing Pitchers Have Padres on the Run

Deacon Jones, Padre hitting instructor, was sitting at his cubicle in the locker room, puffing on a cigar. Though San Diego had just been shut out by John Denny and the Philadelphia Phillies, Jones was in a good mood.

“My wife said she loves me, and my daughter said she loves me,” Jones said.

However, there’s no way Jones can be enamored with the Padres’ offensive production of late.

Informed that San Diego has scored a meager 23 runs in the first eight games of the home stand, Jones said, “Don’t run any stats by me. We haven’t hit in the clutch, obviously.

“We’re an average hitting team--the standings indicate that. We haven’t been getting the production from the RBI people--you know who they are. It’s been very sporadic. The figures will tell you that.”

On Saturday, the Padres had only five hits, four of them singles.

“Today we ran into a guy (Denny) who was just funky,” Jones said. “He was nasty. You could see he was confident from the first inning. He had great command of his pitches, not good command.”

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn agreed.

“Denny was tough,” Gwynn said. “He was always ahead of the hitters. He didn’t throw too many fast balls, everything was slow. His fast ball was like his change-of-pace pitch.

“They only scored two runs, we didn’t score any. Andy (Hawkins, the Padre starter and loser) pitched well. We just didn’t hit the ball.”

Hitters on other teams have found Denny a little easier to handle. Before Saturday’s start, Denny was 9-11 with a 3.65 earned-run average. In 197 innings, he had allowed 215 hits.

“We’re not consistent,” said Carmelo Martinez, Padre left fielder. “The way we’re swinging the bat, we’re making pitchers look better.”

But the Padres did face difficult pitchers from the Mets and Expos on the home stand. And even though Denny isn’t having the best of seasons, he won the National League Cy Young award in 1983, when he was 19-6.

“We’ve seen some good pitching,” Gwynn said.

Said Graig Nettles, Padre third baseman: “I think we’re a good hitting club,” Nettles said. “We proved that last year. It’s just a dry period. I don’t know why it happens--it happens to every team.”

Added Gwynn: “We’re capable of doing better, no question. Earlier in the year, we were scoring runs, making things happen.”