Giants Still Easy Mark for Padres But New Manager Tries to Make a Fundamental Change

Day No. 2 for Roger Craig was no different than Day No. 323 for Jim Davenport, considering Thursday’s final score of 11-3. Yes, the Giants lost. Again. But, in this case, it’s not whether you lose, it’s how you lose, and that apparently is the fundamental difference between Craig and Davenport.

The Giants lost pretty on Thursday.

Or so they say.

We take you to the seventh inning, Padres leading, 8-2, after a six-run second. Rob Deer, who has homered earlier, hits a fly ball to right, a ball that should easily be caught by Padre right fielder Jerry Davis. Davis circles under it. Davis eyes it. Davis drops it.

Deer is standing on second.

Now that, Craig would say later, is Giant baseball, and he wasn’t referring to Davis’ drop. He said: “Did ya see Deer run that ball out? Did ya see that?”

The Giants keep calling this all a change in “direction,” which essentially means they better stop dogging it or they’ll be out of town.

“I know something’s wrong, and I’ll find out what it is,” Craig had said on Day 1. So he and new team president Al Rosen installed all those new rules, like (a) no drinking on airplanes (b), no jeans and (c) no long hair.

“Levi’s are all I wear on my ranch,” Craig said of rule B. “But just to start going in the right direction, I want to start doing these things.”

Some players said: “Oh oh.”

“I’m going to have to find a barber who’s open tomorrow morning,” said catcher Bob Brenly on Day 1, although he never did, his long locks blowing in the Candlestick Park wind on Thursday.

Some players said: “No way.”

“Get me out of here,” outfielder Jeff Leonard said to Rosen. And when Craig told Leonard he couldn’t wear his cap backwards during batting practice, Leonard said: “It’s no big deal. It’s just my trademark.”

Craig: “Well, it comes from up above.”

Leonard: “Who? From the Lord.”

So, in essence, the question becomes: Can a player be controlled at all these days?

The Padres, who Thursday won pretty for once, have few team rules, other than (a) be on time and (b) don’t mess around too much after you get there on time.

“You can’t have too many rules because grievances will be filed,” Manager Dick Williams said. “But Roger . . . He’ll come in and try to rectify the situation. There’ll be a lot of guys running harder and playing harder.”

It all did little good on Day 2. In the first inning, Giant infielders couldn’t find first baseman Dan Driessen, committing two throwing errors that led to two runs. Unnerved, Giant starter Atlee Hammaker gave up six earned runs on six hits in the second inning, the most runs the Padres have scored in any inning this season.

Craig, a former pitching coach, took Hammaker out that inning, but told him “You could’ve been out of the (first) inning with no runs.”

Later, Craig said: “I’ll never say anything negative to a pitcher. If you can’t say something positive, don’t say nothing. I’ll always have something good to say.”

Now, if he can only remember their names.

“I’ve never seen a club with so many injuries,” he said on Day 2. “I’ve got five pitchers hurt. . . . uh. . . . Mike, uh . . . uh . . . uh.”

The Padre name to remember for 1985 is Timry Flanster, the platoon combination of Tim Flannery and Jerry Royster at second base. Some woman here was wearing a jersey with No. 113 on the back (Flannery wears No. 11; Royster No. 3), and Royster said he and Flannery are still thinking about marketing themselves next season.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble igniting a Timry Flanster campaign,” he said.

That is, as long as they keep hitting. Royster went 3 for 6 Thursday, his average now .282. Flannery is hitting .287. They are the No. 2 and 3 hitters on the club, and their run production for the season is 136, compared to 126 by second baseman Alan Wiggins last year.

Another name for 1985 is Dave Dravecky, Thursday’s starter, who pitched a complete game for his 12th victory.

And he left the stadium wearing jeans.