Padres Wind Up Tied With Houston, 6-4

A year ago today, the Padres defeated the Chicago Cubs, 6-3, to win their first National League Championship. Red, white and blue bunting hung from the railings of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium as the city prepared for its first World Series.

This year, following the Padres’ 6-4 loss Sunday to the Houston Astros, the only preparations to be made will be the goundscrew’s task of converting the baseball field into a football configuration until next spring.

Sunday’s crowd of 22,813 came mostly for the gifts the Padres gave away between innings. When a brief rain delay ended and the Charger football telecast was taken off the DiamondVision screen, the fans booed the reappearance of their once-beloved Padres.

A year ago, the Padres accomplished the “Miracle of Mission Valley” when they won three straight playoff games to win the National League title. On Sunday, they could not prevent the Astros from gaining a share of third place in the NL West.

The loss seemed a microcosm of their up-and-down, but mostly mediocre, 1985 season.

Eric Show, who began the year with a four-hit shutout over the San Francisco Giants, started Sunday’s game strong. After weathering a two-run Astro first inning, he retired 14 in a row and took a 4-2 lead into the sixth.

Then, as he had done so many times before, Show broke down. Kevin Bass led off the Astro sixth with a single to center. Jose Cruz followed with a home run to tie it.

Alan Ashby opened the Astro seventh with another homer, giving Houston a 5-4 lead that it never relinquished. Ashby’s homer, hit deep into the right-field seats, was the 27th homer Show had given up this year--compared with 25 last year, including postseason play.

But Show wasn’t the only Padre to reflecthis year’s performance.

Kevin McReynolds, who slumped all season after hitting .278 with 20 home runs and 75 RBIs in 1984, continued his pattern in the 1985 finale.

In the first inning, McReynolds struck out with two down and the bases loaded. In the third, with the game tied and runners on first and second with no outs, McReynolds grounded into a double play. He struck out again in the fifth. And in McReynolds’ final at-bat in the eighth, he hit a little popup that Astro first baseman Denny Walling cuddled into his glove in foul territory.

Still, going into the bottom of the ninth, the Padres had hopes of pulling this one out.

After Jerry Royster grounded to third, Tony Gwynn shot a ball through the hole on the left side for his 197th hit of the year. But Steve Garvey, whose heroics in last Oct. 6th’s Game 4 victory over the Cubs were replayed on the stadium video screen Sunday, could not repeat the feat flesh. He flied out to left field for the second out.

Then, after Graig Nettles singled and pinch-runner Miguel Dilone stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, Terry Kennedy grounded sharply to shortstop Dickie Thon.

And thus did the Padres’ season end. They went home with a record of 83-79, third-best in the franchise’s history but nowhere near what the team, and the fans, expected.

“We finished up tied for third,” Manager Dick Williams said after the game. “We would have rather had it to ourselves, but it wasn’t to be.”

When reporters leaving Williams’ office offered him a polite, “See ya next year,” Williams responded: “Maybe.”

When asked if he wanted to be back for the final year of his Padre contract, Williams said, “I always honor my contracts. Except with Charlie Finley.”

Williams is scheduled to discuss the team’s future, and his own, with Padre President Ballard Smith and General Manager Jack McKeon today.

McKeon was reminded by Show’s performance Sunday of how many times his starting pitchers have failed to hold early inning leads. He said he was tired of hearing the media criticize the middle relievers.

“It’s the starting pitching,” McKeon said. “We had guys with six-run, seven-run leads and then it would be 6-5 or 7-6. Someone else would come in a give up the winning run and the headline would say the middle relief didn’t hold them. The starters didn’t hold the lead.”

McKeon said he’d be in the market this winter for a starting pitcher, along with more speed.

“But every club is looking for starting pitching,” he said.

As reporters, players, management and the fans sought to dissect the team’s woes and list its needs for next year, the normally serious Garvey offered one of the few light comments.

“I’m going to try to get taller for next year,” he said.