Padres’ Thurmond Settles for Near No-Hit Shutout

After a while, Mark Thurmond was a lonely boy. He sat there in the corner of his own dugout, and his teammates--staring at him out of the corners of their eyes--moved farther and farther away.

He was pitching a no-hitter.

Talking to him would have been a no-no.

But then, in the seventh inning, St. Louis’ Willie McGee hit a lazy pop fly to center field.

Thurmond’s thoughts: “Ah. It’s in for sure.”

Shortstop Garry Templeton’s thoughts: “I’m out of position, but I think I can get it.”

Center fielder Kevin McReynolds’ thoughts: “Maybe I can get it.”

Nobody got it.

Templeton, who came such a long way, waved his glove at it, and McReynolds, afraid of a collision, couldn’t reach it either. McGee had a single, and Thurmond had a one-hitter.

And the Padres, at least, had a 5-0 victory over the Cardinals.

And those Redbirds are in World Series form.

Which isn’t necessarily good.

Remember October? The Cardinals led the Kansas City Royals 3-games-to-1, right? But they never got more than five hits in each of the next three games and lost, right? And, in Game 7, they kept arguing with umpires, right?

It’s happening again.

First of all, St. Louis has been shut out five times in 10 days, and has five hits or fewer in nine of its 18 games this year. Its team batting average is .206.

Manager Whitey Herzog had them out early for extra hitting on Wednesday, too. He kept preaching, but nothing doing.

“It’s almost like the World Series,” he had said 20 minutes before game time. Then he laughed. “Yep, it sure is. Yep.”

And then came the weird part.

Just like in Game 7, Herzog was ejected.

So was one of his players--Jack Clark.

Their fury began early. In the fourth inning, after McReynolds had just homered to give San Diego a 2-0 lead, third baseman Jerry Royster singled to center. Horton, who Royster says has the best pickoff move in the National League, proved it.

He almost picked Royster off.

“I thought he was out,” Horton said.

He argued.

Royster eventually stole second, and Templeton was walked intentionally. Bruce Bochy forced Templeton at second, and Royster went to third. That’s when Horton threw a wild pitch with Thurmond at the plate.

Royster tried to score, but catcher Mike Heath got the ball to Horton in time for the tag. So Royster had to dance. He juked one way and came near the plate as Horton swung his glove at him. Horton thought he touched him. Royster looked up at umpire Harry Wendelstadt, who was silent.

So he had to dance some more. As if he were playing that game called “Twister,” he stuck his foot on the plate. Horton missed again--according to Wendelstadt--and he was safe.

“That’s my Fred Sanford move,” Royster said.

Horton and Herzog were loud then. They were in Wendelstadt’s face.

“It was a case where I was really frustrated because I thought I tagged him twice,” Horton said. “Plus, I thought he was out at first. He was out three times, darn it. And he stepped on my wrist when he went for the plate the last time. See, these are his cleat marks.”

At least nobody got tossed out. But then in the fifth, Clark was called out on strikes. He winced. As he walked away, he hurled his helmet and bat on the plate.

Wendelstadt fined him.

Then, somebody was screaming at Wendelstadt from the Cardinal bench. Who? Clark?

Wendelstadt thought so and threw him out.

“Jack came and sat down next to me,” Horton said. “And he didn’t say a word. I’m not saying he’d forgotten all about it, but he said nothing. The next thing, he’s thrown out.”

The next thing, Clark and Herzog are charging out of the dugout. Shortstop Ozzie Smith and coach Nick Leyva were assigned to keep Clark from punching the ump, but Clark did manage to poke Wendelstadt on the shoulder with his finger. Herzog got into it, yelling and going on.

“Jack never said anything, and that’s why I was upset,” Herzog would say later. “Somebody did it, but it wasn’t Jack. Harry’s a good umpire. He’s been a good umpire for a long time, but nobody’s perfect . . . Instead of saying, ‘Hey, Jack! That’s enough,’ he threw him out. That was my cleanup hitter.”

Thurmond cleaned up on the mound. He said the sliders he was throwing in the first five innings were the best of his life.

“I’d say it’s my best game ever,” Thurmond said. “Or maybe a game in Philadelphia in ’84 when I got a three-hit shutout.”

And here’s something eerie. Wednesday afternoon, Thurmond told his wife, Deborah, that if she rubbed his feet, he’d throw a no-hitter.

She obliged.

Great defensive plays by Royster (six assists), Templeton (he robbed Terry Pendleton of a hit) and Bip Roberts (he snared a line drive but went 0-for-4 at the plate) kept things going. But then came that seventh inning. Thurmond had a perfect game going when McGee came up. Later, he did walk Vince Coleman in the ninth.

“I didn’t know if it would fall in,” McGee said.

Templeton: “I didn’t worry about a collision. It was just out of my reach. I was playing him to pull, so I was four steps over from where I’d normally be. We (he and McReynolds) both feel bad about it. Hopefully, the official scorer was gonna give one of us an error. I’d have taken it.”

McReynolds: “I’m supposed to avoid a collision in that situation because I got the play in front of me. He’s coming out blindly. He’s supposed to come back until he hears something. I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t know if either of us could get it.”

Thurmond, who is now 2-1, said: “It was still great.”

And he’ll get another foot rub before his next start.

Padre Notes

Whitey Herzog and Steve Boros had their arms around each other before Wednesday’s game. They’re old friends. Boros was Herzog’s first-base coach in Kansas City, and he said he learned much about baseball in those days. There was the time Willie Wilson seemed to be dogging it down to first base, so Herzog had Boros put the stopwatch on him. They told Wilson that clocks don’t lie. Wilson had no response. And he suddenly was running again. “But Whitey’s emphasis is on teaching,” Boros said before Wednesday’s game. “He makes an effort to talk to each player every day. He might miss somebody, but not often. If you followed him around, he’d wear you out. He operates on a high energy level.” Said Herzog: “Yeah, but it ain’t much important if you don’t win. When you’re goin’ good it’s, ‘Oh, God darn. He really communicates.’ And when you’re goin’ bad it’s, ‘He talks too much.’ ” . . . The Cardinals are going bad (at one point, they lost seven straight). The Padres, meanwhile, keep playing close games. Said Boros: “Yeah, me and Whitey talked. He said his club wasn’t hitting, and I said, ‘Well, we might have some one-run games then.’ ”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard FIRST INNING Padres--With one out, Gwynn doubled to center. McReynolds doubled down the third-base line, Gwynn scoring. Garvey grounded to the pitcher. Pendleton made a fielding error on Martinez’ grounder, McReynolds stopping at third. Royster forced Martinez. One run, one hit, two left.

THIRD INNING Padres--With two outs, McReynolds homered to center, his third. Garvey struck out. One run, one hit.

FOURTH INNING

Padres--With one out, Royster singled to center. Royster stole second. Templeton was walked intentionally. Bochy forced Templeton at second, Royster stopping at third. Royster scored on Horton’s wild pitch, Bochy stopping at second. Thurmond singled to center, Bochy scoring. Roberts struck out. Two runs, two hits, one left.

FIFTH INNING

Padres--With two outs, Garvey homered to left, his third. Martinez popped out to third. One run, nne hit.