Padres Are Shut Down Again, 1-0

The Padres haven’t scored since Montreal. What’s worse, they haven’t seen a decent pitcher since Montreal.

“We’ve been shut out here by two guys with 5.00 ERAs,” Padre catcher Terry Kennedy said after the Philadelphia Phillies’ 1-0 victory Saturday. “We ought to all be lined up and shot.”

The only shot of the day came in the seventh inning. Phillie catcher John Russell lined a Dave Dravecky slider into the left-field seats, giving pitcher Charles Hudson (3-3) the victory. Hudson, who lasted only two innings in a 7-2 loss in San Diego 10 days ago, threw mostly fastballs, yet the Padres were fast outs.

Their only serious rally came with two outs in the sixth. Runners were on first and third when Kennedy hit a rope to left field, but Jeff Stone ran a 20-yard dash, leaped, caught the ball against the wall and fell.

“He must have been practicing,” Kennedy said.

Hudson is the third Phillie pitcher in four days to toss a shutout. Shane Rawley did it to San Francisco Wednesday and Kevin Gross did it to the Padres Friday. The Phillies are so hot they’ve won five straight and climbed within 12 games of the Mets.

“Kennedy said they ought to be shot for not hitting us?” Hudson said. “Hmmmm. If that’s the case, then they ought to be shot.”

The Padres were last shut out consecutively in 1983 by Houston’s Nolan Ryan and Joe Niekro. Each score was 2-0 and the unlucky losers were Eric Show and Dravecky.

Funny, but Show and Dravecky, who allowed only five hits, have done it again, Friday and Saturday.

“Really? The last time was 1983?” Tim Flannery said. “I don’t remember 1983. All I remember is that I had a full head of hair in ’83.”

The Padres will try to forget Saturday.

They scored a total of 23 runs in Montreal, yet have a 19-inning scoreless streak going.

Explanations, please.

Manager Steve Boros: “After the offensive outburst in Montreal, I never thought we’d come here and get shut out. Unbelievable. Amazing. I don’t know if it’s their pitching or our lack of hitting. I’d like to give the Phillies credit, but I don’t know . . . I expressed concern 10 days ago that we have to hit to make a run at the championship. We started swinging better, but we come in here and now I have my doubts again.”

Tony Gwynn: “These losses are so frustrating. . . . These (Phillies) are the same guys we played in San Diego, the same guys we swept, the same pitchers we hit. I don’t know our record now, but it must be close to .500. . . .” It’s 24-23.

“It’s kind of hard for all eight guys to go down the tubes at the same time, but that seems to be what’s happening,” Gwynn continued. “We score 10 runs in Montreal, we leave there, come here and score nothing. . . Hopefully tomorrow we can salvage one game, go to New York and try again. But it sure doesn’t get any easier with (Dwight) Gooden, (Sid) Fernandez and (Bruce) Berenyi pitching in New York. They’re three top-flight pitchers. And if we can’t hit Greg (Kevin)--or whatever his name is--Gross and Charlie Hudson, it’s not gonna get any easier.”

What’s Gwynn’s excuse for going 0 for 4 Saturday? For one thing, the game was televised to portions of the country on NBC, and it was Gwynn who read the Padre batting order to the viewers. He says he usually stinks when he does extracurricular activities like that.

“Every time I do something like that, I go O for something,” he said.

What’s everybody else’s excuse? The Padres put runners at the corners in the first inning, but Graig Nettles--who later left with a hamstring pull that’s not considered serious--grounded out. In the fourth, Kennedy left two runners when he grounded to first. Then there was Stone’s game-saving catch in left.

The Padres keep waiting for home runs, but they aren’t coming now. This team does not score many cheap runs--a single, then a steal, then a sacrifice bunt, then a sacrifice fly or something similar.

“We have to scuffle for everything we get,” Gwynn said. “We don’t have a guy who can raise havoc on the basepaths and steal us a run. That doesn’t happen anymore. It hasn’t happened for the last year now, and I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Our last home stand, we hit a lot of home runs, but we can’t always get home runs when we need them.”

This day they got good defense. In the first inning with two outs, Ron Roenicke was on first base when Mike Schmidt lined one safely into the left-field corner. Carmelo Martinez fielded it and threw on one hop to the cutoff man, Flannery, who threw off-balance and got Roenicke at the plate. Kennedy blocked the runner perfectly and tagged him.

In the fourth, Gwynn climbed the right-field wall to rob Von Hayes of a double or triple.

Dravecky (5-4) did the rest. In the sixth, the score still 0-0, Phillie runners stood on first and third with one out. Schmidt was up and lined a slider just foul of the left-field fence. Dravecky turned around and laughed.

“Wow!” he said.

Then, he struck out Schmidt.

Then, he got Hayes to ground out.

“He (Dravecky) is so much fun to play behind,” Flannery said. “He’s just a battler, and he enjoys himself out there.”

One mistake, and now he takes another loss.

“The ball was up and a little in,” Russell said of the pitch he hit for a homer. “For any guy who hits home runs, that’s where he wants it.”

By the way, anybody remember the last Padre run?

“Yeah,” Gwynn said. “Jerry Royster’s homer in Montreal. Sure could’ve used that today.”

Padre Notes

Phillie reliever Steve Bedrosian retired six straight batters Saturday and earned the save. . . . The Padres’ Jerry Royster on his team: “We should be pulling away from this league. We should be five, six games in front. But we’re not.” . . . Shortstop Garry Templeton will be rested today. He has been bothered by pain in his lower back. “I’ve had it since Cincinnati (in late April),” Templeton said. “They think it’s my lower back, not my hamstring. It’s the same back I injured in ‘82, a disc injury. I don’t know if it’s the exact same thing, but I couldn’t bend over backwards in ’82. Right now, it comes and goes, comes and goes. They think AstroTurf has something to do with it, but I know my last at-bat, I could hardly swing the bat. And I couldn’t run.” . . . Third baseman Graig Nettles injured his hamstring running from first to third in the fourth inning Saturday. “I haven’t pulled it very often, so I can’t tell how severe it is,” he said. “I don’t think it’s anything too major. Regardless, rookie Mark Wasinger will start at third today, and Tim Flannery will start at shortstop.