Padres Lose Ugly to the Astros, 12-1, as Fans Head Home

Mother Goose threw out the first pitch Tuesday night, and then the Houston Astros played one of those fairy-tale games, defeating the ugly duckling Padres, 12-1, in front of 13,966 (about 3,000 by the ninth inning) at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Astros stretched their lead over San Diego to 6 1/2 games, ripping the Padres’ best pitcher, Dave Dravecky, for seven runs (six earned). They had 15 hits overall. There were two more Houston home runs--six in two games now--and that’s not counting a Little League three-run homer Tuesday by Phil Garner (he tripled, but scored on Garry Templeton’s throwing error).

And all this came after Padre Manager Steve Boros closed his doors for a pregame meeting and told the guys he was going to be more aggressive--bunting and using the hit-and-run more.

“I guess I’ll keep my mouth shut next time,” Boros said later. “If I had any effect on them, I made them press even more. Like I said, I’ll keep quiet next time.”

The Padres--now in fifth place, a percentage point behind the Dodgers--made four errors, hit baserunners in the back with their throws, missed cutoff men, etc. After five innings, it was 7-0 and boring.

“Hard to play when you’re down 7-0?” Tony Gwynn asked. “Hard? Embarrassing is more the word. Hopefully, we won’t get any lower than this. I keep looking for signs that we’ll come out of this, but I haven’t seen ‘em.”

As for the Astros, Bob Knepper (10-3) pitched four-hitter and made just one mistake--an eighth-inning gopher ball to Terry Kennedy.

That cut the Astro lead to 12-1.

“This is the best groove I’ve been in since high school or Little League,” Knepper said.

Speaking of Little League, the Padres had an off night. According to Boros, the game got away in the first inning on a botched relay play. With Billy Hatcher on first base, Glenn Davis doubled down the left-field line, and Hatcher tried to score. Left fielder Carmelo Martinez--who again was booed all night long for his defense--missed cutoff man Templeton, but Boros said Bip Roberts should have been backing Templeton up.

He wasn’t.

Jerry Royster then corralled the ball and tried getting Hatcher at the plate. He had him, too. But his throw hit Hatcher smack in the back, so he was safe.

Dravecky (5-6) went haywire. Kevin Bass followed immediately with a two-run home run, hit so hard that Martinez never turned around to try for it. Next, he walked Phil Garner on four pitches. Presto, the Astros were on their way.

More miseries followed:

- Last year, Bill Doran hit .351 against San Diego, with four homers and 15 RBIs. Tuesday, he led off the fifth with his second homer of this series.

- In that same frantic fifth, Davis ripped one to left, a sure triple. But he did a belly-flop rounding first and would have stayed there, but Martinez--figuring there would be a close play at third--never looked at him and threw to the third baseman. Seeing this, Davis ran easily to second and then scored on Garner’s Little League homer, a ball hit to left-center. Templeton botched up the relay throw on that one, so Garner ran all the way home.

- Finally, there came the embarrassing eighth. The Padres made three errors, and the Astros scored five times. The first error came when reliever Gene Walter, covering first on a grounder to first, dropped the first baseman’s two-foot lob. Tim Flannery--a late substitute at third base--let two ground balls roll by him, runs coming in each time.

“I wouldn’t make a big thing out of what happened late in the game after the seventh inning,” Boros said. “You get late in a game like that, and I’m not so sure Walter’s thinking about going in. And I got Timmy at third, a position he hasn’t hardly played, and he gets two do-or-die choppers that he’s got to charge . . .

“Are these games crucial? Crucial is a word used in September; not a June word. Important is a June word. But I want to stay close. I don’t want to have to jump over too many teams.”

The Astros have won four straight.

“Those guys are good,” Gwynn said. “Real good.”

Boros: “They look like the ’27 Yankees.”

And how ‘bout them Padres.

“We’re better than this,” Martinez said. “Everyone knows that. We’re trying to change it. I just hope no one gives up.”

Padre Notes Manager Steve Boros and pitching coach Galen Cisco held a closed-door conference with LaMarr Hoyt before Tuesday’s game. They told him they wanted him in the starting rotation, but could see he was walking too many batters and was struggling. Hoyt suggested he go to the bullpen, so that’s where he will go. He won’t start again until next Tuesday against San Francisco. “I knew it’d be tough for him to get in shape for the season, but we didn’t anticipate his problems with his control,” Boros said. “He said it’s helped before when he’s gone to the bullpen.” . . . During Monday’s loss, Graig Nettles blooped a ball sky high to left. Three Houston Astros went for it, but the ball fell in between them. And where did Nettles end up? On first base. Boros said later that Nettles’ sore left hamstring kept him from reaching second on the bloop, and it turned out to be costly because the next batter, Terry Kennedy, grounded into a double play with runners on first and third. Had Nettles been on second, there would have been no double play, and maybe the runner could have scored on the ground out. At the time, the Padres trailed, 4-3. They eventually lost, but Boros agreed it shouldn’t happen again. So that’s why he was outwardly concerned with Nettles’ health on Tuesday. “He didn’t even take batting practice today,” Boros said. “He was getting treatment. I tell you, that’s an ugly leg. It’s all black and blue from the (internal) bleeding. But if he can’t run adequately to take the extra 90 feet, then he shouldn’t really be playing. If he can’t run, we can’t use him like we did last night. He’s got to go out to play third base, too, and he can’t run hard for a pop up if his leg’s like that.” With lefty Bob Knepper pitching Tuesday, Nettles wasn’t in the lineup anyway. . . . Goose Gossage saw Yogi Berra (one of his former coaches with the Yankees) on Tuesday, and Berra said, “Ah, what’s hurting you now?” Gossage, laughing, said: “Yogi, you’re my idol.” But what’s hurting Gossage is a groin pull, and Boros said Tuesday: “I don’t know about Goose yet. If there’s any doubt, I’ll stay away from him again. He puts so much effort into it. He takes that big stride and flies off to the side. He gets so much into it that you hate to send him out there unless he’s 100%.” . . . Houston shortstop Dickie Thon, still bothered by blurred vision after being beaned in 1984, will be rested for 10 more days, the Astros announced. Eye tests this week indicated that Thon’s sight still isn’t normal, though there has been improvement since his last checkup. . . . Boros on sleepless nights: “I can’t say I’ve had an entire sleepless night, but one of the things is going to bed at 1 and waking up at 3 or 4 o’clock. I get up and make up lineups or maybe read.”