PADRES AT MIDPOINT : Boros Survives Amid His Team’s Struggles

Steve Boros--not the manager, but the kid--gets second-guessed a lot. These fools in school keep coming up to him, wondering why his dad takes pitchers out so early. They ask him seriously, as if he is supposed to say, “Well, Eric Show’s elbow hurt.”

Little Steve Boros is 10 years old.

“They ask me a lot of questions,” he said. “They always ask me why he took a guy out. I just say, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

Steve Boros--the manager--knows he’s in a difficult profession. When he managed in Oakland, they fired him in the middle of May with his team only 2 1/2 games out of first place. Managing: it’s not an adventure, it’s a job. And even if you can stand the heat, what if your son can’t?

Here we are at the midway point of the Padre season, and from Day 1, literally, it has been a struggle. On Day 1 of Boros’ reign at spring training, LaMarr Hoyt, the Padres’ best pitcher, checked into a rehabilitation center. Day 1 of the regular season wasn’t so great, either, as the Padres floundered on the bases in Los Angeles and lost. Boros--the manager--counted sheep all night, but couldn’t sleep.

The ensuing days got better, as the Padres played 10 straight one-run games and won seven. For a few days, they were in first place. Later, they fell to fifth. Later, they lost a game in San Francisco, 18-1. Later, Garry Templeton, who hadn’t really said a nasty word since arriving in San Diego four years ago, blasted Boros for not being enough of a son-of-a-you-know-what.

Jack McKeon, the Padre general manager, says Boros has aged, has a few more gray hairs. He says Boros keeps many of his feelings inside. Mad Jack does nothing of the sort. McKeon has gone to Boros and told him to loosen up, to raise a little hell in front of the players. Boros told him he would do nothing of the sort.

“Listen, I haven’t beaten my kids and my wife at home,” Boros said last week. “I’ve kept it (feelings) in my whole life and it’s difficult to stop doing it at this point. Remember, I keep things inside because I want to. I take pride in keeping it in. I don’t look at it as a fault. It’s something I try to pull off when things really get nerve-racking.”

The nerves are yet to come. This is only midseason, halftime. The Padres are in third place but won’t take no pennant for an answer. They (and that includes owner Joan Kroc, President Ballard Smith and McKeon) want to win right now.

But how?

The pitching is scary. The trades for Ed Whitson and Dave LaPoint have brought immediate gratification, especially from LaPoint, who has a pretty good earned-run average of 0.00 in two relief appearances. But both Show and Dave Dravecky have elbow problems. Show is on the disabled list. Dravecky might join him soon.

Boros calls their injuries the low point of his season.

“There’s nothing you can do about injuries like that,” he said. “And you know it’ll have an impact on your team and can be devastating. These are our top two pitchers. That’s why the trades were so important. It’s amazing Jack pulled it off. So much attention was given to getting (Rick) Rhoden (from Pittsburgh), and Jack goes and gets Whitson and LaPoint. He did it again. It’s amazing.”

Padre bats are weary. Other than Tony Gwynn--who’s trying to keep up with a guy he calls “Wade Boggsy”--all the hitters have been inconsistent. Batting coach Deacon Jones thinks a lot of these guys are selfish hitters--they won’t try to move runners, thinking instead about getting their averages up.

The defense is hairy. Steve Garvey and Graig Nettles still make spectacular plays but have had trouble on some routine ones. Templeton is the backbone of the infield but even he has his days. Terry Kennedy can’t be blamed for failing to throw out runners, because some of the pitchers have awfully slow moves to the plate. But with Marvell Wynne in center, the outfield makes more outs this year.

At times, this team has looked superb.

And then, the next day, sub-par.

Here’s what we might expect in the second half:

SOMETHING OLD--The resurgence of senior veterans Goose Gossage, Nettles and Garvey.

Gossage, 35, is third in the league in saves (15 in 21 chances), but he has had this strange knack of giving up booming home runs (six in 43 innings). Maybe he’s having a decent year. Maybe he’s not.

“About six weeks ago, a lot of people were ready to give up on him,” said Galen Cisco, the Padre pitching coach. “It’s because he’s done the job so many years so well. And when he doesn’t do well, they want to know what’s the matter with Goose. Just like (Dwight) Gooden. He loses two in a row and it’s, ‘What’s wrong with Gooden?’ Or Roger Clemens. On the 6 o’clock news, I heard someone say, ‘What’s wrong with Clemens? He lost.’ ”

Nettles may lose his job next year. But maybe not. The Padres might not be able to find a better third baseman, and Nettles has proven he still has power (12 homers) at age 41. So why wouldn’t he at age 42?

Garvey, 37, will skip the All-Star game (not by choice, but because he wasn’t the fans’ choice). He has been mired in a horrific slump but says, with a straight face, that he will straighten himself out. He went 2 for 5 Sunday after going 1 for 18 and 8 for 64.

SOMETHING NEW--Bip Roberts and Wynne have been welcome additions. Roberts has been a big leaguer for almost four months, and he says he has shaved just three times since then.

He’s only 22.

But he has proven he belongs, even with that 0-for-20 beginning. Still, every so often he runs up to a reporter and asks, “Am I gone? Are they sending me down?” But he says he’s just joking when he does that. He says he doesn’t doubt himself in the least.

“Bip has been a pleasant surprise,” Boros said. “I never thought a guy up from Double-A would play defense the way he’s played it and be as solid as he has at the plate, especially left-handed. He’s made changes in his game and taken instruction well. He’ll be a good major leaguer. The question is whether or not it’ll be this year. But I don’t want to lose him. He could be a valuable player in the future.”

Roberts, like all kids, wishes the future were now.

“I want to go out there stealing bases, scoring runs and playing every day,” he said. “But right now, it doesn’t seem like it’ll happen this year. . . .

“I was talking with Garry (Templeton) in Atlanta and I said, ‘I’m not doing nothing. I want to do more.’ And he said, ‘You’re all right. Don’t worry about it. Look at me. I’m hitting .220. You’re all right.’ And he said, ‘You gotta crawl before you can walk.’ . . . Well, once I start walking, I’ll start running. I’ll take off.”

Wynne, now the regular center fielder, is getting popular with the fans. A kid recently gave him a bumper sticker that read, “You look Mahvelous!”

“I liked it,” Wynne said. “I gave him a bat for it.”

Wynne is a hard worker. Some coaches detected that when he runs to first base he doesn’t lean into the bag (much like sprinters are supposed to lean into the finish line). So he comes out early some days to work specifically on his lean.

SOMETHING BORROWED--LaPoint and Whitson--traded here recently--might really help. Off the field, LaPoint is a unique personality. He hosted a radio talk show in his hometown of Glenn Falls, N.Y.

“Yeah, we talked about all sports,” he said. “I know about ‘em all. Basketball? I should. I’ve got quite a track record for winning basketball pools.”

Whitson, meanwhile, lost his first game as a Padre, but at least his home fans are cheering him.

SOMETHING BLUE--The saddest Padre is Carmelo Martinez, who led the team in homers last year but who now doesn’t play. Outwardly, you won’t see his heartache (it’s his nature to giggle), but he really hurts inside. He once said he’d play catcher if he could play every day.

Kevin McReynolds, his replacement in left, has shown signs of blossoming (13 homers, 46 RBIs) but isn’t happy with his concentration at the plate.

“To be a good hitter, you figure you got to concentrate,” McReynolds said. “You figure you only bat four times a game. You might have 12 to 15 minutes total at the plate. It seems you can concentrate for that amount of time, but I just haven’t done that.”

AND WHO WILL WIN IT? NO CLUE--The last-place team--the Dodgers--are only eight games out of first.

There will be a pennant race.

Because Boros has rested many of his starters from time to time, he should have a fresh team in the second half.

“It’ll be better (second half) this year because more players will be rested,” Kennedy said. “You can’t play every single day. At this rate, I’ll have right at 500 at-bats (at season’s end). Normally I’ll have 500 or 560 with 14 to 16 extra games. I feel great. My legs don’t bother me at all.

“But we have the toughest schedule at the end (of the season). The last week, we play in Atlanta and then (are) home against the Dodgers and against Cincinnati and then we go to Cincinnati. And if Cincinnati’s not in it, they’ll be the hardest team to beat in our last month.”

Kennedy isn’t sure how the Padres will fare.

“I think we’re on the verge of busting it open or falling apart,” he said.

And if they fall apart, don’t blame little Stevie Boros, though the fools in school probably will try.