Padres Hit New Low in 4-2 Loss to the Cardinals

Not only are the Padres suffering defeat after defeat, but also they are becoming defeatists.

Vince Coleman led off Saturday’s game with a rocket single to center. He stole second on the next pitch, third on the next and eventually scored on a ground out. Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt got nervous and walked three batters. St. Louis got three first-inning runs--all the Cardinals would need--and won, 4-2.

In the sixth, the Padres staged a rare rally. Jerry Royster singled, went to second on a balk and to third on a Tony Gwynn single. The only hot hitter on the team, John Kruk, smoked a ball up the middle, but rookie pitcher Greg Mathews--who yielded eight hits in 6 innings--barely got a glove on it. The ball bounced conveniently to Ozzie Smith, who easily stepped on second and threw to first for a double play.

“A lot of cursing on the bench today,” Manager Steve Boros said. “Especially after that double play.”

So after all this, after seven losses in their last eight games, the Padres’ attitude isn’t at a high altitude. Here is a depressing baseball team. For the first time in 1986, the Padres are three games below .500 (47-50). Here is a team with no life. A ball is hit through the Padre infield, and the outfielder takes his time to lob it back in. On Saturday, Kevin McReynolds was the guilty party, but all the outfielders have done it one time or another on this trip.

“Yeah, you could be right,” Gwynn said when somebody asked if he had noticed the slow-motion act, too.

Hear the quotes:

“We can’t expect every starter to pitch a shutout,” Gwynn said. “When they score as many runs as they did in the first inning, and the way we’re going right now, us coming back is like climbing Mt. Everest.

“A three-run deficit? You normally try to peck away and get back in it. But the way we’re swinging the bats, three runs against us is plenty.

“When you’re playing well and you play like we did today, you can say, ‘Let’s throw this game out the window,’ and say, ‘Let’s get ‘em tomorrow.’ But we’ve played like this the whole road trip. Instead of us thinking positive now, we get a guy on first with nobody out, and we think, ‘Oh no, here comes a double play.’

“The way the Cardinals scored in the first, that’s got to burst your bubble. As soon as Coleman gets on, you know he’s gonna steal second and you know he’ll try to steal third. And the No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters look for a fly ball or ground ball, and boom, he’s in. That’s we need to be doing, get runs early.

“We’ve got people who can do it, but we’ve got eight guys struggling at the same time. The only guy who’s hitting is Johnny Kruk. And, oh, there’s cursing. Very rarely do I come in and slam my helmet or my bat. . . . The whole road trip, guys have been breaking helmets and throwing bats and cursing.”

And from losing pitcher Hoyt (5-6): “Let me ask you--How did they (the Padres) react a couple years ago after they got in that fight in Atlanta? These guys (the Cardinals) haven’t lost a game since their fight with the Giants (last week). So maybe we need to start knocking some people on their butts and get a little intensity going. But it’s one of those things--maybe we can, maybe we should, maybe we will, maybe we won’t, maybe it will help, maybe it won’t. You never know. It’s just like maybe it’s time to reach back and make things happen, because it seems like we’re just letting things happen. We’re coasting.”

Downhill.

At this rate, the Padres won’t rate very high at the end of the season. In their last nine games, the Padres have scored 30 times, and 14 of those came in two games. Take away those two games and the Padres have 16 runs in seven games, an average of 2.28.

That’s too bad.

Whitey Herzog, the St. Louis manager with gusto, finally has his team going with five straight wins, and his strategy is very simple: Score. In the first 90 games, the Cardinals scored three runs or less 57 times. In the 97 Padre games this year, they’ve scored three runs or less 49 times.

“You’ve gotta score, man,” Herzog said. “It’s tough. I’ve gone weeks this year and never given a sign. All you do is try to keep ‘em close and hope you catch up. Ain’t much managing you can do when you’re behind. I betcha the first 90 ballgames this year, we needed a manager 55 times because we never caught up.”

“Yep, our first 90 games, we scored three runs or less 57 times. That’s why we’re where we’re at (fourth place). As simple as can be.”

And that’s why the Padres are where they’re at. As simple as can be.

And it doesn’t help when they make errors. The St. Louis lead was trimmed to 3-1 in the top of the sixth, but Hoyt walked leadoff man Andy Van Slyke in the bottom of the inning. Van Slyke stole second and went to third on a ground out.

The next batter, catcher Mike LaValliere, hit one hard right back to Hoyt. Van Slyke took a step toward the plate on impact, so Hoyt had him in a rundown. Hoyt ran straight from the mound toward Van Slyke, but later said he should have thrown immediately to third baseman Jerry Royster. Hoyt realized his mistake as he ran and threw to Royster.

But he threw over Royster’s head and Van Slyke scored.

“That was a big run,” Boros said. “That was a very big run.”

The Padres look run down.

Padre Notes

Pitcher Eric Show (sore elbow) rejoined the team and said he has, at last, seen progress. He is expected to pitch the weekend of Aug. 2. “It’s definitely more encouraging,” Show said. “Dr. (Cliff) Colwell examined it and said I’m coming along. Right now, I’m definitely happy. It feels better now than at any time since I’ve been hurt.” . . . . Manager Steve Boros, asked how to stop St. Louis’ Vince Coleman on the basepaths, said: “Don’t let him get on first.” And if he gets on first? “I don’t know how to stop him then. You could throw over there 45,000 times until the game is called. Of course, there would have to be a curfew for that one to work.” . . . Coleman, before Saturday, had drawn 15 of the 99 balks called in the National League this year. Also, in a little over a year and a half, Coleman is the fourth leading base stealer in Cardinal history. . . . Bip Roberts borrowed one of Coleman’s bats Saturday and ripped a double, only his third extra-base hit of the year. . . . Steve Garvey was struck in the leg by a hard hit ground ball in the eighth inning. He limped around and finished the game, although the severity of the injury is not yet known.