Padre Notebook : Losses Have Bowa Exhibiting a Bit of Testiness

These are only exhibition games, but Padre Manager Larry Bowa has grown testy. The Padres lost their second straight game Thursday--6-0 to the San Francisco Giants--and here’s what Bowa was screaming afterward:

“Today and yesterday make my job easy. I don’t have to worry about cutting guys. They’re cutting themselves.”

And then he said: “It’s easy to find out who eliminated themselves today. A few guys did.”

And then he said: “I’ve given every guy in camp an opportunity to win a job. . . . But what amazes me is that maybe only two or three jobs are locked up (right fielder Tony Gwynn and shortstop Garry Templeton), and guys are going about it like, ‘Big deal.’ If I were a guy trying to win a job, I’d be trying to impress somebody and not make stupid mistakes.

“That’s how the game’s changed. You get invited to a big league camp and you think you’re a big leaguer. Some of these guys are lucky to even have a uniform on. Yet, they walk around like they’ve been playing 20 years in the big leagues.”

Among those who messed up Thursday were outfielder Shawn Abner, infielders Randy Ready and Bip Roberts, and pitcher Brian Snyder.

Abner walked in the second inning and then tried going from first to third on Stan Jefferson’s bloop single to left. He was thrown out.

Ready continues to struggle in the field, so he needs to impress Bowa with his bat. Thursday, he struck out--looking--with the bases loaded in the ninth.

“That (utility) job is not sewed up (by Ready),” Bowa said.

Roberts came to bat in the eighth with the score 6-0. He was supposed to take a strike in that situation, but he swung on the first pitch and grounded out to third.

“Everyone in front of him is taking a strike, and he swings at the first pitch? He said he didn’t hear (that he was supposed to take). All you have to do is look at the scoreboard. It’s common sense.”

Snyder pitched one inning and gave up four hits and three runs. A reporter said Snyder looked like he was struggling, and Bowa responded: “That about sums it up.”

Jimmy Jones was the starting pitcher, and he retired the first nine batters. But he gave up three runs in the fourth inning, including a two-run homer by Jeffrey Leonard.

“He (Jones) did the same thing in Vegas (last year in Triple-A)--inconsistency,” Bowa said.

So Bowa’s patience has slipped. He says he’s close to giving up on some of the young guys and may not give them as much playing time in these exhibitions.

“I’m getting tired of looking at this,” he said, adding that the players know he’s upset. “They got the message, just by the way I yelled at them and the way I made them run those 15 sprints. And they weren’t short sprints.

“For every mistake, I was going to make them run one sprint, but it was getting dark.”

Center fielder Stan Jefferson was hit in the back of the head Thursday on a pickoff play and suffered a mild concussion. He was taking a lead off second in the fourth inning when San Francisco pitcher Joe Price turned and threw toward the bag. Jefferson got back safely, with his head facing center field.

The ball cracked his helmet in two.

“After it hit me, I felt pressure in the back of my head and I went down,” Jefferson said later. “Either (shortstop) Chris Speier or (second baseman) Robby Thompson asked me if I was all right. I said, ‘I need a few more minutes.’ Then they asked me again, and I said, ‘I need a few more minutes.’ ”

By that time, Dick Dent--the Padre trainer--was out on the field. He asked Jefferson what day it was, but Jefferson said he didn’t know that even before he was hit.

“All these days run together in spring training,” he said later.

Dent asked him how he felt, and Jefferson said, “A little different.” He tried standing straight, and he almost keeled over. Dent ordered a stretcher (against Jefferson’s wishes) and Jefferson was carried off the field.

They brought him in the clubhouse, but as they were taking him to a nearby hospital they dropped him.

“That gave me even more of a headache,” Jefferson said. “I didn’t say anything for 30 seconds. I was (upset).”

Eventually, he got to the hospital, and the doctors said he can play today if he feels up to it.

“As long as I’m not spaced out or anything, I’ll play,” Jefferson said.

Bowa has made Gwynn his No. 3 hitter, but Gwynn would rather bat second.

“I’d bat Tempy (Templeton) third,” Gwynn said Thursday. “My thing is getting on base and scoring runs. I’m not too confident driving in runs. Tempy batted third in ’82 and had 50 RBIs by the All-Star break. He could drive in 100 runs.”

Gwynn hasn’t spoken to Bowa about it.

“He wants me to bat third,” Gwynn said. “Maybe this (spring training) is the time for me to maybe change my mind (about having to bat second). I’ve got four RBIs already. I’m rolling. But, in my own mind, I don’t know if I can do it.

“Every time you come up, you’re in a certain situation. The thinking part of batting third is messing me up. It’s screwing up my head. It’s the pressure of driving in runs. You’ve got to get a base hit, and you’re thinking, ‘If I don’t drive in a run, I haven’t done my job.’ ”

Said Bowa: “Well, (third baseman Kevin) Mitchell might hit third. I don’t know. I’m experimenting. There’s no lineup set yet.”