Managing a Rookie Manager : Bowa Tries to Prepare Himself and Padres for Their Season Opener

By now, we know Padre Manager Larry Bowa talks a good game. During one of those all-unimportant spring training games in Palm Springs, Bowa tossed a water bucket, hurled a batting helmet and threw out expletives: “You guys are . . .”

When pitcher Storm Davis threw mostly balls in a recent outing, Bowa said something of the same: “Storm Davis was . . . “

And on and on.

But action usually speaks louder than nasty words, and what we must remember is that Bowa hasn’t managed any big league games yet. He’s a rookie, too.

The Padres open their 1987 season at San Francisco Monday, and if you’re looking for question marks, look no further than The Human Question Mark--Bowa.

Ask him to rate his spring, and he’ll say: “I was . . . “

There were the tantrums.

“When a guy goes real good, you can’t over-react, and when a guy’s terrible, you can’t over-react,” said Bowa this weekend, one spring training wiser. “I wanted to win every (spring) game, and I can’t do that. The players have to get their work in, and I needed to realize that. I got too high when we won this spring, and too low when we lost.”

And there were the words.

“Right now, I’m having trouble finding the right words,” he said. “I’m not being real tactful, and that’s what I’ve got to learn as a manager. . . . But I’m spontaneous. That’s my personality. But I’ll have to work on that. Maybe I’ll have to sit down before I meet the press and analyze what I say.

“In the minors, if you say something critical, it stays in the Las Vegas Sun. In the big leagues, it goes on the wire services coast to coast. It goes to Podunk and Leesburg, Fla. If it’s good print, it’ll go everywhere.

“Unless you know me, it looks like I’m ripping him (Davis). If some Joe Schmo picks up the paper, he’ll say, ‘He’s ripping the hell out of him.’ I have to worry what Joe Schmo thinks.”

So, Bowa says, the next time Davis walks in a couple of runs, he’ll try to “fabricate something,” such as: “I’m concerned about Storm’s location, but he’s throwing well enough.”

Inside, however, he’ll be churning.

“I’m making adjustments today, tomorrow, the next day,” Bowa said. “I know what my shortcomings are.”

But who has more shortcomings, he or his team?

The Padres--74-88 last year--aren’t exactly cruising into this season. Their spring losing streak reached seven after Saturday’s 8-2 loss to the Cubs in Mile High Stadium.

Third baseman Kevin Mitchell had a ground ball bounce off his stomach. Mitchell tried letting a slow roller go foul, but it stayed fair. Shortstop Garry Templeton let a hot grounder get by him. Rookie second baseman Joey Cora dove twice for grounders but missed both. Rookie catcher Benito Santiago threw a pickoff play into center field. Fifth starter Ed Wojna gave up seven runs in about 17 minutes. Pitcher Lance McCullers fell off the mound after one of his fastballs.

After Saturday’s loss, Bowa returned to his more tactless tone. He had said before the game that he would try to show restraint, but he didn’t.

“They think they can turn on the switch (for opening day), but we’ll see,” he said. “What’s wrong? Ask them out there. Go to every locker and ask what the hell they’re thinking about. Maybe I should say we’re playing great. . . . If they don’t like criticism, we’ll just say they’re playing great.

“I’d like to have some answers, too. I’m watching the same thing you’re watching, and it don’t look too good from my standpoint. If they can all say they’re mentally into this, then they’re all liars. But we’re not supposed to rip people because it’ll hurt their feelings. I’m embarrassed, and I’m not even playing, so I don’t know how these guys feel. You show me a guy who likes getting his rear end kicked, and I’ll show you a loser.”

On Friday, Bowa evaluated the 1987 Padres this way:

“I think it will be like a roller-coaster ride. If things go well, we could be an exciting team. But when we go bad, people are going to say, ‘What are they doing out there?’ It’s because we have so many young kids (three rookies and two second-year players in the starting lineup).

“But if I had to pick one aspect that will determine whether we win or lose, it’ll be our pitching. If we don’t (get good pitching) . . . phew . . . sleepless nights, man.”

Right fielder Tony Gwynn on the 1987 Padres:

“What do the magazines pick us? Anywhere from fourth to sixth? That’s pretty accurate, I’d say. I’m not saying we’re a bad club, just a young club. And when you have a young club, you make a lot of mistakes.

“In order to win, we’ve got to play perfect baseball every night. We don’t have home-run power. We’ve got more speed, but we can’t use it unless we get on base. If we don’t get on base, we can’t steal.

“This last week, we haven’t done squat. And if we go through stretches like this during the season, I’m telling you, this is going to be the longest season a lot of us have ever played in. And that prospect doesn’t sit well with me because I want to win.”

Like it or not, Gwynn is an elder statesman, and--by the way--he doesn’t like it. He would rather take a low profile, but he’s 26, and Cora (21), Davis (25), center fielder Stan Jefferson (24), left fielder John Kruk (26), McCullers (23), Mitchell (25), Santiago (22) and rookie outfielder James Steels (25) all look up to him in more ways than age.

Only shortstop and first base are taken by seasoned veterans. And Steve Garvey might find himself in trouble at first if both Carmelo Martinez and Kruk get hot. Martinez will begin the season platooning in left with Kruk, but Bowa says whoever gets hot will play.

What if they’re both hot?

Martinez goes to first.

Martinez showed he’s capable of repeating his 1985 season of 21 homers when he hit two home runs against the A’s last week. Bowa says that if Garvey isn’t driving in runs, you won’t see him.

Kruk, beginning his second season, had an excellent .403 on-base percentage last year (second in the NL to Tim Raines). But, as usual, he’s edgy about his hitting, though his spring average is .306.

“I’m terrible,” he said this weekend. “I ain’t hitting. I ain’t doing nothing. There’s no use in the lineup for a guy who strikes out two times a game.”

Just to see what it would do to his swing, Kruk got a haircut Friday.

“How much should I take off?” asked the barber.

“Take it all off,” he said. “I don’t care.”

Kruk has a crew cut.

He was featured in the April edition of Esquire Magazine, which included him as one of its top baseball characters.

Under his mug shot was his nickname: “Burger King.” He likes fast food.

The magazine also wrote: “To break a slump, (he) chews four pieces of watermelon-flavored gum before a game, one for each at-bat.”

Is this true?

“It might be,” Kruk said Saturday.

Center field belongs to Jefferson, a rookie. He came to the Padres in the Met trade this winter. Met personnel warned that he didn’t recuperate quickly from injuries. This spring, he’s had a hand problem, a head problem (he was beaned on a pickoff play) and now an ankle problem. He was supposed to play Saturday, but he said it didn’t feel right yet.

He wasn’t happy about it. As a matter of fact, he was pouting. And he doesn’t like to hear Bowa’s grumbling about his lack of pain tolerance.

“That junk bothers me,” Jefferson said. “My first few years in the minors, I didn’t say nothing to nobody when I was hurt. I didn’t know where the training room was. And they got all mad at me because I didn’t tell them. Now, I tell them, and I supposedly can’t take the pain.”

When healthy, Jefferson is dynamic. His spring average was .351 and on-base percentage .403, and he tied Cora for the team lead with five steals.

Another rookie, catcher Santiago, looks like a sure thing.

Bowa, asked about his most pleasant surprise of the spring, said: “I’d say Benny. The way he’s called the games and handled himself. I thought he’d have a lot of problems. But he’s thinking about both his offense and defense, which was rare last year.”

Bowa’s biggest disappointment?

“Jimmy Jones,” he said. “I think watching Jimmy the last month of last season, I thought he’d be pitching like gang-busters.”

Instead, Jones begins this season at Triple-A.

Second baseman Cora, the third rookie starter, expected to be at Triple-A. First base coach Sandy Alomar, who has known Cora since Cora was a child in Puerto Rico, thinks the Padres are rushing him.

“The only thing with him (Cora), he thinks he’ll hit the same as in the minors,” Alomar said. “He won’t. The average will be lower because there’s better pitching and defense. He’s got to realize he won’t hit the same. If he overcomes that, he’ll be a great player.

“But that’s my biggest concern, because he worries too much about his hitting. Me and Larry, we’ve told him, ‘Just steal bases, play defense, move the runners, play the little man’s game.’ If he hits .240, .250 and moves runners, that’s good.”

Bowa, asked if he was rushing Cora, said, “No, we’re not rushing him, because we’re not relying on him for offense. If this were a pennant-contending team, I’d say so. But he’s gaining experience. If he goes 0 for 20 (as rookie second baseman Bip Roberts did last season), I won’t say, ‘Get your rear end out of here.’

“Listen, it’s really hard to foresee, to look into a crystal ball. If I knew I would be ruining him, I wouldn’t do it. But this is the best time to do it. No one’s picking this team to win. And I’ve got two guys (Tim Flannery and Randy Ready) who I can use in a second.”

Third base, with Mitchell, isn’t as much of a concern. Mitchell, as a Met last season, finished third in the Rookie of the Year balloting. For good luck, he wanted to wear No. 7, the number he wore in New York. Outfielder Marvell Wynne already had No. 7, but Wynne saw the No. 7 medallion Mitchell wore around his neck and gave him the number. Wynne will wear No. 16.

“Yeah, I’m wearing Sweet 16,” Wynne said. “Doesn’t bother me one way or another.”

Finally, there’s the pitching staff, which would be fine if things started with the bullpen. In Dave Dravecky, Craig Lefferts, Tom Gorman, Goose Gossage and McCullers, the Padres might have the league’s best relievers.

Bowa refuses to name a bullpen stopper. Gossage and McCullers will share ninth-inning duties.

“I don’t have a stopper,” Bowa said. “They’re both stoppers. I’m not avoiding the question. Anyway, I think it’s a luxury.

The entire starting rotation is right-handed: Eric Show, Ed Whitson, Andy Hawkins, Wojna and Davis. Dravecky, by June or July, might become a starter. Bowa thinks the return of Show and Dravecky, who both had elbow problems last year, is critical.

“Talking about sleepless nights, if Eric and Dave aren’t healthy, I might be surfing in the middle of the night,” Bowa said.

No one around here is talking pennant. There are too many new faces, and there’s even a change in the uniform. The initials “RAK” that used to be on every left sleeve--a tribute to the late owner, Ray Kroc--were to come off this season, even before Kroc’s wife, Joan, sold the team.

No one’s sentimental about the letters.

“They ain’t our owners anymore,” Kruk said. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Bowa knows he has a lot to learn. A year ago, when he was managing the Triple-A Las Vegas Stars, he had a similar beginning. There, he was yanking pitchers after just three innings and kicking dirt at any umpire for any reason. He settled down at midseason, and his team won the championship.

Here, he also must settle down.

“I’m not concerned about this losing streak,” said Jack McKeon, general manager. “I’m waiting patiently for opening day.”

The Mets, who won the World Series, were 13-13 last spring, McKeon pointed out. The Astros, who won the NL West last season, had the worst record in Florida last spring (9-18). And in 1984, the year the Padres won the pennant, they were 13-17 in the spring.

“What’s our record now?” McKeon asked. “It’s 13-15? Well, tell Larry to give it a rest.”