Padres Fall Again as Ill Wind Blows in Candlestick, 4-3

The Padres were beaten Tuesday night by two wind-aided fly balls and a wind-faded line drive.

San Francisco Giant catcher Bob Melvin hit two home runs--his second broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning--lifting the Giants to a 4-3 victory. But Ed Whitson, the losing pitcher, swore the homers were pop flies.

“The two homers got caught in the jet stream,” he said. “I couldn’t believe they went out, I just couldn’t.”

Then the jet stream died. In the top of the ninth, Padre catcher Benito Santiago stood on second base with one out, representing the tying run. John Kruk came up and lined a ball to right center.

A certain base hit. A certain tie game.

Where was the wind? It blew the ball back.

Instead of flying over second baseman Robby Thompson’s head, it stayed put and fell into Thompson’s glove. Santiago had already taken off for third base and was doubled off second, ending the game.

“I saw the ball go over the second baseman’s head,” Santiago said. “And when I turn around, the ball stopped. I mean, I saw it go to right center. Crazy weather here, you know? When Kruk hit it, it stopped. Crazy wind. I don’t understand it. The ball died.”

Whitson is dying for an opening-day victory. In 13 pro seasons, he has only once begun 1-0 (in 1984).

“Story of my career,” he said.

Larry Bowa has begun his major league managerial career with two straight loses. If you count spring training, the Padres have lost 10 straight.

Meanwhile, three Padre rookies are dying for compassion. The funny thing is that Bowa predicted his rookies would struggle. He said that on some nights his three rookies would look like dynamite and on others, they would fizzle.

Tuesday, they fizzled.

First inning: The Giants’ leadoff man, Will Clark, was on first, and the next batter, Chris Brown, grounded back to the mound. Whitson threw to second for the force, but rookie second baseman Joey Cora dragged his foot off the bag--trying too hard to get a double play.

An E-4.

Then Giant left fielder Jeffrey Leonard stepped up. Whitson threw a breaking ball, which either broke a heck of a lot or blew in the wind a heck of a lot, because rookie Santiago couldn’t catch it.

Passed ball.

Then, Leonard finally got a pitch he liked and hit it to center. Rookie center fielder Stan Jefferson went back, but misjudged the wind. The ball flew over his head, and two runs came in.

Embarrassing.

So in one inning, the Giants managed to find all three of the Padre kids and took a 2-1 lead.

The Padres had taken a 1-0 lead in the first on Carmelo Martinez’s RBI triple. Martinez had two hits--including a home run--on opening day, and Bowa continued to use him against right-handed pitching, though he had earlier planned to use Kruk.

It’s paying off. Martinez lashed a Mike LaCoss pitch down the right field line for his triple--Tony Gwynn scoring from first. Martinez later doubled in the eighth.

Santiago made up for his passed ball quickly. He threw out Leonard trying to steal third in the second inning, and he hit his first homer of the season to left field, tying the game, 2-2.

Here came the rookies. Cora committed another kooky error. In the third, Leonard grounded slowly to second. Cora fielded it and figured he was close to first base and had better lob the ball to Steve Garvey underhanded.

He lobbed it over Garvey’s head.

Santiago was backing up first base, and he made a long throw to try to get Leonard at second. The ball scooted past shortstop Garry Templeton, and Jefferson was there to field it.

“You hope each game, their mistakes will decrease a little,” Bowa said of his rookies. “Hopefully, by the end of the season, I can say, ‘Boy, Cora, Santiago and Jefferson . . . I can’t believe how much they’ve improved.”

Blame part of the Tuesday’s follies on the Candlestick Park wind. Fly balls that started toward left ended up in center. Fly balls that started deep to right ended up shallow. Fly balls that started shallow to center ended up deep. On one play, Gwynn--the Padre right fielder--ran back on a fly ball and then had to come charging in for a shoe-string catch. He rolled his eyes.

The Padres went ahead, 3-2, in the fourth. Martinez reached on third baseman Chris Brown’s throwing error and eventually scored when shortstop Jose Uribe made a throwing error on a two-out ground ball.

Melvin then hit his two homers.

Padre Notes Larry Bowa, Padre manager, spent Monday night and Tuesday morning in Sacramento with his 67-year-old mother Mary, who has been hospitalized with an apparent kidney problem and an aneurysm in an artery near her heart. Bowa returned Tuesday afternoon and threw batting practice to several players, but was noticeably subdued afterward. “I’m so-so,” he said. “They’re still running a lot of tests on her. They know already that her kidneys aren’t working like they should, and they’re keeping their eyes on the aneurysm. Is it serious? Yeah, when you’re 67 years old, that’s pretty serious. When I left she said, ‘Don’t be afraid to win a game.’ I said ‘I’m trying.’ So her sense of humor is still there. She says she’ll listen to our game tonight for a while. She listened until about the 10th inning (on opening day), but she dosed off.” Bowa’s father, Paul, had planned to watch the entire Padre-Giant series this week, but he has hardly left his wife’s bedside. “He stays there all night,” Bowa said. “He slept in a chair one night. But he said he listened to every pitch on opening day.”

Reliever Goose Gossage, still bothered by a muscle pull in his left rib cage, isn’t ready to pitch and doesn’t know when he will be. “It could be a day, two days, a week,” Gossage said. “I just don’t know. You can’t put a number of days on it. I thought it’d be ready by now.” X-rays on Gossage’s ribs were negative, so Bowa doesn’t know whether he should put Gossage on the disabled list.