Padres Bang Out a Note of History in Loss

The San Diego Padres, who hit a total of three homers in Yuma this spring, hit back-to-back-to-back homers in their first three at-bats here Monday night.

No team had ever led off a game like this in Major League history.

So the least the Padres could’ve done was win, but they didn’t because the San Francisco Giants also subscribed to the Big Bang Theory Monday night. The Giants hit four home runs--including second baseman Robby Thompson’s two-out grand slam off Tom Gorman in the seventh--and they ruined the Padre home opener with a 13-6 victory in front of 48,686 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Speaking of Big Bangs, Padre Manager Larry Bowa went out with one, as he was ejected (his first time as a big league manager) in the sixth inning. Second baseman Tim Flannery had tried to break up a double play that inning with a swerving slide, and the shortstop, Matt Williams, threw the ball away, allowing a Padre run to score. But second base umpire Bob Engel ruled that Flannery went out of the baseline to get Williams, and he was called out.

Bowa was upset.

He spent a good three or four minutes ranting and raving, including a dramatic swing of his fist into the evening air. It did no good.

At least, the first inning went down in history. The Giants came out and scored two runs off Andy Hawkins in the top of the inning (it included a Jeffrey Leonard home run), but Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk each hit their first homers of the season in succession.

First, it was Wynne. He had been penciled into the lineup just an hour before game time when regular center fielder Stan Jefferson couldn’t play on a sore left ankle. And he hit Roger Mason’s 3 and 2 pitch to right for homer No. 1.

Second, it was Gwynn. He was hitting only .250 after the season-opening trip, but he blasted a 1 and 1 pitch to deep right-center for homer No. 2.

Third, it was Kruk. He had been 4-for-his-last-7, and he lifted a 1 and 1 pitch to left-center for homer No. 3.

Fourth, it was first baseman Steve Garvey, and he hit one deep to center, but Chile Davis made the catch, as the fans sighed as one.

“I’ve never seen three home runs in a row,” Bowa said. “That was seem to be incentive enough to stop the opposition. That we didn’t, that really bothers me.”

Still, three homers to start a team’s first inning had never been done before. Twenty-five different times, teams had hit two to start a first inning, but never three. The last time the Padres had back-to-back-to-back homers was in 1979 when Jerry Turner, Dave Winfield and Gene Tenace did it in the first inning in Philadelphia off Randy Lerch. But they weren’t the first three batters of the inning.

“It looked the Hagler-Leonard fight,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said of Monday’s first inning. “Everyone came out swinging.”

And the Giants’ Thompson said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. I was terrified.”

So what could be done for an encore?

Encore No. 1: Giant first baseman Will Clark tied the game at 3-3 with a solo homer off Hawkins in the third.

Encore No. 2: Third baseman Kevin Mitchell pushed the Padres in front, 4-3, with a singled to left that scored Gwynn.

Encore No. 3: Giant catcher Bob Melvin, who finished with four hits, homered (his third against the Padres this year) to tie it at 4-4 in the top of the fourth inning.

Encore No. 4: Tim Flannery--who started at second base ahead of Joey Cora for the second straight game--appeared to lean in and deliberately take a pitch off the right knee in the bottom of the fourth. Home plate umpire Joe West sent him to first. Then, rookie pinch hitter James Steels tripled Flannery in. And then Wynne singled in Steels, making it, 6-4, Padres.

Encore No. 5: The Giants scored four runs in the fifth off reliever Dave Dravecky (the losing pitcher), three of which were unearned. Mitchell started it with a throwing error on pitcher Jim Gott’s ground ball down to third. A single by Clark (he went 3-for-5), a two-run double by Davis and consecutive two-out RBI singles by Melvin and Williams completed the rally.

Encore No. 6: Bowa’s tantrum.

“I wasn’t trying to get run,” Bowa said. “I was trying to make a point. The slide marks were right there. He (umpire Engel) didn’t even look. It’s going to be a big ego thing--who ran me first. He did, so it’s out of the way.”

Encore No. 7: Thompson’s grand slam.

Encore No. 8: A meaningless RBI single--again by Thompson--which was the Giants’ 17th hit.

In all, there were seven homers by seven different batters.

Since it was the home opener, every player was announced to the crowd (which included lame duck owner Joan Kroc and lame duck team president Ballard Smith), and Flannery--not your biggest, not your strongest and not your best Padre--received more applause than anyone. Bowa says it has something to do with his charisma, and that’s why Flannery was in the starting lineup again Monday night.

On Sunday, Bowa had started Flannery at second base, and the Padres won their first game of the season. Bowa said the team seemed to have more fire with Flannery. And not wanting to mess with success, Bowa kept him in there Monday ahead of rookie Joey Cora.

“To be honest, Joey’s back in there tomorrow,” Bowa said. “It’s not a demotion. We just want to keep the lineup in there a couple days.”

Cora, at first, didn’t take the news real well. Jack McKeon, the Padre general manager, told him to relax, and Cora answered: “Relax? I’m on the bench already!”

But the more Cora thought about it, the more he mellowed out.

“If you’re winning, you’re winning,” Cora said. “And if we keep winning, I expect to stay out. I’m not disappointed. I know what’s going on. I’m just glad to be here. I’d be a bat boy if need be.

“I don’t mind. If I come off bench, I still get pay. Coming off the bench is better than playing every day at Triple-A. Get that (major league) check on the 1st and 15th every month and ask anybody if they want to go to Triple-A . . . No way.”

Flannery, on the other hand, was saying: “If I wasn’t in the lineup, I’d have cheered for Joey, like I’ll do tomorrow night and the next 100 in a row.”

But make no mistake, Flannery cherished Monday’s moment.

“To me, it’s an honer. He (Bowa) didn’t have to do it. It (the crowd reaction) makes it all worthwhile. If there’s any consolation about having the year I had last year and not starting this year (Bowa named Cora starting shortstop), it’s this. This makes me realize they (the Padre organization) appreciate me. I love it. Things like this is the reason I stay here and why I do everything they ask me. I have a very good life here.”

And then, as if it were script, Flannery lined a ball off the first base bag in his first at-bat. It caromed high up in the air, and the Giant first baseman, Will Clark, gloved it.

But Flannery beat Clark to first base with a head-first slide.

Padre Notes

Backup catcher Bruce Bochy underwent a bone scan on his right hand Monday, and Cliff Colwell, the team physician, told Bochy that the scan showed something wasn’t right. The Padres did not say the hand is broken, but Bochy is supposed to rest it for at least a week, so they placed him on the 15-day disabled list Monday. Mark Parent was called up from Las Vegas and made it to the stadium in time for the game. Bochy hurt the hand warming up a pitcher in San Francisco last Wednesday. “I’ve never been on the disabled list before,” he said. “I thought it was coming around, but I can’t really grip a bat. I don’t want to be dead weight around here. Right now, there’s not a whole lot I can do.” Parent was the last position player to be cut this spring, and he had a tearful goodby. . . . Center fielder Stan Jefferson’s left ankle is sore, not to mention swollen, and Manager Larry Bowa asked him to take the day off. Marvell Wynne took his place in the lineup. “He’s just very sore,” Bowa said. “It’s nothing serious. I think the Astro Turf got to him in Cincinnati. Hopefully, a day off will rejuvenate it.” Jefferson’s ankle caused him to miss the season opener in San Francisco, and now he has missed the home opener. “That’s two!” he said. I’m upset, I’m really upset. I mean, it (the ankle) is a little better. I mean, it’s been puffy, but now I can finally see an ankle.” . . . Reliever Goose Gossage, who hasn’t pitched this season because of a pulled muscle in his rib cage, has been given the go-ahead to pitch in a game if needed. . . . Bowa said the trio of Carmelo Martinez, John Kruk and Steve Garvey will be in a three-way rotation. Kruk and Martinez will split time in left field, and one of the two will relieve Garvey at first base. Whoever’s hot will play. “Hopefully, I can arrange enough at-bats so they can all be happy,” Bowa said. . . . Jack McKeon, the Padre general manager, spent last weekend watching the Padres’ Triple-A team in Las Vegas, and he said pitcher Jimmy Jones, outfielders Luis Salazar, Shane Mack and Shawn Abner and second baseman Bip Roberts were all impressive. . . . The Giants on Monday took pitcher Mike LaCoss out of their starting rotation and replaced him with Mark Grant. This move comes one day after LaCoss said his teammates were playing “without killer instinct” and were taking their come-from-behind victories “for granted.” Manager Roger Craig, when told of LaCoss’ comments on Sunday, told George Shirk of the San Jose Mercury News: “He (LaCoss) is wrong. It’s my job to say things like that. I’m the manager.”