Bowa Moves to Ease Team Tension After Confrontation With Rookie

Larry Bowa, the Padres manager, said Thursday that he should not have shouted at rookie center fielder Stan Jefferson Wednesday night.

After Wednesday’s 9-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bowa held a team meeting and berated Jefferson for missing an afternoon workout that day. Jefferson told Bowa he didn’t know he had to be at the workout, but Bowa shouted: “That’s $100 (fine)!”

Jefferson eventually began screaming back. Witnesses said the two were soon nose-to-nose, and Jefferson bumped Bowa with his chest and took a swing at Bowa, hitting one of his teammates in the jaw instead. A group of Padres players then escorted Jefferson out of the clubhouse.

Bowa and Jefferson chatted privately later that night, and Bowa, who said he doesn’t remember being bumped by Jefferson, said Thursday: “Everything’s straightened out. . . . If I was another type of manager, maybe I wouldn’t talk to him the rest of the year. With me, I get mad, but a half hour later, it’s over with.

“There’s a right way, and a wrong way to do it, and I did it the wrong way. When he said he wasn’t told (about the workout), I should have said, ‘We’ll talk about it later.’ The wrong way was saying, ‘You’re fined $100.’

“Stanley misconstrued that as meaning he wasn’t giving 100%, and he overreacted. He snapped. He’s a sensitive kid.”

Jefferson declined comment Thursday.

Bowa says he has made a lot of mistakes this year. So, Thursday, he had a team meeting to inform his players of three changes:

--He will no longer fine players for missing signs.

--He will no longer complain to the media every time a pitcher gives up a base hit on an 0-2 count.

--He will no longer hold early afternoon workouts on the road, unless a group of players requests him to do so.

He says he made the moves because the players were trying too hard, and he figured it was time to take some pressure off. And he feels he’s partly to blame for the tense clubhouse.

“There are things I’m learning (as a manager),” Bowa said. “I’m just learning the hard way. I’ve made my mistakes. I admit it.”

Ballard Smith, the Padre president, and Dick Freeman, the team’s chief operating officer, both refused to say whether action would be taken against Bowa because of the Jefferson confrontation. Instead, they deferred all questions to Jack McKeon, the general manager. McKeon was on a scouting trip Thursday and was not available for comment.