Show Welcomes Deluge of Runs; Padres Win, 10-3

For once, the Padres ran up the score for pitcher Eric Show, who couldn’t have been more shocked. Show--who says he wants to be lucky in his next life--got an amazing 10 runs from his Padre teammates Friday night, and the Atlanta Braves just couldn’t keep up.

The final was 10-3, Padres, and to put it in perspective: In Show’s previous five games, the Padres scored a total of 10 runs .

So it was with great glee that Show took this victory Friday, only his second of the season.

“I’ve pitched better than this in most of my games this year,” said Show.

And he went on to explain: “My bad luck? I keep saying to myself that it won’t be that way anymore. I’ve been saying that for the last five years. I keep thinking I’ll break out of this, and be a lucky guy. You know, I do think I’m good. I honestly believe in my heart and soul I’m a good pitcher. I intend to be great, but to be great, you need luck. You need to be lucky to be great.”

You need runs to be great as well, and Show has Tony Gwynn and John Kruk to thank for last night. Gwynn had a homer, three hits and two RBIs, and Kruk had four hits and two RBIs. Kruk doesn’t have enough at-bats to be counted among the league leaders, but his batting average is now .376. Gwynn, meanwhile, does have enough at-bats, and he leads the National League with a .366 batting average.

And it was was Gwynn and Kruk who spurred on an eighth-inning rally. The score was only 4-2 entering the eighth, but Brave pitcher Jim Acker walked pinch-hitter James Steels with the bases loaded, and then Gwynn singled up the middle to drive in a run. Kruk followed with a two-run single, and then two more runs scored when Brave shortstop Andres Thomas caught Padre-itis and booted Randy Ready’s ground ball.

The six-run inning was the Padres’ season high, and if the Padres can win either today or Sunday, they’ll win a series for the first time all year.

Manager Larry Bowa said, “I’m going to use my experienced lineup, guys. We’ll see what happens.” In other words, he was benching rookie infielder Joey Cora and rookie catcher Benito Santiago.

“Every time we lose, the catastrophes center around Joey and Benny,” Bowa explained.

So he put Tim Flannery at second and Bruce Bochy behind the plate. Bochy hit a two-run homer to break a 1-1 tie in the fourth, and Flannery played flawless defense.

“We’re the dirt dogs, is what we are,” Flannery said. “Me, Kruk, Ready, Bochy. We’ll get dirty and play hard. We don’t care if we’re 50 games out, we’ll try and win.”

So Bowa will try and win again tonight. Flannery and Bochy stay in the lineup.

Still, Chuck Tanner, the Brave manager, had to be embarrassed that his team lost to the 13-42 Padres, who had scored a mere 25 runs in their previous 11 games.

“That’s no 13 and 42 team,” Tanner said. “They’ve got some pretty good hitters.”

“Who?” somebody asked.

“Gwynn and Kruk,” Tanner said. “Gwynn and Kruk.”

Gwynn bats third, and Kruk bats fourth. And Kruk says it’s easy hitting behind Gwynn because pitchers use the same strategy against Gwynn as they do against him. In other words, he says every time a pitcher starts off with a fastball against Gwynn, they start off with a fastball against Kruk.

So Kruk knows what’s coming.

“We’re both lefties,” Kruk said after Friday’s game. “ We’re both spray hitters. We’re the same. It’s just he’s black and I’m white.”

Gwynn, sitting next door, said: “Yeah, we’re the same. But I’ve got more pop and more speed.”

Bowa thinks it is amazing that his Padres could have the best two hitters in the National League and his team is dead last.

“What does that tell me? It tells me I need seven more of ‘em,” Bowa said. “It tells me we get a lot of first and second situations with no outs and we can’t score.”

Friday, they scored. In the seventh, with the Padres leading, 3-2, outfielder Marvell Wynne doubled to right off starter Doyle Alexander, and then Alexander walked Gwynn intentionally to get to Kruk.

The count reached 3-0, but Kruk got the green light and singled hard up the middle to score Wynne.

Show had thrown the only other complete game for the Padres this season (April 26 against the Dodgers), and he said he swore he wouldn’t blow Friday’s lead. He gave up a one-out, ninth-inning homer to Thomas, and Bowa nearly took him out. But Glenn Hubbard flied out, and then former Padre Graig Nettles, pinch-hitting, struck out to end the game.

Show said it was nice having Bochy behind the plate instead of the younger Santiago, who has been averaging one passed ball per game in the last week.

“Bochy has a much better understanding of the league and of calling games,” Show said. That’s just an obvious fact. It’s not a slam on somebody. It’s just the way it is.”

Another obvious fact: When you score 10 runs, you’ve got a better than average chance of winning.

Even the Padres.

Padre Notes General Manager Jack McKeon, who traveled to Montreal, talked to Manager Larry Bowa about rookie second baseman Joey Cora and whether they should send him down. Bowa favors sending Cora down; the question is, whom to bring up. Triple-A shortstop Garry Green is the No. 1 candidate to replace Cora, but Green has a hamstring injury and isn’t 100% healthy. Bowa said his reports from Las Vegas indicate that Triple-A second baseman Bip Roberts seems to have an attitude problem, so he’s out of the running for now.

“Jack says to sit on it a couple days,” Bowa said Friday. “He said not to do anything in haste.” So Cora is staying put. But Bowa said Cora won’t start any of this weekend’s games. Tim Flannery started ahead of him Friday. “Flannery runs circles around Joey in terms of baseball smarts,” Bowa said. “Joey has range (at second base), but what good does it do when you don’t know what to do when you catch it? When I put him in, I’ve got to pray the ball’s not hit to him, at least until he’s straightened out.”

McKeon said Bowa shouldn’t worry about job security. And Bowa said he isn’t. “I think I’m perfect here for what they want done.” Bowa says he understands today’s players: “They can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I know every nook and cranny. I’m only two years out of the big leagues as a player. But if I have one fault, it’s being too honest. I rip guys. But the reason I do is because when I played, it made me a better player. I mean, if I could take getting ripped after what I did in the big leagues--I was no superstar, but I did some things--who the hell are these guys who play only three or four years and can’t take criticism from me?”

Former Padre Graig Nettles--now with the Braves--isn’t surprised with the Padres’ slow start. “I think they should have kept a few of us veterans around. When you go with a lot of rookies, that’s what happens. I’ve never heard of a big-league team doing what they did (unloading so many veterans at once). I was kind of hurt. I hoped they’d at least invite me to spring training. I didn’t ask for the third baseman’s job, but just to be a pinch-hitter.” Nettles is batting only .200, but has 12 RBIs in 22 pinch hit at-bats. “If I enjoy this (pinch-hitting) and do well, I’d like to do it again next year and the year after,” Nettles said.