Padres Ground to a Halt and Waste a Two-Hitter

When Tim Flannery and Dave Smith are catching waves off the Southern California coast over the winter, chances are Tuesday night’s game will come up. Flannery and Smith are surfing buddies from San Diego, but they weren’t too friendly with two outs in the eighth inning Tuesday night.

At the time, the Padres had Tony Gwynn on third base and Benito Santiago at second. They trailed by a run. And up stepped Flannery against Smith, the Astro reliever whose ERA is 0.00--best in the league.

They wouldn’t look at each other. Smith peered over to first base. Flannery peered up toward the Houston Astrodome roof. Monday night, Flannery slept at Smith’s house and they had laughed about such a possible confrontation.

The count reached two and two, and then Flannery punched a ball up the middle. Smith stuck out his glove and missed it. But second baseman Bill Doran, doing a belly flop for the ball, snared it. Then, he threw Flannery out, ending the inning and, the Padres’ threat.

The Padres wasted a two-hit pitching performance by Dave Dravecky and Lance McCullers and lost, 1-0, in front of 11,511.

Dravecky gave up two singles in six innings and McCullers threw two innings of hitless relief. The game’s only run came in the third inning, when Doran’s ground ball with the bases loaded scored Alan Ashby from third base.

Dravecky (1-6) gave up hits to Ashby and Dickie Thon in the third inning. Otherwise, Dravecky’s sinker ball was magnificent, causing nine Astro ground outs.

“As a matter of fact, that was the most effective it (his sinker) has been all year,” Dravecky said. “After we (he and catcher Santiago) knew it was on, we stayed with it consistently.”

The Padres had only two threats. They got runners on second and third with two outs in the fourth inning, but winning pitcher Danny Darwin (3-4) forced Padre third baseman Luis Salazar to ground out to third.

They threatened again in the eighth. Tony Gwynn’s first hit of the night was a one-out single. Astro left fielder Jose Cruz then made a running basket catch of John Kruk’s popup down the third base line. But Santiago ripped a single to right, and Gwynn ran to third.

Smith came in from the bullpen. Santiago stole second, and Ashby, the Astro catcher, never attempted a throw. It was in Smith’s hands.

Flannery knows all of Smith’s tendencies, but Smith knew Flannery’s tendencies too. Smith usually throws fastballs, but perhaps he’d throw breaking balls this time.

“Last night (Monday), I was all over Smitty,” Flannery said. “I told him I’d be the first guy to drive in a run off him this year.”

It was Smith’s 11th save of the year, but Doran technically made the glove save, diving for the ball the way he did.

“Those are lifetime bragging rights right there when those two get together,” Doran said. “You’re talking about some rip sessions (between them). And I would have hated to see Smitty have to tolerate it for the rest of his life.”

Smith, who threw a fist in the air after the play, said: “I’m taking Doran to dinner.”

Flannery, though, had to go out and eat with Smith after the game.

“Yeah, but I’ll remind him Billy Doran was out there behind him when he rags me about getting me out,” Flannery said. “ . . . Listen, the worst part is when I call home tonight. My wife will laugh at me. She’ll say, ‘Dave got you out. Na na na na na.’ ”

Still, Flannery got some revenge--in a strange way. Smith came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth and drew a walk off reliever McCullers. He then made it to second when Billy Hatcher bunted, and Padre first baseman Kruk made a bad throw to second.

Flannery, playing second base, started screaming at Smith.

“Swing the bat!”

“Quit looking for a walk!”

Then, Smith got picked off by catcher Santiago.

Flannery whistled. “Nice baserunning!” he said.

Padre Notes

Padre reliever Lance McCullers had Astro center fielder Billy Hatcher picked off first base, and first base umpire Randy Marsh correctly called Hatcher out. But then Marsh saw the ball rolling free out of Kruk’s glove, so he changed his call to safe. Replays showed that Hatcher had reached into Kruk’s glove with his hand and pulled the ball out. Marsh didn’t see it. . . . The Padres put left-hander Ray Hayward in the bullpen Tuesday night, even though Hayward has never been a reliever before. But Hayward, who was called up from Las Vegas Monday, wasn’t complaining. It turns out there was engine trouble on his plane from Las Vegas. Mechanics came to fix it, and the flight was delayed nearly two hours. Hayward sat there praying, hoping he’d make it to Houston. Eventually, he made it to Dallas, where his connection to Houston was an hour late. Finally at 10:45 p.m. he arrived in Houston. “I thought I’d never make it to the big leagues,” Hayward said Tuesday. Hayward, 26, was the Padres’ No. 1 pick in the 1983 June draft. He injured his left shoulder last season and said he could barely throw 70 m.p.h. at times. But he spent last winter lifting weights, and he hasn’t felt a twinge all year. His record at Las Vegas was 5-3 with a 3.10 ERA, and he says that’s his best start ever. “I learned to pitch in Triple-A,” said Hayward, who has spent parts of four years pitching there. “Now, I’ve got to learn to pitch here.”