Padres Are Duds Again in 4-3 Loss

Saturday night for the Padres began with third baseman Kevin Mitchell lighting a most appropriate type of firecracker on the top of a clubhouse garbage pail. A dud.

The day ended with Mitchell and Padre teammates Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts becoming San Francisco Giants, and Giants Chris Brown, Mark Davis, Mark Grant and Keith Comstock becoming Padres.

In between, the here-and-now Padres blew another one to the Montreal Expos. They lost a 3-1 seventh-inning lead, wrought by starter Ed Whitson, on two fastballs by two relievers. Lance McCullers gave up a two-run game-tying homer to Andres Galarraga in the seventh, and Goose Gossage gave up a game-winning homer to Hubie Brooks in the ninth for the 4-3 final.

The players initially thought that this was one loss that even they would not have to explain, because reporters were suddenly ordered from the clubhouse after the game.

After everyone but the players had exited, dugout coach Greg Riddoch stepped from Manager Larry Bowa’s office and walked around the room, tapping each of the three unsuspecting former Padres on the shoulder and motioning them into Bowa’s office. Five minutes later, they walked out to the blank faces of their teammates.

“You go along playing the game, supposedly having fun and all that, then snap ,” Tony Gwynn said. “You realize it’s a business, and nothing else. We’re all in shock. It’s like losing family.”

Indeed, Dravecky had been with most of them since 1981, when he played in Double-A Amarillo, where he was assigned after a trade with the Pirates. Lefferts had been with them since he was acquired from the Cubs in a December 1983 trade. His 2.13 earned-run average in 1984 was as improbable as the Padres’ rise to the World Series.

The situation with Mitchell, who had just arrived from the Mets this spring, was different.

“Seems like Mitch just got here,” said Gwynn. “Isn’t that something? A guy just comes and now he’s gone.”

Gwynn laughed about Mitchell’s pregame fireworks display. “Well, it will be a little quieter around here without him,” he said.

Somebody mentioned the talent the Padres were acquiring.

“Sure,” said Gwynn, “but we’ll have plenty of time to think about what we’re getting. Right now, all any of us can think about is what we’re losing.”

Finally, after all the goodbys were said and handshakes were given, the Padres had one more bit of business. With the extra body coming in from San Francisco, there was no longer a need for reliever Ed Vosberg, recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas Wednesday for the injured Storm Davis. So late Saturday, he was sent back down, without having faced one big-league batter.

“Isn’t this game something?” asked Whitson, who held the the Expos four hits in six innings Saturday night. He threw his back out on a 1-and-2 pitch to Tim Raines in the sixth. He returned to the clubhouse after the inning, wrenched his back into shape, and gave up a bouncing single up the middle on a full count to Brooks to lead off the seventh. Bowa had seen enough.

“He’s pitching too good to screw around with his back,” said Bowa. “It’s just that our other two guys didn’t do the job. They proved they are human, too.”

The first other guy was McCullers, who immediately faced the hot-hitting Galarraga, whom the Padres had shut down on breaking pitches for an 0-for-5 slate thus far in the series. McCullers’ fourth pitch was a fastball up. Tie game.

The ninth inning didn’t take that long. After McCullers had struggled through the eighth, Gossage came on in the ninth and got leadoff hitter Tim Wallach on a a groundout. Five pitches later, on a 3-and-1 count, Brooks sent the ball 400 feet over the left-center field wall to end it.

“We’ve been doing a good job out of the bullpen,” said Bowa. “Sometimes these things just happen.”

The ending wasn’t any worse than the start. With two out, both strikeouts by Whitson, in the bottom of the first inning, Raines walked on a 3-and-1 pitch. Five pitches and one embarrassing moment later, the Expos led, 1-0.

Wallach hit a drive to left field that Carmelo Martinez aptly chased to the wall. It was a dead heat, except that he ball was about 10 feet over Martinez’s head. He and the ball hit the wall together. The ball bounced back, Martinez didn’t. By the time center fielder Shane Mack caught up with it, Wallach was on third and Raines had scored.

It stayed that way until the fifth, when John Kruk had his first extra-base hit in 60 at-bats. You guessed it--a two-run homer to left field, the only place this left-handed hitter has hit his seven homers this year, although the shot off Neal Heaton was his first career homer off a left-hander.

It followed a ground single by Mitchell, who later followed three teammates out the door.

Padre Notes On any stolen base, the first impulse of some is to blame the catcher. But take it from the Expos, sometimes it’s the pitcher. The Expos have given up 18 of the Padres’ 98 stolen bases this season and have caught the Padres only once. In stealing four bases Friday night, the Padres never gave Expo catcher Mike Fitzgerald a chance.