The Padres’ Lament: Cubs, With Dawson, Should Be Outlawed

Many pitchers give up home runs that break records.

The Padres’ pitchers give up home runs that break the law.

About three seconds after a ball left the bat of Chicago Cub Andre Dawson during Monday’s 7-0 victory over the Padres, it left Wrigley Field for an adventure in trespassing. It flew past the ivy, past the yellow foul pole with red numerals reading “355,” over another chain-link fence, and down upon adjoining Waveland Avenue.

The ball caromed toward a black Chevy Cavalier, nearly scratching its paint. It bounced behind the driver’s side door, onto the pavement, and back into the air.

At this point, three people lounging on the second-story porch of a tiny frame house at 1038 Waveland took notice that the ball was going to break up their party.

They jumped from their lounge chairs and watched it clear their porch railing and rattle around on the deck and finally stop at the threshold of their bedroom door.

You can talk about rude, but perhaps that’s just the Padre pitchers, and that’s just Dawson, as Monday he hit two homers and a double and four RBIs.

“Dawson is awesome,” Padres Manager Larry Bowa said. “And we’re still young and making mistakes.”

The Padres, who entered the day having allowed the most homers in the National League--93 in 83 games--had allowed only 16 in their last 26 games, and just two on the six games of their current trip.

Dawson, meanwhile, had hit 20 homers in the season’s first two months, but just one in the past month.

But Monday Dawson was back at it.

“Some of those balls, were hit a long, long way,” said Padres’ left-fielder Carmelo Martinez.

In ruining the debut Mark Grant, just acquired from the Giants, Dawson led off the second inning with a homer on a 2-and-0 pitch.

“When he falls behind me like that, I’m zoning him in,” Dawson said. “The experienced pitchers won’t give in to me. They’ll say, ‘I don’t care if I walk him.’ ”

Two innings later, Dawson fought off a couple of 1-and-2 pitches to lead off with a double, and eventually score on Keith Moreland’s single to make it 2-0.

“Another mistake because while it was a ball, it was out to where I like them,” Dawson said.

With runners on first and third and two out in the fifth, Dawson hit the home run that toured Waveland Avenue. Keith Moreland added another homer in the sixth off of reliever Keith Comstock, who came to the Padres with Grant in the same deal last weekend.

“All of my teammates were telling me what happened to that ball that left the park,” Dawson said. “But no, I didn’t look at it.”

Probably neither did anyone from the Padres, who have seen quite enough of Dawson for a couple of summers. In seven games against the Padres this season, Dawson has a .333 average, including six homers and 11 RBIs.

Dawson is hitting .296 with 23 homers and 73 RBIs, including 8 in his last two games.

“It’s still a long, long year,” said Dawson, 32, who had to ice his aching knees for 30 minutes after the game. “The kid today (Grant, 23) had a good young arm. He just happened to run into me when I was seeing the ball well.”

The Cubs’ big fifth inning could have perhaps been avoided if Grant, who allowed six runs in 4 innings, had not started things by walking Mike Brumley, hitting .193 at the time. Three batters later, the Padres could have been out of the inning before Dawson batted when Paul Noce grounded to third baseman Chris Brown with runners on first and second. Brown threw to second baseman Randy Ready for one out, but Ready couldn’t get it to first in time for the innning-ending double play. Leon Durham followed with an RBI single, and then Dawson got his second homer.

“Noce didn’t hit the ball that hard, he runs good, and both ends had to execute perfectly to get that,” Bowa said.

The Padre pitchers didn’t receive any help from the offense Monday. Cub pitcher Steve Trout got his first shutout in nearly two years.

“He’s a sinkerball pitcher, and we were just beating the ball into the ground against him,” Bowa said. “If you don’t get to him early, that ball sinks more, and he gets tougher. We have to learn that.”

He sighed. “Again, that’s one of those things.”

Padre Notes Reliever Craig Lefferts, traded to the San Francisco Giants, said Sunday he’s had tendinitis in his left elbow all year. “I kept it quiet,” said Lefferts, who was 2-2 with a 4.38 ERA with the Padres this year. “I didn’t want to make excuses.” But Manager Larry Bowa knew all about it. In fact, Lefferts asked Bowa in June if he could go on the 15-day disabled list. Bowa conferred with trainer Dick Dent and decided against it, basically because Bowa and Dent didn’t think it was a serious injury. Instead, Bowa gave Lefferts four days off, and the arm felt better. “They didn’t feel it was something that would take 15 days to heal,” Lefferts said. “I just didn’t want to leave them one pitcher short, and some days, I just couldn’t throw. It’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t sharp.”. . . Andy Hawkins is being bothered by the tendinitis his his right shoulder again, and will miss Wednesday’s start here against Jamie Moyer. He will be replaced by Ed Whitson, who will pitch with three days rest . . . Third baseman Chris Brown does not have a Padre hit. He has gone 0-for-8 and has only hit the ball out of the infield once, a fly to center field.