Padres Squander Chances in 4-2 Loss to Pirates

The Sunday before baseball’s All-Star break is traditionally a time for reflection, a time for each club to contemplate the first half of the season.

Here’s how the Padres spent it:

--They pounded the baseball into four double plays, ending innings, rallies and interest.

--They left nine men on base, including five in scoring position.

--They stole themselves out of a first-inning scoring opportunity that, as it turned out, might have been the only opportunity they needed.

--They allowed one of the seven-longest home runs in the 17-year history of Three Rivers Stadium. It was given up by Eric Show, who made his first start since the Andre Dawson beaning.

--Show hit another batter, a guy named Felix Fermin.

--Manager Larry Bowa got so mad, he needs the three days off for his face to return to its normal color.

The Padres lost Sunday, 4-2, to the Pirates, proving that, in some cases, the best way to reflect is to forget.

“I’ve seen more of these kinds of plays this year,” said second baseman Tim Flannery, who knocked in both Padre runs with singles. “And I mean, all year.”

This time, it took all of three batters before Bowa was steamed.

Stanley Jefferson led off the game for the Padres with a grounder to shortstop Fermin, whose throw pulled first baseman Sid Bream off the bag. Jefferson was promptly thrown out stealing on a pitchout, but he and Tony Gwynn are the two Padres who can attempt to steal whenever they choose. Bowa gulped hard and accepted it.

Then the second batter, Marvell Wynne, also reached base on a Pirate blunder--Bream threw his grounder wide of pitcher Mike Dunne covering first. When Wynne moved to second on Gwynn’s grounder, and up stepped the .338-hitting John Kruk, the Padres had a great opportunity.

Only they never had a chance to use it.

For whatever reason--and Wynne wasn’t around the clubhouse long enough afterward to explain--the outfielder tried to steal third. He was out. By giant steps. Bowa could not figure it.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid play,” he said. “It was a guy stealing when he had no business stealing. It makes no sense, with two outs and a guy hitting .338 up there.

“I might have even understood it with one out, getting to third, where you can score on a fly ball. But it just made no sense.”

What makes even less sense is that, including the previous game, it was the Padres’ third missed sign in three innings. In the eighth inning of Saturday night’s 3-1 win, Carmelo Martinez and Chris Brown missed hit-and-run signs, causing Kruk and pinch-runner Shane Mack to look pretty silly as they were thrown out stealing.

Wynne trotted off the field and . . .

“He just had that blank look,” said Bowa. “These guys must not mind giving up $100 bills (the fine for such offenses). We’ve had a lot, but today’s was such a glaring one.”

For the Padres, the traditional halfway point has become just as conspicuous. They are 30-58, on a pace to win just 55 games, which would be the second-worst record in the club’s 19-year history. The 1969 expansion team won just 52.

The trip started with two wins in three games, but, of the last nine games on the trip, the Padres won only two. They have won five of 27 games at the homes of East Division teams, with three more visits to East clubs remaining.

About the only thing Sunday’s game accomplished was to downplay the return of pitcher Show, who has lived in emotional turbulence since he hit Cub star Dawson in the face in Chicago Tuesday. Show had terrible stuff and relied on a veteran’s instincts to make it through six innings with nine hits and three earned runs.

When he came to the plate, some of the 13,276 fans chanted, “Hit him, hit him,” and others chanted, “An-dre, An-dre.” But mostly, he was just plain Show again.

“I struggled, and somehow I kept us in there, and I’m not sure how,” he said. “I had my worst stuff out there that I’ve had in a long time. I still don’t know how I was able to get through.”

He was worried that he might not when, after he allowed a leadoff double to R.J. Reynolds in the fourth, Bobby Bonilla took him deep.

Bonilla hit a 2-and-0 pitch about 475 feet, and the ball finally stopped in the empty yellow seats in the right-field upper deck. Only six men before him have reached such heights. A ball hasn’t been hit up there in 15 years, since Willie Stargell did it.

“I got chills,” said Bonilla of the eventual game-winner.

“I hope guys hit homers off me like that,” said Show, who has allowed 18 homers this year, about one every 6 innings. “At least that way, I get to watch them. I’ve given up more than my share of cheapies.”

He survived that inning with no further damage. Two innings later, he was worried again when he threw a full-count fastball inside and plunked Fermin--who has been in the big leagues all of three days--in the elbow. There were a few boos, but Fermin appeared happy just to have a chance to visit first base.

“I can’t believe I hit him,” said Show, shaking his head. “I still do not believe that.”

He said the Dawson situation was no excuse for any of Sunday’s problems. “By the time I got to my workout days, I was fine,” he said.

Show (4-11, 3.97 ERA) has an outside shot at being a 20-game loser with a sub-3.00 ERA.

Regarding the lack of support for Show, Bowa said: “Just nothing in the right place at the right time.”

The double play list: Bruce Bochy with runners on first and third (second inning). Kruk with runners on second and third (third). Wynne with a runner on first (fifth). Pinch-hitter Martinez with runners on first and third. (seventh).

“You watch what happens and you always think, ‘I wish I could be out there,’ ” said Martinez. “But then you get out there and it’s the same thing.

“But you can’t think about it too much. None of us can think about it too much. It will drive you crazy.”

Padre Notes

Tony Gwynn, the Padres’ only representative in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, will be making his fourth straight trip to the game, his first as a reserve. Yet the outfielder says he’s more excited about this one than the others. Perhaps it’s because his All-Star batting average is .143 (1 for 7). “The more you go, the more fun it is,” said Gwynn. “There’s less pressure on you, especially when you’re not starting. Also, the more you want to show what you can do. And I don’t think I’ve showed much.” Gwynn is also excited about participating in the new hitting-for-accuracy contest, to take place during Monday’s workout. “I don’t know anything about the contest, but I think we should make that day like the NBA’s All-Star Saturday,” said Gwynn. “We should have an old-timers game, a home-run hitting contest, the hitting-for-accuracy contest, and you know what else? I would love to see a 100-yard dash between the game’s fastest players. Get Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, Bo Jackson, some of those guys It would be awesome.”

After the All-Star break, the Padres will have an 11-game home stand featuring St. Louis (four games), Chicago (three) and Pittsburgh (four). . . . The second half should be easier for the Padres, if only because they have already played 49 of their 82 road games (winning just 15), and only 39 home games (winning 15). They will make only five trips the rest of the season.

Eric Show said he would have had no qualms about facing the Chicago Cubs with Andre Dawson on July 22 in San Diego. That would have been his scheduled turn until Bowa changed the schedule so Show would miss the Cubs. “I would pitch against the Cubs,” said Show. “But Larry has been the one who has set the rotation all year, and he’s decided on this. Wherever he wants me to pitch, I’ll pitch. The only good to come out of it is, I won’t be No. 1 anymore, and it will be interesting to see how that works, see if it helps anything.” Earlier this week, Bowa decided that Ed Whitson and Mark Grant would be Nos. 1 and 2, meaning they, with No. 5 Andy Hawkins, will face the Cubs. Show’s first turn will fall Saturday night in San Diego against St. Louis, and then not again until the Pirates arrive the day after the Cubs’ final game. Bowa repeatedly has said that the rotation change was strictly a baseball decision, and that Dawson, who has said it would be wise not to pitch Show, had nothing to do with it. . . . Rookie Stanley Jefferson had his first major league four-hit day Sunday, meaning that since he went 0-for-6 on Friday and was criticized by Bowa, he has gone 6-for-8 with a homer to raise his average to .240. “I wasn’t too upset Friday because I hit everything hard,’ he said. “It’s coming. It’s just a matter of time and patience.”