Dawson Is Abused as Padres Get 7-4 Win

Monday Night was Andre Dawson Night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

In honor of the Chicago Cubs’ leading hitter, some of the 19,408 fans gave away insults, obscenities and enough debris that even Dawson had to help clean up.

In a ceremony that lasted nine innings, they officially retired good manners, good graces and good sense.

Dawson, making his first appearance here after being the center of a July 7 Wrigley Field brawl with the Padres, appeared touched.

From right field, he threw out one Padre trying to sneak home. At the plate, he singled. On the bases, he hustled from first to home on center fielder Stan Jefferson’s simple bobble of a grounder, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning.

It didn’t last, as the Padres came up with one of their finest innings of the season in the seventh, finding four runs which eventually gave them a 7-4 victory.

But the fans, in particular a group of about 100 in the right-field seats behind Dawson, made it known that what was desired this night was not a final score. A couple of weeks ago, a crowd of 26,615 in Chicago’s Wrigley Field had made things uncomfortable for the Padres. What was desired this night was revenge.

“(Bleep) the fans,” said Dawson as he stalked off to the trainers room after the game.

“I don’t want to make an issue out of this,” prefaced Cub Manager Gene Michael, “but they’ve got to beef up security here. I mean, somebody threw a ball at him.”

All of this for being hit in the face with an Eric Show fastball. For those with weak memories or stomaches, Show’s beaning of Dawson that Tuesday afternoon caused several fights with the Cubs. After Dawson got up from home plate with an injury that would require 24 stitches, he chased after Show, twice, before Show’s retreat to the dugout.

Later, Show apologized. And later, a swollen-mouthed Dawson said that despite the apology, he would never forget it.

So it was that Monday night, with Show on the bench where he will remain throughout this series, it was Dawson who was not allowed to forget.

Fans cheered his every wrong move. He struck out in the first inning to a standing ovation. He was picked off second base in the fourth inning and they stood and waved their arms and chanted ‘An-dre, An-dre.’

On defense, he was in expansive right field, alone.

Looking down on him, a pack of fans pointed and recited obscene chants, over and over. Dawson made his first putout in the third inning, on a fly ball by Carmelo Martinez. A routine catch, a suddenly routine crowd reaction. Boo.

He finally appeared to notice it after a running catch of a Garry Templeton liner to the wall in the sixth. Fans crowded around the right field railing and showered him with cups and debris and even a tennis ball. Dawson suddenly stopped, turned, stared up at fans, and appeared to speak. This catch being the third out, he then calmly ran off, throwing the tennis ball to the side as he did.

At this point, first base umpire Ed Montague conferred with a stadium security guard, and other guards shortly joined the right-field crowd.

After 2 hours 45 minutes of this, despite only his club’s second victory in 10 games against the Cubs, Padre Tony Gwynn could say nothing.

He sat staring into his locker, his hands clutching the arms of his chair, and asked to be allowed, for once, not to comment.

“Please, I just don’t want to say anything about it,” he said.

Show was the same.

“This whole thing has dangled on long enough,” he said.

However, Bowa said: “It’s about what I expected. We go into Chicago, it’s the same thing. Only here, there is some space between you and the fans. In Chicago, the fans are right on top of you.”

Trailing 4-3 after Rafael Palmiero’s fourth homer and Dawson’s good base-running in the sixth, the Padres came alive in the seventh.

Tim Flannery led off with a single to right. Pinch-hitter James Steels, failing to bunt, blooped another single to right. Stanley Jefferson laid down a splendid bunt that just-entered reliever Frank DiPino wrongly threw to third base. He was too late to get Flannery, and all runners were safe.

Gwynn followed with a grounder to score a run, then Martinez blooped another single to right to score another run. John Kruk came through with a rare squeeze bunt, executed because he wasn’t afraid to lunge at the ball, to score another run. Yet another bloop, by Randy Ready, gave him his second RBI of the game, and the Padres all the runs they needed.

Padre Notes Disabled Padre pitcher Storm Davis (torn cartilage in left rib) threw 48 pitches in three innings of a simulated game Monday. He allowed two hits, threw fairly hard, and felt good, but will not yet rejoin the 24-man roster. He will see how his side feels this morning, then throw on the sidelines Wednesday, then try another simulated game Friday. With the club not in a pennant race, the emphasis will be on caution. “I felt good today, but I didn’t want to go more innings and put myself back,” Davis said. “I had a good forkball, and I’m bringing my slider out of the archives, but I want to be ready to help the team out. I want to get in eight to 10 good starts before the end of the year.” . . . Davis considers his record before the injury (2-7, 5.93 ERA) as something from different season. “I’ve completely forgotten about that,” said Davis, who came from Baltimore this winter in a trade that sent Terry Kennedy and Mark Williamson to the Orioles. “When I got here, it was a bigger mental adjustment than I thought it would be. But I’m settled now. I talked to Glenn Davis (Houston Astro and close friend) last night and I was just telling him how hard it is now just watching, just watching. I come out, I lift weights, I run, nobody sees me, nothing to push me. I am really ready to go more innings, to get back there as soon as I can.” . . . Among other Padres with ailments, third baseman Chris Brown missed a second straight start with a sore right wrist that is bandaged. “He’s still hurting,” Manager Larry Bowa said. . . . Stanley Jefferson, who missed a start with chest pains, was back in the lineup Monday. . . . National League Supervisor of Umpires Ed Vargo was in town Monday, but claimed it had nothing to do with the Cubs--Padres brawl of two weeks ago. “I’m just making one of my two or three visits to each club,” Vargo said.