Phillies Rip Show, Davis; So Does Bowa

As a former shortstop, Padre Manager Larry Bowa has a fine appreciation of the importance of timing.

Thursday night at Veterans Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies, the timing of the Padres’ two most controversial pitchers was lousy.

Eric Show, who has been mentioned in many trade talks, and Storm Davis, who has asked for a trade, recorded two of the Padres’ worst performances of the season. Back to back.

In the first six innings, Show allowed six runs on 11 hits. In the seventh, Davis allowed four runs on four hits.

The Padres lost, 10-2, and there followed, in the visitors’ clubhouse, a war of words that exceeded anything on the field.

Bowa on Show, who is 6-15 with a 4.35 ERA: “I’ve watched it all year. Tonight was the same Show, except for a couple of good games. What he’s done before was the past. That’s yesterday.

“I keep hearing from our pitchers, they don’t get a chance to pitch out of jams. All he was doing tonight was solidifying what I’ve said, that we don’t have many pitchers who can throw out of jams.

“But I’m sure there will be reasons why it didn’t work. I’m sure I’ll read all about it tomorrow.”

Show on Bowa: “He’s a front-runner. Larry is a front-runner. You guys know what a front-runner means.

“Nobody wants to admit that there’s tough luck in this game, and I mean a ton of tough luck. If they admit there is luck, then nobody can take a lot of the credit when things go right, and that hurts their egos.”

Bowa on Davis, who is 2-7 with a 6.33 ERA: “All I hear about from some people is they need a change of scenery. Well, it would behoove those people to get somebody out, to show scouts that they have something worth trading for.

“It’s pretty tough to trade with these numbers. And I’m talking about Storm. Unless I’m going blind, they ain’t too pretty. It might be best for Storm to put up or shut up.

“But I’m sure he’ll have an excuse why he couldn’t get anyone out tonight.”

Davis on Bowa: “I can’t say anything about that.”

Bowa’s anger was quiet, but resolute. Thursday’s game--occurring in the middle of one of the most important trips of the season in terms of earning respect--was one the Padres needed more than most. And they played as poorly as ever.

The veteran Show, with 68 wins in six seasons, was pitted against a guy named Freddie Toliver. Toliver, 26, had played in 21 major league games over four seasons and had yet to win one. Until Thursday. He is 1-0.

After the game, the Padres headed to New York to open a series against the defending World Series champion Mets and face three of the best starting pitchers anywhere: Ron Darling (today), Sid Fernandez (Saturday) and Dwight Gooden (Sunday).

Regarding Thursday’s game, Bowa said: “It wasn’t very nice.”

How bad was it? With two out in the seventh, warming up in the Padres’ bullpen was Jeff Gossage. Not Goose, but son of Goose. Age 9. Right-hander.

Start with Show. Not only did he allow the runs and hits, he had trouble in the field and at bat.

In the third, with the score tied 1-1, Juan Samuel led off with a single past shortstop Garry Templeton. Jeff Stone singled down the first-base line. Neither ball was hit hard, but there were runners on first and third.

Milt Thompson then chopped a ball in front of the plate and Show immediately went to first base, allowing Samuel to score.

“I thought he had a chance to get him at the plate,” Bowa said. “But from where I’m sitting, I don’t know, I don’t have that good of a look.”

Said Show: “I don’t know. I didn’t hear anybody yelling for me to go home.

“This is 1987 and if you’re Eric Show, you play it safe. You go to first.”

Then, with the Padres trailing, 3-1, in the fourth, Show came to the plate after Tim Flannery had led off with a double. Show bunted right back to Toliver, who threw Flannery out at third.

In his last five starts, when the club has been playing its best baseball, Show has gone 1-4 with a 7.82 ERA.

Then there were Thursday’s offensive problems. The Padres had the leadoff man on base in each of the first six innings and scored just two runs, both with two out.

Call it a serious case of over-aggressiveness:

--With two out in the second, Stanley Jefferson led off with a single. A couple of pitches later, with Tony Gwynn at the plate, Jefferson was caught leaning the wrong way. Picked off.

--Leading off the third, Gwynn singled to left, then decided to try for second. Left fielder Stone picked up the ball on the bounce and easily threw to Samuel at second. Tagged out.

--Leading off the fourth, Benito Santiago singled to left. A couple of pitches later, he was also leaning the wrong way. Picked off.

The Padres scored on Santiago’s two-out double in the first and Templeton’s fielder’s-choice grounder in the sixth.

Now it’s on to New York, and, oh yes, third baseman Chris Brown is hurting again. He was hit under the left elbow by a Toliver pitch in the first inning Thursday night and left the game after the third inning with swelling and pain.

“He grabbed a bat and said he couldn’t swing,” Bowa said. “We had to take him out.”

“I’ll have to see what happens,” said Brown, who has played in just 28 of 40 games since he joined the Padres because of a sore wrist. “But if I have to say right now, I’m playing.”