Padre Notebook : Jones May Be Pitching Way Into Starting Role on Opening Day

Two weeks ago, he was the greatest thing to hit Yuma since the car wash.

Last week, Larry Bowa wanted to leave fingerprints on his neck.

Today? There is a good chance we are talking about the Padres’ starting pitcher on opening day.

Starring in yet another chapter of The Big Tease . . . Jimmy Jones.

Jones pitched one of the best games of the spring Wednesday, allowing the Chicago Cubs just three hits in six shutout innings in the Padres’ 11-0 victory.

Afterward, Pat Dobson, the Padre pitching coach, would confirm only that a decision has been made on the opening-day starter in Houston. But other team sources said the club would save Eric Show--the starting pitcher in three of the Padres’ last four openers--for San Francisco’s sure-to-be-wild home opener in Candlestick Park two days later.

That would leave Jones as the top candidate for April 5 in the Astrodome. No Padre pitcher has been better against the Astros, in Houston, than Jones.

In the Astrodome on Sept. 21, 1986, Jones became the first pitcher in 26 years to throw a one-hitter in his big league debut. Only pitcher Bob Knepper got a hit in Jones’ 6-0 victory.

Last season, in three games and 19 innings against the Astros, he allowed just four runs for a 1.86 ERA. This included just one run in six innings in his only Astrodome start, an eventual 2-1 victory Sept. 18.

“I guess I have had good luck against them,” said Jones, 23, who was raised up the road in Dallas. “But I’m not even thinking about opening day. I’m too worried about now.”

In his spring debut, he threw three hitless innings against the Angels. “He was picture perfect,” said Bowa. “He was a sight to see.”

But in his next game, against the Seattle Mariners, he allowed three earned runs and three hits in two innings, all caused by walking the bases loaded.

The day after that March 8 fiasco, Dobson sat Jones down and gave him some unsolicited advice.

He told Jones, a former first-round draft pick, that he was no longer a kid who could rely on his fastball. Told him he needed to learn a curveball. Told him he needed to throw first-pitch strikes with that curveball, whether he was afraid to throw it or not. Told him to get aggressive.

He then ordered Jones to the bullpen to learn this, and more.

And Dobson was surprised. Because Jones loved it.

“Nothing against Galen Cisco (last year’s pitching coach, since fired), but last year I never got that kind of knowledge given to me like that,” Jones said. “Pat is not afraid to say things, and I appreciate it.

“Galen would tell you what to do, but you had to ask questions, and the right questions. Pat tells you no matter what.”

Said Dobson: “I don’t know how it was done before, but I don’t care. I’m going to talk, and they are going to listen, and that’s it. That’s the only way I can do my job.”

Jones immediately returned to Bowa’s good graces by allowing just one walk and four hits in five innings in a “B” game against the Giants. He gave up three runs, but they were typical spring runs, all in the last inning, after he had tired.

Now Tuesday.

“He threw that curveball harder, he kept the ball down and he threw first-pitch strikes,” Bowa said. “Notice he didn’t walk anybody, either. He looked more relaxed. He looked very good.”

And opening day?

“I’m not saying. I’m just watching,” said Bowa. “We’re going to start the best pitcher down here, period.”

That would also be Jones, who is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings.

Throw in Dobson’s statement that the traditional reason for awarding an opening-day assignment--as a reward for the veteran ace--will play no factor in the decision. Jones is looking better and better.

“We aren’t thinking about anything but matching the right guy against the right club,” said Dobson. “And we aren’t just looking at our first game; we have to look at our first five games. We’re fitting people in where they might be most comfortable.”

This means that in thinking about Houston, they also are thinking about San Francisco, where the locals will be throwing a party for their defending National League West champions that may not be suited for an unsettled youngster who might normally be in the No. 3 spot in the rotation.

Enter Show, who started last year’s opener in San Francisco and was splendid, allowing three runs on five hits in 7 innings. For his career, Show is 11-6 against the Giants, with a 3.32 ERA.

Show was unavailable for comment, but his absence on opening day would surprise several people, including fellow members of the staff.

“I would think Eric would start opening day. He always has,” said Ed Whitson.

Said Eric Nolte: “Isn’t Show going to be the opening-day guy? I’ve just always assumed it would be him.”

If Jones is the opening-day starter and Show is third, then a natural second-day pitcher would be the staff’s only left-hander, Nolte. Usually a pitching staff’s “odd” man is thrown in the middle. Following Show in San Francisco would then be Whitson and Mark Grant.

Because of an off day after the club’s opening road trip, Show would be rested enough to start the home opener April 12 against the Dodgers.

Padre Notes

Catcher Benito Santiago is at it again. How does a seven-game hitting streak sound? He went 3 for 4 in Wednesday’s victory, with a two-run homer and three RBIs. In the past seven spring games, he has gone 10 for 26 (.385) with two homers and eight RBIs. . . . Randy Ready made his first big move to thwart Roberto Alomar’s challenge at second Wednesday, going 2 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI. Ready is now hitting .226; Alomar, who tripled in Wednesday’s 6-3 “B” game win over Seattle, is hitting .385 in “A” games.