There’s Blame for Everybody; Padres Are 0-3

The problem was, the Padres didn’t walk in on just another home opener, they walked in on a party. Lately, the Padres have been in no mood to party.

Caught somewhere between the pomp and circumstance of the San Francisco Giants’ first appearance in Candlestick Park this season, the Padres were asked to leave early. They couldn’t have agreed more.

They woke up this morning rubbing their eyes and smelling smoke after a listless 6-1 loss Thursday that leaves their season at 0-3, with just two more consecutive losses needed to match the first milestone of last year’s worst start in Western civilization.

“It’s a team effort, trust me,” said Manager Larry Bowa, remaining calm. “I can’t point the finger at anybody because everybody is contributing. And I know I can’t pitch or hit.”

Said Tim Flannery: “I’m going to snap before Larry will. In fact, there’s a couple of other guys who are real close to going off, too. On themselves, on others. We have to just wait and watch and see what happens.”

The Padres, who were 0-5 last year before they won a game, were beaten with one mistake by starter Eric Show and a whole bunch of mistakes by a team that has struck out 24 times in three games.

You could blame it on Bob Brenly’s three-run homer off Show in the fourth inning, which occurred only after Show hit Candy Maldonado and gave up a looping single to Kevin Mitchell, all with two out.

You could blame it the two relief pitchers who followed Show and gave up two runs (Eric Nolte) and one run (Mark Davis) over four innings.

You could, and probably should, blame it on an offense that could never figure out Mike Krukow, who had a 4.80 ERA last season. The Padres didn’t get a hit off him until the fifth and managed only four hits in seven innings. They struck out six times, giving them 24 strikeouts in their first three games.

But then you could get interesting--which the Padres have not been--and blame it on the night.

This was the Giants’ first evening home opener since the team moved to Candlestick Park 31 years ago. There were 56,379 fans, the second-best opening day crowd here in club history, the fifth-largest crowd overall.

There was a marching band and a five-minute version of the national anthem, and when the Padres were forced to stand along the third-base line after introductions, many of them left the line to run to the dugout to get warmup jackets.

“I’ve never seen it like this before,” said Davis, who played parts of five seasons here. “When I was here, I was recognized once, on the freeway. Some guy yelled at me, and I thought it was only because something was hanging off my car.”

Then the game started, 10 minutes late, but the chilled Padres never did.

While Krukow was holding them to just one fly ball over the first four innings, Show was holding the Giants to just one hit and two fly balls over the first three.

Then, with two out in the fourth and Show still going strong, the Padres’ luck quietly collapsed. Show got a 1-and-1 pitch in on Maldonado, nicking his arm. Two pitches later, Mitchell reached out and lazily pulled a pitch into right field.

When Show finally fell behind a hitter--going 2 and 0 on Brenly--he was forced to pay. Brenly’s homer traveled 365 feet, landing just in front of the left-field stands in the grass behind the wall.

In the top of the fifth, Keith Moreland and Garry Templeton reached base on singles, and Show was removed for pinch-hitter Flannery. But Flannery grounded out to second, and the Padres, with the exception of Benito Santiago’s first homer in the seventh, never threatened again.

“Was I surprised to come out of the game?” asked Show. “Yes and no. No, because it happens so much to me. But yes, because how can we ever get any consistency in the starting pitching if we’re removed every time we make a mistake?”

How bad was the offense? Chris Brown was brushed back by Krukow in what is becoming a nightly trial but this time did not get up to hit a homer, as he did opening night against Houston’s Mike Scott. He got up and struck out and then didn’t do anything in his other two at-bats but swing or look at strikes. His three strikeouts gave him 7 in 10 at-bats this season.

Stanley Jefferson, batting leadoff because of his ability to get on base, went 0 for 4 with two weak flyouts. That makes him 0 for 8 this season, and, going back to the end of last year, 1 for his last 39.

How bad was the offense? Tony Gwynn struck out looking and never hit the ball out of the infield. John Kruk broke out of a late-spring slump with two hits but was erased both times by Moreland’s two double-play grounders.

“We might be pressing,” Gwynn said. “I think we’re all just trying to get the monkey off our back. You can look at it like we don’t want to go through last year again, but, hey, it’s happening.”

Padre Notes

Reliever Dave Leiper, who threw on the sidelines Wednesday for the first time since he went down with strained elbow ligaments late in spring training, is “progressing nicely,” according to trainer Dick Dent. Leiper will throw batting practice today or tomorrow, depending on when it’s warmer, and should be back soon after Sunday, the day he is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. “It’s day to day, and we expect him back soon,” Dent said. “I should be ready within a week,” said Leiper, who added that his arm was free of pain. “It feels stiff after throwing for the first time, but I should be able to work that out.” . . . Pitcher Ed Whitson still has a tiny blue mark in the middle of his right index finger but will be able to make his scheduled start here Sunday. “No problems,’ said Whitson, who was hit on the hand by a Terry Puhl grounder in the eighth inning of the opening-night game in Houston. . . . The season is three days old, and already Randy Ready has batted in three positions in the order. Thursday he was moved to the third spot, flip-flopping with Keith Moreland. On opening night he batted fifth, and the next day he led off. No big deal. Last season, Ready was the only player in the National League to bat in all eight spots, excluding the pitcher’s. “Have I been everywhere or what?” Ready said. The irony is, as much as anybody he deserves to settle in at one spot, cleanup, considering last season he was the league’s eighth-best hitter with men on base at .342.