Loss, Sweep by Mets Leave Padres, Fans in Bad Mood

The world of the falling, falling Padres, having passed “frustration” and “disbelief,” paused briefly at a new milepost Thursday.

Forward their mail to “anger.”

From the fans to the manager to a young catcher who is sick of growing pains, the Padres’ world cracked a bit more as they lost, 9-4, to the New York Mets, suffering their first four-game series sweep since April 17-20, 1986, in San Francisco. That’s more than two years ago, which means they didn’t even pull something like this last year.

The normally placid group at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium--20,797 of them--woke up to all this suddenly with a boo. And another boo. The Padres will carry a four-inning streak of steady boos into their game with Philadelphia tonight.

After most of the fans had finally gone home, the normally quiet catcher, Benito Santiago, stormed into the clubhouse. He drop-kicked a chair several feet across the room. He smacked his bat against a wall.

A few feet away, inside the manager’s office, Larry Bowa was so mad he was almost smiling.

“I don’t know what’s going on in their head, but if you aren’t upset with the way we’ve been playing, something is wrong with you,” Bowa said. “We are standing around waiting to get beat. That’s exactly what we are doing.”

The Padres took a 2-0 lead against an obviously ill Ron Darling but stood around when they could have had more. Then they watched the Mets tie it in the sixth. Then, finally, they stood around while the Mets scored seven runs in the final three innings.

All of which illustrates why the Mets are the best team in the National League (27-11) and the Padres are closing in on being the worst (13-26, a half-game ahead of Atlanta).

“Sure, the Mets have a good team, but what does that mean?” Bowa asked. “If you get intimidated by teams, it’s best you do something else.”

Santiago was not one of the bad guys Thursday, although he won’t believe it. His postgame tantrum had more to do with this little matter of a hitting slump.

Since April 26, when last season’s rookie of the year was hitting .315 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs, Santiago has gone 13 for 73 (.178) with 1 homer and 5 RBIs. He hasn’t had a homer or an RBI since May 3. His average, having dropped 30 points in the past 10 games, is down to .238.

But on a team that scored all of 10 runs in four games against the Mets, that’s nothing. That’s representative. Lately, the biggest offensive star is a guy who entered this series hitting .154, backup shortstop Dickie Thon. He had two doubles Thursday to give him a 7-for-14 series that also included a triple.

“It feels good to hit again,” Thon said. “But it doesn’t feel too good when you do it and lose.”

The problems with the Padres Thursday were not so much with the hitters as with another smarting group, the middle relievers. After taking over for starter Ed Whitson in the seventh, in a 2-2 tie, Keith Comstock, Greg Booker and Candy Sierra once again lost control.

In the final 2 innings, they allowed five runs on eight hits. In their last 16 innings, the three have allowed 13 runs on 23 hits (7.31 ERA).

“They have a lot of problems when the games are close, and that has hurt us,” Bowa said. “We’ve got to have people who will come in and keep the game close, and they haven’t done it.”

It came down to Whitson being taken out after in the seventh after he allowed a couple of singles sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt, with the RBI single going to Wally Backman and giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.

In came left-handed Comstock to face left-handers Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry. Comstock allowed an infield single into the hole between first and second by Hernandez, a ball that, incredibly, scored Backman from second after Thon batted it down and then overran it. Then Comstock allowed an RBI double to the gap in right-center by Strawberry, and he was gone.

“I’m telling you, I gave it all I got,” said Comstock, who has a 6.75 ERA in seven appearances. “I’ve never seen a guy score from second on an infield grounder.”

In came Booker, who one batter later allowed an RBI single by Howard Johnson. Sierra opened the eighth, and it just got uglier, with the Mets coming up with five hits and three runs in the last two innings. Sierra, last year’s double-A star who turned 21 this spring, has a 6.63 ERA in 11 appearances, with 31 allowed hits in 19 innings.

“We are putting people in situations where they should succeed, and it’s not getting done,” Bowa said. “Sometime this year, somebody is going to have to execute.”

He was also talking about the offense, which led Darling and his 1.89 ERA by 2-0 after five innings. But the Padres had stranded a guy on second in the second inning. Stranded guys on second and third in the fourth. Stranded a guy on third in the fifth.

Darling, who was suffering from the flu to the point of worrying about vomiting on the mound, appreciated the help. Finally he felt good enough to say, “Enough.”

In innings six through eight, he retired 11 of 13 batters, allowing only Keith Moreland’s home run on a ball that left fielder Kevin McReynolds lost out of his glove and over the fence. By then, the Padres were well done.

“A couple of times I almost gave up,” Darling said. “I felt nauseous. I really felt bad after those two runs.”

He said the only thing he regretted was not pitching the ninth--Terry Leach finished up--and really showing off.

“If I had gone out there in the ninth, they would have said, ‘He’s a gamer, throwing up on the mound like that. What a bulldog,’ ” Darling explained.

“A gutty performance,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said.

Nobody has mentioned those kinds of superlatives about the Padres lately. Nearly a quarter of the way into the season, it would seem that they need a veteran pitcher and a veteran hitter and some excitement. With the fans finally taking notice of a team that is suddenly not that much better than the Baltimore Orioles, the Padres’ front office has obviously taken notice, too.

Club President Chub Feeney, always the smart one, has been in New York since Tuesday on league business. But after Thursday’s debacle, General Manager Jack McKeon discussed what he had seen.

Said McKeon: “Naturally, we’re not satisfied. At the end of last year we felt improved; we thought we had gone forward. Evidently, we’re haven’t. But we have made it known we are in the process of building. We haven’t misled anybody into thinking we had a pennant contender. We are going with young guys, getting their feet wet, hoping they will respond later on. Then we’ll see where we are.”

About possible trades, McKeon said this:

“That deal stuff is overrated. Who are you going to make a deal with? Who will make us an offer with the way our guys are playing? You could make two trades, and there’s no guarantee it would turn this thing around. Look at history of clubs in this position. They remain patient, keep their continuity, don’t panic.”

For Padre fans, patience is increasingly a virtue.

Padre Notes

There will be one new face in the Padres’ starting lineup today, a face accompanied by an amazing stat. Marvell Wynne will replace Shawn Abner in right field after Wynne’s ninth- inning pinch-hit homer Thursday gave him four for the season. That leads the team, incredible in itself, but even more so when you consider that Wynne has batted only 47 times. That’s fewer at-bats than any position player who has been with the team all season. Keith Moreland, in 119 at-bats, has two homers. John Kruk, in 92 at-bats, has three homers. “Marvell has to get in some at-bats,” Manager Larry Bowa said. “He’s been hitting the ball with more power than anyone.” Abner, on the other hand, is in an 0-for-10 slump that has dropped his average to .205. Since he became an everyday player May 4, Abner has gone 10 for 47 (.213) with one homer and two RBIs.

Injured third baseman Chris Brown, who pinch-hit Wednesday night in his first game in eight days, said that his wrist is not 100% but that he is ready now if Bowa needs him. “I’ll be ready tomorrow (today) if he puts me in,” Brown said Thursday afternoon. But Randy Ready will be back in the lineup on the strength of a 10-for-32 (.313) showing since he took over for Brown. . . . Injured reliever Dave Leiper will throw another three-inning simulated game today, and if the arm recovers Saturday, he probably will be activated by the start of next week’s trip. “Right now it feels fine; we’ll see what happens after tomorrow,” said Leiper, who is suffering from elbow tendinitis. He and his perfect 0.00 ERA in four appearances may replace the other left-handed middle man, Keith Comstock, who has a 6.75 ERA in seven appearances since he replaced Leiper, who was put on the disabled list May 2. . . . In his first rehabilitation appearance at Class-A Riverside Wednesday night, Tim Flannery went 0 for 2 with two walks.