No Rally Is Safe With Padres, Who Squander Two in 4-3 Loss

The Padres have set a new standard for baseball meanness. Their league-worst offense once would simply kill rallies. Saturday night, they took two out back and tortured them first.

Trailing the gasping Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2, after six innings, the Padres had the bases loaded and less than two out in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Out of that, they scored a total of one run.

Not coincidentally, they lost, 4-3, in front of 16,607 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“One run,” Manager Larry Bowa said afterward. “We got one run.”

Trailing, 4-3, in the seventh, the Padres had the bases loaded and none out. What do you need here? How about two consecutive grounders to second base, the second ending the inning on a double play?

Trailing, 4-3, in the eighth, the Padre put runners on second and third with none out. What do you need here? How about a popout by Benito Santiago on a pitch in his eyes? Then, after the Phillies intentionally walked Marvell Wynne, how about consecutive quick infield outs by pinch-hitters Randell Byers (popout) and Chris Brown (groundout)?

Santiago swung at reliever Steve Bedrosian’s first pitch. Byers swung at his third pitch. Brown swung at his first pitch.

Yes, Bedrosian won the Cy Young award last year and all. But this was only his second appearance of the season, his first pressure appearance in eight months. And he had just entered in the eighth. And he had allowed hits to his first two batters in that inning before getting to Santiago and the bunch.

“You don’t want to take their aggressiveness away,” Bowa said of his hitters. “But you have to have some controlled aggressiveness.

“We have a couple of guys here who are just going up there swinging. You could wind up and hold the ball and they would swing.”

Foremost among these is Santiago, who is mired in an 0-for-22 slump and has had a .316 batting average fall to .222 in a month.

The pitch to Santiago was so high and so close that if he didn’t hit it, Bowa said, “the ball would have hit him.”

Bowa will give Santiago today off--mainly because Mark Parent is becoming Eric Show’s personal catcher--and hope he will come back Tuesday night in Montreal refreshed.

As for the rest of the hitters . . .

“All we have to do is try to hold them close and hope we bust out,” said reliever Greg Booker, who combined with Lance McCullers on a couple of hitless innings to finish the game after starter Mark Grant had allowed four runs in seven innings. In fact, the Phillies didn’t get a hit in the last 4 innings. Once again, Padre pitchers did about everything right.

“It’s disappointing,” center fielder Shane Mack said. “It’s not like we aren’t all trying.”

The seventh inning, against the tiring Phillie starter, Shane Rawley, started with Mack hanging on an outside pitch and putting it into right for a single. Carmelo Martinez, pinch-hitting for Grant, waited for two balls and then singled to right.

Time for Dickie Thon and a great at-bat. The apparent starting shortstop for now, he is the hottest Padre with a 9-for-21 (.429) streak. He tried one bunt. Foul. He tried another bunt. Foul. Before he knew it, the count was 2-2 with no bunts left. So he leaned over the plate and waited and watched. Ball three. Ball four. Bases loaded.

Roberto Alomar waited on a couple of pitches and then grounded a ball directly at second baseman Juan Samuel. If the ball didn’t fall out of shortstop Steve Jeltz’s glove when he began his relay to first, it would have been a double play. A run scored, bringing up John Kruk, who two pitches later finished the trick with another grounder directly at Samuel.

“You’ve got be aggressive out there,” Alomar said. “You’ve got to do all you can.”

In the eighth, after Randy Ready had singled and Keith Moreland doubled, Santiago began the final Padre descent into their fifth loss on the nine complete games of this 10-game home stand.

For the first seven innings, it was the usual Grant madness. He struck out seven, but immediately after two of those strikeouts came scoring rallies. He allowed two homers, which gives him a team-high seven allowed for the season, not good considering that he ranks fifth on the team in innings pitched with 43.

And each of the four runs came after two were out, one on a two-strike pitch.

Grant began as he usually does against the Phillies (17 strikeouts in 19 career innings) by striking out four in the first 3. He didn’t allow a hit during that time, either.

But with two out in the fourth, two pitches after going 0-and-2 on Samuel, he allowed a 410-foot homer to center field, Samuel’s third. He then allowed consecutive singles to Chris James and Darren Daulton, and escaped only because the Phillies muffed a delayed double steal, and Daulton was easily thrown out by Santiago.

No matter. With two out in the next inning, Grant was in trouble again. He allowed a bloop single by Milt Thompson, who promptly stole second and took third when Santiago threw the ball into center field. Phil Bradley then grounded just out of the reach of Thon at shortstop, scoring Thompson.

Clearly rattled, Grant’s next pitch left the park on the fly, courtesy of Von Hayes, who was previously 1 for 9 in his career against Grant. The two-run shot was just Hayes’ second homer.

“Just a couple of bad pitches in tough situations,” Bowa said. “Grant was good for a while . . . but that’s why they have 27 outs.”

The Padres scored first, in the third inning, after the Phillies attempted and failed on what might have been the play of the season thus far.

Mack led off the inning with a surprise bunt down the third base line. Running away from first base, pitcher Rawley picked it up and tossed it behind him to third baseman Mike Schmidt, who threw it to first. The Oklahoma football team couldn’t have done it any better.

Unfortunately for posterity, Mack beat the throw by a step. Grant then laid down a perfectly flat bunt to move Mack to second. Up stepped Thon. Rawley got him down 1 and 2, and Thon never appeared to sweat. He bounced the next pitch up the middle, scoring Mack.

The next Padre run was equally as adult, as Alomar came up with two men on and two out in the fifth and didn’t choke either. After Grant and Thon had each drawn two-out walks, Alomar singled past the shortstop and into left field for a run.

Minutes later, the Phillies came back with more Grant madness. After two were out in the fourth, with the no-hitter and all that intact, Samuel hit his second homer of the year.

Padre Notes

Pitcher Ed Whitson, after spending most of the day in the doctor’s office, emerged with good news and bad news. The good news is, the problem with his sore right foot is “only” bruised ligaments, and he probably will not even miss a start. The bad news is, because of the examination, he missed an entire day of fishing. “What a beautiful day, too,” said Whitson, who often trolls nearby lakes on days he doesn’t pitch. Whitson hurt his foot straining to beat out a bunt in the fourth inning of Thursday’s 9-4 loss to the Mets. Afterward, he left the clubhouse hobbling, and on Saturday, the ankle was heavily bandaged, but he said he was fine. “I’m not going to miss a start, no way,” he said. . . . Look for the Padres to make a couple of moves after today’s game, as both infielder Tim Flannery and reliever Dave Leiper are ready and eligible to be activated. In terms of demotions, rookie outfielder Randell Byers and either reliever Keith Comstock or Candy Sierra are on the hot seat.