Game Looks the Same, Padres Are Beaten, 5-1

New manager. New chaw of Red Man tobacco. New jokes. New dugout cheers.

Same game.

The Padres fell, 5-1, to the New York Mets Saturday in an evening that was important because Jack McKeon was finally able to witness, first-hand, what Larry Bowa spent 208 games talking about.

Before his first game as a big-league manager in 10 years, McKeon met with the umpires and Met Manager Davey Johnson at home plate.

Johnson told McKeon, “You’re crazy.”

McKeon just grinned. And for the next nine innings, he kept grinning and cheering and chanting, despite immediate proof that, indeed, Johnson may be right.

Somewhere, surely, the just-fired Bowa was hiding a smile when:

* The Padres loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against kid pitcher David Cone and could score only once. They left three guys stranded with consecutive strikeouts by Chris Brown and Mark Parent.

* Padre pitcher Eric Show, taking a two-hitter into the sixth, allowed runs on back-to-back bloop singles by shortstop Kevin Elster (.221) and Cone (.062).

* The loss was sealed in the seventh after reliever Dave Leiper and Parent botched a simple bouncer in front of the mound. Wally Backman was safe at first and later came around on groundouts, scoring on another infield single to make it 5-1.

Same game. Same Padres. They are 3-16 on the road and 16-31 overall and have lost 9 of their last 12.

But hey, new manager. And whereas Bowa might have grunted and thrown a few chicken bones, McKeon nearly glowed.

“If we play every game like tonight, with the same enthusiasm and effort, we are going to win a few games,” he said.

Whether he has come down from the front office to do more than apply makeup, see him in September. But for the first time this year, it seems the Padres are at least feeling pretty.

“One of the guys on the bench told me that he felt the team was already closer together,” McKeon said. “That’s what I want to do. I put most of the guys here, I believe in them. I’m not afraid to take the heat for them.”

Thus, on their failure to score early, he said this: “If we can get any plus out of this, it’s that we had the pitcher down, and he got better in the second and third innings. He beat us, we didn’t beat ourselves.”

On Show’s problems against weak hitters, McKeon said this: “You certainly don’t expect Cone to put a single in there. But we can live with that.”

And on the botched single by Backman, when Parent and Leiper nearly collided over a ball resting peacefully in the grass in front of the mound, McKeon said this: “It was a gray area, the one guy (Parent) thought he had it, but then the other guy (Leiper) went for it. It was not a factor in the game.”

If his enthusiasm seems be applied thick, and with a spray gun, the players noticed. And for now, they’ll take it.

Recounted Parent: “I remember sitting there saying that it looked like they were not hitting the ball hard but still getting hits. Jack came over and told me not to worry about it, that I should only think positive. It was kind of nice.”

Recounted Show, who experienced his first bad stats in five outings, allowing four runs in six innings: “I thought I had my best stuff of the year tonight. I could have been awesome. When I came out, Jack said, ‘Good job, you’ll win a lot of games with that stuff.’ It was good to hear.”

Somebody asked if Show, with a 3.27 ERA this year, had heard that compliment from any other manager this season.

“No,” he said.

There were other firsts Saturday, such as Brown, who started at third base for the first time in 17 games. He went 1 for 4 with a diving stop down the line, turning a Kevin McReynolds double into a single.

“I hit my right hand when I dove, and that’s bothering a little, but I can’t think about it,” said the most fragile of players, who was suffering from tendinitis in that wrist. “Now my work is just starting. Now I’ve got to be my timing and reflexes back.”

Also a first was Randy Ready pinch-hitting in the ninth inning with two runners on base but the club down four runs. He flew out to end the game, but the impression was made. A starter under Bowa, he will likely become a pinch-hitter and spot starter under McKeon.

“I’m sure there will be changes,” Ready said glumly. “I’ll just have to wait and see.”

He is not alone.

Padre Notes

Tony Gwynn will start in right field today for the first time since spraining his thumb May 7 in Pittsburgh. Outfielder Shawn Abner, hitting .181, is the favorite to be sent back to triple-A to make room.