McKeon Finds Little Fun in Padres’ Loss to Phillies

It was a pretty good Monday night game--the Padres were trailing the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in the third inning--when suddenly the local cable television station found something better to show.

Leaving the diamond, the cameras focused on the Padre bench. Or rather, underneath the Padre bench.

There, on his stomach, with a lighter in his left hand, was pitcher Mark Grant. He flicked the lighter once, twice. He was attempting to set fire to Marvell Wynne’s shoelaces.

They call it a hot foot, and it didn’t work. “Before we could get him lit, Marvell felt the heat,” Grant said.

But it didn’t have to work. The message was delivered, and became part of a larger missive received by Manager Jack McKeon as the Padres took a 3-1 lead and then blew it in a 7-3 loss in front of a paid crowd of 17,910 at Veterans Stadium.

Just three days into McKeon’s reign, he is realizing this is a team that could make certain even a nice guy finishes last.

“Yes, I am taking some time to evaluate things,” McKeon said, noting that he might take until the All-Star break. “But at the same time, if I give these guys a chance to do the job, and they don’t, I’ll get somebody else.”

McKeon had said his team should have fun. But as far as Grant’s publicized stunt was concerned, he didn’t mean that much fun.

McKeon said he would trust his starting pitchers. But after Ed Whitson failed to complete seven innings for the 9th time in 11 starts, at least for one pitcher that might change.

McKeon had said he would let his good hitters keep control of the bat. Yet after they put six runners on base in the fifth and sixth innings and could only score one run, thus allowing Shane Rawley to get strong and win the game, that rule may change, too.

“I’m still getting back into the swing of things,” McKeon said. “Give me time to figure this out.”

Monday night, as the Padres fell to 2-5 on this trip, it didn’t take 34 years spent in dugouts to figure some of this stuff out.

Start with Grant and the fun.

“Fun is OK, but you have to get into the game,” said McKeon, who began watching this game back when they gave hot foots with a couple of sticks. “ I want the guys to be loose, and maybe that would be OK between innings.”

On to something not so funny: Ed Whitson and his 3-5 record and 6.11 ERA.

Whitson allowed 5 runs and 9 hits in 5 innings Monday, which not only makes him the most struggling pitcher on the staff, but maybe in all of baseball.

In his last seven starts he is 0-6 with a 9.39 earned-run average and an average of 4 innings per start. How bad is that? It is one inning less and six runs per game more than the worst of the rest of the starting staff during those seven starts.

No longer are just games being lost. Now it’s also confidence.

“We try to let a guy go as long as he can, and win or lose it,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said. “But if every time he loses it, then you’ve got to get him out and go to somebody else.

“I’m going to talk to Jack but as far as I’m concerned, in Whitson’s next starts, after the fifth inning or 80 pitches, he’s gone.”

“He’s the coach,” Whitson said with a frown.

Monday was typical of late, as Whitson wasted a Randy Ready two-run homer and Carmelo Martinez RBI double that gave the Padres a 3-1 lead in the sixth.

After walking Milt Thompson to start the inning, he got a perfect grounder by Steve Jeltz, and second baseman Roberto Alomar’s throw to second seemed to get Thompson. But umpire Randy Marsh called him safe.

“He was definitely out,” said Dickie Thon, who took the throw.

“That broke my back,” Whitson said. “I’ve got to get that play.”

True enough, for he allowed back-to-back doubles by Juan Samuel and Von Hayes worth three runs and a 4-3 lead the Phillies never lost.

“Whit has had every opportunity, and not done it,” Dobson said. “We’ve given him 11 starts, a lot of time for things to happen. He’s got no beef if we decide to go to the bullpen earlier. A lot of guys get pulled after 80 pitches, Don Sutton in Milwaukee always did, so Whitson will be just one more.”

Now for Monday’s final lesson. Leading in the fifth, 2-0, the Padre offense had Rawley, who had already allowed 2 runs and 3 hits in the first 4 innings, on his knees. Whitson had doubled and, one out later, Alomar hit a single and stole second.

With Tony Gwynn up, all they needed was a ground ball for a run. But Gwynn, who has come down with a sore knee one day after coming off the 21-day disabled list with a bad thumb, fell behind 1-and-2 and then lined out. An intentional walk later, Randy Ready grounded out to end the inning.

“We have to do those little things if we are to win, get those ground balls,” said McKeon, echoing something Larry Bowa said after, oh, about 208 games.

It happened again in the sixth, after Martinez’ RBI double gave the Padres a 3-1 lead. Shane Mack walked, setting up a sacrifice bunt by Whitson. But he bunted too hard, and Martinez was thrown out by Rawley at third. Thon’s grounder and Alomar’s fly killed any further rally, and Rawley retired 9 of the last 10 batters to improve his record to 4-5.

Padre Notes

The Padres can’t escape Larry Bowa, at least not so soon, as evidenced Monday in Philadelphia. Bowa, who live here, entertained his former Padre coaches at a lunch at his Bryn Mawr home. He then drove to Veterans Stadium to meet with Phillies President Bill Giles. After Giles talks to other club officials, it is likely Bowa will be hired as a minor league instructor. “Larry wants to be part of the organization again, and we’d like for him to be part of it,” Giles said. About the lunch, which was scheduled before Bowa’s firing, pitching coach Pat Dobson said, “It was nice. Larry is doing fine. But he still hasn’t finished remodeling his house. The way it’s going now, if he doesn’t go back to baseball, he can always go into construction.”

With Ed Whitson’s right ankle bothering him before Monday night’s start, the question arises: Who from the bullpen could be a starting pitcher? Manager Jack McKeon mentioned both Greg Booker and Dave Leiper, an answer that will be answered the weekend of June 17-19 in Los Angeles, when the Padres play five games in three days because of rainouts. Look for either or both pitchers to start, which is fine with only one of them.

“I don’t want to be a starter, I can’t stand sitting around for four days before starts,” said Leiper, who started 28 games in his first two seasons of professional baseball, totaling a 14-7 record for Idaho Falls (Northwest Rookie League) and Madison (Class A). “I have to be out there pitching.” Said Booker: “I would love to start, I like to know when I’m pitching.” Booker was a starter in 1982 in Class-A Reno, going 8-13 with a 6.35 earned-run average. . . . But poor Booker. It’s one thing when your father-in-law is the general manager. It’s quite another when your father-in-law becomes your direct boss. “To me, it won’t be any difference, it can’t be any difference,” said Booker, who married McKeon’s daughter, Kristi, seven years ago and had just lately pitched well enough for the public to finally stop using that against him. “I can’t hear any more junk about it than I’ve already heard. If they can’t accept me for the job I’m doing here, if they can’t accept the fact that I’m busting my butt, there’s nothing I can do to change how they feel.”