McCullers’ Failure in Relief Proves Too Much for Padres

The trip that wouldn’t end, didn’t want to end, tried like heck not to end, has ended. Believe it, although the Padres may not until their plane lands in San Diego at about the same time you’re having your morning coffee.

The Padres did not finish their Eastern swing Wednesday night, but Thursday morning. At 12:24 a.m. With water standing in the Veterans Stadium aisles and about 30 people standing in the water.

It ended with the Padres’ tying runs on first and third, which is a little ridiculous since they never should have needed tying runs in the first place. It ended with Tim Flannery looping a ball on which Philadelphia second baseman Juan Samuel made a leaping stab, also a little ridiculous because Flannery broke his bat and, with all the rain, it may not have been a leap but a slip.

Samuel caught the ball, the Padres lost 9-7, and can we just forget about it now?

“It will be good to get home,” pitcher Mark Grant said. “Have we been gone eight months or what?”

Just nine games, but Wednesday night’s twice-halted contest--it took a total of 4:45 with a 1:34 of rain delays--was typical of the kind of baggage fate loaded has on the Padres backs.

They led, 4-0, after three innings. They led, 5-4, after seven. But reliever Lance McCullers allowed his fourth game-breaking homer of the year, to Chris James in the eighth, and the Phillies rolled over him and Mark Davis for four more runs that inning and the eventual victory.

The Padres scored twice in the ninth on an RBI grounder by Tony Gwynn and RBI single by Carmelo Martinez, but then with two out, against new reliever Greg Harris, Flannery just missed getting the ball out of the infield.

“At least we battled a little bit there,” Manager Jack McKeon said. “That’s the one positive in this.”

The one, and the only.

The loss dropped the Padres to 3-6 for the trip, which, at the moment, seems less significant than the fact that there is no more trip.

“I never want to go through another trip like this,” Gwynn said, shaking his head.

What’s the big deal? They only endured two managers, two countries, two languages, one hotfoot, enough name-calling to fill an elementary school at recess, and nine blown leads.

Not to mention one complete personality change, from Larry Bowa’s tension to McKeon’s happy McBaseball, a change which has worked on some and not on others.

This latest blown lead irked pitching coach Pat Dobson.

“I can’t understand it,” Dobson growled.

He wasn’t pleased that McCullers allowed three of the first five runners to reach base when he entered in the sixth, even though none of them scored . He was outright angry when McCullers allowed James’ eighth homer on a 1-and-1 pitch in the eighth, then walked Greg Gross and went to 3-and-2 on Steve Jeltz before the second rainstorm hit.

Forty-six minutes later, just before midnight, the game was restarted and McCullers was gone. But his handiwork lived as Davis threw one ball to Jeltz for the walk--charged to McCullers--and then allowed both walks to score on a two-run single by pinch-hitter Luis Aguayo (hitting .182) and a two-run triple by Von Hayes.

McCullers, the team’s right-handed stopper, fell to 0-4 with a 3.83 ERA and more allowed homers (5 in 35 innings) than all but two pitchers on the team, both starters with nearly twice as many innings pitched.

And he has already developed a history of losing an important game. To wit:

* McCullers got this season off on the wrong foot on opening night in Houston, when he entered with a 3-1 lead and retired only one of five batters he faced, allowing three runs on three hits. He cost the Padres the game (5-3 loss) and started them on a slide in which they lost the next four.

* It happened again April 17 in San Diego, when the Padres gave him a 4-3 lead in the eighth. He retired just six of the 11 batters he faced, allowing two ninth-inning homers (Bob Melvin and Candy Maldonado) and four earned runs en route to a 9-4 loss.

* His most killing mistake came in the first game of this current trip, May 24 in Montreal. He was handed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth with two Expos on base and one out. His first pitch was a great one, inducing Tim Wallach to hit a grounder to shortstop and start an inning-ending double play.

But his third pitch was an awful one, allowing Andres Galarraga to hit a lead-off homer in the ninth. It sent the game into extra innings, where the Padres and ex-manager Larry Bowa’s job disintegrated into a 7-6, 13-inning loss that featured three other blown leads after McCullers blew his.

“To me, it looks like in those late-inning situations, McCullers does not throw the ball,” Dobson said. “The difference between then and earlier in the game is the difference between night and day in terms of the quality of his pitches.

“After his first inning tonight, when he got out of that trouble, I told him on the bench to start throwing the ball. But he didn’t. I don’t know what I can do. I can’t make him throw the ball.”

McKeon prefers a different approach to McCullers’ problems.

“Hey, the guy’s got too good of an arm for this to keep up,” McKeon said. “You have to stick with him. Just because he gives up a homer, you can’t execute him.”

There he was, talking about executions in the wee hours in inner city Philadelphia, when Wednesday night had started so grand. The Padres scored the game’s first four runs in three innings. Marvell Wynne had two singles to tie a club record by reaching base eight straight times. Keith Moreland had three RBI, two on his third homer of the year. All was well.

Then came the first rain, a sudden downpour of hurricane variety that sent home plate umpire Randy Marsh literally throwing up his hands and running for cover. It was officially halted at 8:42 p.m., in the bottom of the fourth, with the Padres leading 4-0. It re-started 48 minutes later. Now it was the Phillies turn, as they were back in the game two minutes after that.