Alternative Just as Bad; Rijo, Reds Beat Padres

The Padres were supposed to get a look at Cincinnati left-hander Dennis Rasmussen Wednesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Instead, they got Rasmussen in a trade for 21-year-old pitcher Candy Sierra.

Which meant that instead they got to look at former Oakland pitcher Jose Rijo, the son-in-law of Juan Marichal, making his first National League start.

Which turned out to mean that they were held to two hits by the surprise Red starter, who also struck out eight in six innings.

Which means that they could partly blame it on Rijo that they lost, 7-1.

The rest of the story: The Reds got a good look at Padre starter Eric Show, strafing him for eight hits and six runs in five innings. Show (4-6) had given up only 12 earned runs in his previous six starts. The pregame debriefing he conducted with Rasmussen on the Red hitters did little good.

In short, what the Padres got was creamed.

“I guess I just fell in love too much with the off-speed stuff,” Show said. “I’m a fastball pitcher, and I’ve got to get back to that.”

Amen to that, said Padre Manager Jack McKeon. McKeon said Show had watched Ed Whitson beat the Reds with slow stuff Tuesday night. “But he (Show) wasn’t getting it over. And he stayed with it,” McKeon said.

Cincinnati’s reserve right fielder, Dave Collins, ripped three singles. And center fielder Paul O’Neill, subbing for the injured Eric Davis (ankle), topped that with five hits and four runs batted in from the cleanup spot. O’Neill normally plays right field.

It was the first five-hit game by a Red player since Dave Parker did it at Atlanta last September. It also gave new insight into talk that the Reds might be trying to trade Davis, Nick Esasky and Kal Daniels.

This one was over before Rijo threw his first pitch. Collins hit a one-out single to right, stole second and advanced to third when Padre catcher Benito Santiago’s throw skipped into center field for an error. Show then walked Daniels.

O’Neill lined a shot off first baseman John Kruk’s glove and wound up on second with a double. Bo Diaz singled two runs home, and the Reds owned a 3-0 lead. They added two more in the second on another O’Neill double and single runs in the fourth and sixth.

Show’s mistake on Diaz’s two-run single: “A breaking ball up,” he said. “Too up.”

The Padres’ lone run was scored on an opposite-field home run by Kruk in the second. It was his sixth homer of the season. Only Marvell Wynne, with seven, has more for the Padres.

The Padres mounted one final, futile rally in the eighth when they loaded the bases on singles by Wynne, Randy Ready and a walk to Tony Gwynn. But Keith Moreland lined out to second to end the inning.

The Padres finished with only five hits. Among the hitless starters were Gwynn, Moreland, Santiago, Chris Brown and Dickie Thon. “I’m concerned about a few of these guys not hitting,” McKeon said. “When some of them don’t hit, some of the others try too hard to pick up the slack.”

Rijo’s previous 29 appearances this year had been in relief. And after the game, he said the bullpen was where he wanted to return. Immediately.

When Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose got wind of that, he marched from his office and confronted Rijo at his locker. “You’re going back to the bullpen,” Rose told Rijo. “Until Tuesday.”

That’s when Rose will start him against Houston.

By way of contrast, Show has dropped his past four decisions to Cincinnati and nine of his last 10. He is 6-11 lifetime against the Reds.

Want a bright spot for the Padres? Try thinking about what the insertion of a left-hander--Rasmussen--into the starting rotation will do for the Padres.

“The only thing better is having two left-handers in the starting rotation,” Pat Dobson, the Padre pitching coach.

Rasmussen will enable the Padres to start right-left-right in most series. That will generally prevent platoon players on other teams from playing three days in a row.

“If those guys get to play three days in a row, they can generally figure out how you’re trying to pitch them by the third day,” Dobson said.

Rose wasn’t in the mood to argue with anything Dobson said. But he wasn’t terribly concerned that he might have traded the next Cy Young Award winner, either.

“Did you look at his stats?” Rose said when asked why the Reds traded Rasmussen.

In 11 games this year, Rasmussen is 2-6 with a 5.75 ERA. Which doesn’t promise to solve the Padres’ biggest problem at present.

“We’re not the kind of club that can come back from three and four and five runs night after night,” McKeon said. “We’ve got to put a string together. Two, three, four games in a row.”

Padre Notes

The Padres released the list of 44 players they selected in the free agent draft last week. So far, 26 have agreed to terms. There were 19 players picked from four-year colleges, 9 from junior colleges and 16 from high schools; 19 pitchers (13 right-handers, 6 left-handers), five catchers, 11 infielders and nine outfielders. Two players have family members in the majors. Heath Jones, a catcher from El Segundo, is the brother of Cincinnati outfielder Tracy Jones. John Kuehl, a third baseman from California, is the son of Karl Kuehl, director of player development for the Oakland A’s. Most of the signed players reported to the Padres’ Rookie League camp in Spokane, Wash., Wednesday, with workouts to start today.

The newest Padre pitcher, Dennis Rasmussen, will start here Saturday against the Dodgers. Pitching coach Pat Dobson will get his first look at him throwing on the sidelines today. “He said he’s having mechanical problems,” Dobson said. “We’ll see if we can straighten that out.” . . . Dobson’s biggest concern is Rasmussen’s delivery out of the stretch.