A Debut Looking for Relief : Padre Greg Harris Struggles in First Outing; Reds Win

Greg Harris, age 24, looking age 54, dug his chin into his palm and talked about the first hitter. If only he could have gotten the first hitter.

“If that ground ball hadn’t gotten through that hole, it would have all been different,” he said. “It was Barry Larkin, if he hadn’t put that grounder in that hole . . . “

For the record, making his major league debut in the seventh inning Monday night at Riverfront Stadium, Padre rookie pitcher Greg Harris did not face Cincinnati’s Barry Larkin.

Hey, it happens. Few rookie pitchers ever step on to a big-league mound for the first time and are lucky to leave with just their feet wet. Often, they simply drown.

The Padres’ top minor league pitching prospect learned this as he was racked for 2 runs in 2 innings in another Padre loss, this time 7-2 to the Reds in front of 16,369 fans who, to the kid, seemed like a million.

Harris allowed a double, 3 singles and 2 line drives that nearly separated two Padres from their heads. He finished by striking out 2 of the final 3 Reds he faced, which is fine, except afterward his earned-run average was 9.00 and his face was a bit red.

“I’ve just got to go home now and take the good things with me,” Harris said. “And forget the bad forever.”

No, Harris’ outing had nothing to do with the defeat. He entered in the seventh inning with the team trailing Cy Young Award candidate Danny Jackson, 5-1. Ed Whitson had already been hit for 4 runs and, eventually, his third straight loss, not to mention the sliding Padres’ 6th loss in 7 games.

But Harris became Monday’s story because his story is an eternal one. All major league pitchers have one thing in common: They never forget their major league debuts.

“Sure, I remember my debut,” said pitching coach Pat Dobson, who broke in with Detroit in 1967. “I got through one inning all right, and then Big Daddy Wags shot my 3-and-1 pitch into the upper tank. I never threw the guy any heat again.”

Translated: Cleveland’s Leon Wagner hit a home run off him, and he hasn’t forgotten it.

At least now, Harris, who joined the Padres Monday afternoon, will have something he can later translate to his children.

“Yes, it will be something to remember,” Harris said, smiling. “It was everything I expected.”

Pause.

“And more.”

Turns out, Larkin was about the only thing Harris didn’t confront. He faced nervousness, fear, bewilderment, excitement, and finally the warm hands of teammates who said they understood.

“I guarantee, the kid’s feet didn’t hit the ground today,” Whitson said. “They probably still haven’t hit the ground.”

Oh, there’s little chance of that. When Harris ran into the game to start the seventh, he dropped the ball on the mound and picked it back up, a longtime good-luck superstition. It didn’t work. Harris looked up and everything was, well, big.

“This is what you dream about, the adrenalin gets rolling, and then everything is so . . . hyped,” Harris said. “You realized there are more fans, more people, more everything . You get carried away.”

He immediately threw 2 strikes past Kal Daniels. But then he threw 3 straight balls. And then Daniels grounded a ball past shortstop. Five pitches later, Paul O’Neill looped a shot to right and runners were on first and second with no outs.

Out ran Dobson, in his earliest visit to any pitcher this season.

“I came out because he had faced 2 hitters and now he had 2 runners,” Dobson said. “I told him, relax, man.”

Harris tried. He couldn’t. Rookie Van Snider collected his first big-league hit with a double down the right-field line, scoring a run. A lineout and grounder later, Ron Oster singled to left for another run. Only a Danny Jackson lineout to center extracted the kid from the inning.

Harris, who had been called up after helping Las Vegas to a Pacific Coast League championship by going 9-5 with 147 strikeouts in 159 innings, sat and stared from the bench while the Padres batted. He finally realized, this was a whole new game.

“Sitting in the dugout was like taking a big deep breath,” he said. “I thought, well, I’ve broken the ice, it’s time to get after ‘em.”

So he did, setting the Reds down 1-2-3 in the eighth, with strikeouts of Luis Quinones and Daniels.

The three other newly arrived Padre minor leaguers--first baseman Rob Nelson, outfielder Jerald Clark and infielder Bip Roberts--each saw action Monday. Each went hitless in pinch-hit appearances.

Padre Notes

Because of pitcher Eric Show’s lingering flu, he has switched places in the rotation with Dennis Rasmussen. This means the two starters in a doubleheader in Los Angeles Wednesday will be Rasmussen and Greg Booker, with Show facing the Dodgers Thursday. Booker, you say? “I think he could work out well as a starter, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said of the little-used reliever. “He throws strikes, and gets ground balls, and could get out of there with a minimum of pitches.”

Dobson took last weekend off to fly to Detroit and participate in a 10th anniversary game between 1968 World Series opponents, Detroit and St. Louis. In the Sunday afternoon contest, former Tiger pitcher Dobson faced just four hitters but one of them, Lou Brock, homered into the right-field upper deck. “What the heck,” Dobson said. “We were told to throw the ball down the middle.” . . . Thanks to several late-inning switches, in the 10th inning in the 6-5 loss to Atlanta Sunday, Garry Templeton ended up playing third base for only the second game in his career. All went well until Ted Simmons hit a foul down the third-base line. Templeton stared at it, then rushed over and caught it at the last minute. “I didn’t remember that it was my ball,” he said. “I looked at it and said, ‘Oh, darn, that’s mine.’ ”

Mark Grant’s scoreless 4 innings of middle relief Sunday in Atlanta was his longest outing since June 19. Grant, a former starter, now has 10 consecutive scoreless innings. “I may have found my niche,” he said. “I could easily go into next spring knowing that this would be my role. I would be very happy with that.” The sometimes-flighty Grant said pitching out of the bullpen doesn’t allow him as much to worry, which he likes. “You’re down there watching the game and then all of a sudden the phone rings and your heart starts beating fast and then you’re in the game,” he said. “I don’t have to think as much, and I like that.” Grant said there was another good reason he wouldn’t mind staying in the bullpen after beginning the season as a starter: “For the last couple of years as a starter, I haven’t exactly set the world on fire. So hey, why not try this?”

Red owner Marge Schott wasn’t around to see the end of Tom Browning’s perfect game Friday here against Los Angeles. She left in the sixth inning. Reason? “Other commitments.” She made up for it later, though, by presenting Browning’s wife, Debbie, with a full-length mink coat, estimated value $6,500. Reason? “Behind every great man is a great wife,” Schott said.