Clark Ejection a Magic Act for Padres : Santiago, Davis Also Big Hits Against Giants

The Padres acquired Jack Clark last winter to do miraculous things at home plate. And so he has.

In an eighth-inning outburst Wednesday against umpire Bob Davidson that astonished and inspired his teammates, Clark made home plate disappear, then Davidson’s shoes disappear, by shoveling and kicking enough dirt for small garden.

Then Clark disappeared, but his spirit did not, and the Padres held onto a tough 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants in front of a paid Candlestick Park crowd of 22,701, many of whom are probably still booing Clark this morning.

“What a show,” catcher Mark Parent said. “Sitting on the bench, it was like watching a movie.”

“Television,” Tony Gwynn argued. “Only time I’ve ever seen anything like this was on television.”

In winning their second consecutive game here, moving back to .500 at 8-8 and evening their season series with the early NL West frontrunners at 3-all, the Padres benefited from several obvious things. Benito Santiago hit his second homer in two days and had three RBIs. Clark actually won the game in the seventh by drawing a bases-loaded walk off reliever Mike LaCoss. And Mark Davis had his second save in 18 hours, leaving the bases loaded in the eighth and the tying runner on second base in the ninth, both times ending the inning with a strikeout.

But that’s just on the surface. Inside they may have benefited more. They saw how one very important teammate fights for himself. They saw something that, from the way they talked, might still be in their minds when Davis’ or Santiago’s heroics have long since been repeated.

Although Manager Jack McKeon criticized reporters afterward for rushing to interview Clark and highlighting what he called the most “negative” part of a Padre victory, at least one prominent player described Clark’s actions as a positive.

“We saw how much one of us cares,” Gwynn said. “Today, even with all the great play, Jack Clark was the show.”

And what an uncommon show it was. Clark was mad because he was thrown out of a game on a Santiago strikeout that didn’t involve him . . . except Davidson thought Clark was yelling at him from the dugout . . . except John Kruk claimed he was the one yelling, and he was sitting two guys down from Clark.

“Let’s just say it was quite impressive,” Kruk said. “I’d give it a two thumbs-up.”

It started on a thumbs-out, called third strike by Davidson in the eighth on Santiago, who had hit a two-run homer off Giant starter Don Robinson in the fifth and then followed with an RBI single to knock Robinson out in the sixth.

What bugged Santiago was the location of the pitch and the fact that Davidson wound up calling batters out on six of the game’s 10 strikeouts.

“I never want to show an umpire up,” Santiago said. “But that pitch, it was not close.”

So he argued for a few seconds, and then, while stomping back to the dugout, he flipped his bat and spiked his helmet. Davidson turned to him and held up one finger, signifying a $100 fine for throwing equipment.

At that moment, Kruk said he shouted at Davidson from the bench. At the same time, Clark, sitting two players away, raised his hands in disgust.

Davidson glared into the dugout and ejected Clark.

“I thought the ump was pointing at me,” Kruk said. “But then when I realized it was Clark, I thought, oh man, he must have said something too.”

“I didn’t say a word,” Clark protested.

“I could see how he would get us mixed up,” Kruk said. “The two dapper fellows that we are.”

Said Davidson: “Clark stood up and yelled an obscenity, and so I ejected him.”

Clark said he was angry not just because he insisted he said nothing, but also because it was a one-run game, and he might have been needed to bat again.

“To do something like that in a close game in the big leagues--it was pretty terrible,” Clark said.

Clark made his opinion known by rushing Davidson. McKeon, running alongside him, jumped between the two men. Clark shoved McKeon aside and continued after Davidson. Team captain Garry Templeton moved in and grabbed Clark, with Gwynn rushing out from the dugout to help. At the last second, Gwynn had a change of heart.

“All of a sudden I see Jack throw Tempy off like he was a child,” Gwynn related. “I said, Hey man, I’ll just watch.”

Said Templeton: ‘The main thing was that we didn’t want Jack suspended.”

In a second it was out of their hands, though, as second base umpire and crew chief Doug Harvey ran in and jumped between Clark and Davidson, who at this point were hard to pick out from a crowd of players and umpires around the plate. It appeared Clark shoved Harvey, which made the Padres catch their collective breaths. But later Harvey called it just incidental contact.

“I was just holding him back, and he brushed me while trying to get around me,” Harvey said. “I do not consider that a shoving incident.”

Thus Clark probably will not be suspended by the National League. But what happened next will make a lot of sports highlight shows.

Working his way around Harvey, Clark began kicking dirt on Davidson, who simply kicked back--”I’m not going to stand out there and let him do that do me,” Davidson said.

Then Clark moved to the plate and continued kicking dirt. When it was obvious that it might take several hours to cover the plate using just his shoe, he leaned down with his huge hands and began shoveling. A few seconds later, the construction project was complete and left only one question: Was Clark trying to cover the plate or the umpire?

“Both,” Clark said.

“That’s a Billy Martin trick,” Kruk marveled. “At least Jack learned something in New York.”

According to Clark, who ripped American League umpires this spring, there was something very American League about Wednesday’s entire process.

“While I was around the plate, he (Davidson) told me, ‘This is not the AL,’ ” Clark said. “I told him, ‘Why don’t you go to the AL?’ He would fit in good in the AL. He’s probably a scab umpire. He was acting the whole game like everything was a big joke.

“You don’t just throw a guy out for nothing, and that’s what he did. It was all pretty weak.”

Said Davidson, who noted he had never been involved in an argument like this in his six years in the league: “I don’t joke around, that’s ridiculous. For one thing, Jack is not that friendly to joke with. But he is a good guy, he just got involved in another’s guy argument, and he paid for it.”

Harvey just shrugged and said: “It was a typical Jack Clark ejection. He never just argues and leaves.”

When Clark finally did leave, walking alone past second base and through right field to the visitors’ clubhouse, he was showered with catcalls and boos. He was walking so slowly, some thought he might stop at first base and cover that up too.

“Or throw it,” Gwynn said. “We thought he might pull a Dave Concepcion and throw the base. But he just sidestepped and went on his way.”

“OK, so I got ejected, but that’s that,” Clark said. “How about the rest of the game? How about the guys who won the game for us?”

How about them indeed.

Start with Davis, who has a 1.75 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings. He relieved starter Eric Show after Show, who averaged just two walks per nine innings last year, walked his fourth batter of the game (Kevin Mitchell) with two out in the eighth. The Padres were hanging on to the 4-3 lead earned on Clark’s seventh-inning walk.

First thing after Davis entered, Candy Maldonado doubled to left, moving Mitchell to third. Davis then intentionally walked pinch-hitter Tracy Jones to bring up pinch-hitter Chris Speier. Two of his first three pitches to Speier were called strikes on the corner. On the sixth pitch, Speier struck out swinging.

“Davis is awesome--he gets ahead of you, you’re through,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said.

“I get ahead, and I can do what I want,” Davis said. “I can try to make every pitch perfect. If I get behind, then I’ve just got to get it in the strike zone, and I’m not as effective.”

Witness the ninth. After striking out Ed Jurak and getting a groundout from Kirt Manwaring, Davis allowed a double to left field by Brett Butler. With the game once again on the line, he once again got ahead of his hitter, Robby Thompson. He threw one called strike, then another. After a long foul ball, Thompson took a big hack and missed, and that was the game.

Davis now has a league-leading seven saves in seven save opportunities. At the current rate, he will end the season with a major-league record 70 saves.

“I don’t want to dwell on that,” Davis protested, as usual. “I just want to dwell on Padre wins.”

Show picked up his third victory in four starts, no small feat considering he traditionally starts slow and last season won just three games in April and May combined.

“If I can just get out of this month with a winning record, or anything close, I’ll be happy,” said Show, who allowed three runs in 7 2/3 innings and is 3-1 with a 4.18 ERA.

Padre Notes

This may be sounding like a broken record, but pitcher Greg Harris threw in the outfield Wednesday and said his sore left rib cage felt “legitimately good.” Said Harris: “It’s the real thing this time, I really felt good, I should be ready for Atlanta.” Harris, who has tried once and failed in his comeback from his injury suffered April 5, will probably get a chance this weekend in a three-game series in Atlanta beginning Friday.