Middle Relief Is Shaky Again, Padres End Up With 9-4 Defeat

With three Atlanta Braves on the bases in the sixth inning and Padre reliever Mark Grant on the mound trying to keep a 5-4 deficit from getting worse, pitching coach Pat Dobson ran out for a quick psychology lesson Sunday.

“I told him, ‘Don’t try to make it happen.’ ” Dobson related. “I told him, ‘If you try to make it happen, you are going to screw up. Just throw your best stuff and let it happen.’ ”

So Grant did, and it happened that Dale Murphy picked off a low fastball and grounded it up the middle, under Grant and over second base, scoring two runs that helped beat the Padres, 9-4, in front of 17,069 at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.

Another day, another fist slamming into a glove belonging to a Padre middle reliever.

Sunday, after the Padres overcame another troublesome start by pitcher Dennis Rasmussen to pull to within, 5-4, Grant allowed two runs to make it 7-4. Then Dave Leiper came on to take away even the chance of a three-run-tying homer by allowing two more runs in the eighth inning.

“Wait a minute,” protested Padre Manager Jack McKeon. “You can always pick a game out and say it was the fault of middle relief. Everyone fails to realize all the trouble that our starters have put us into sometimes. These relievers are coming in with no margin of error. You can’t always pinpoint those guys.”

Fair enough. That was true Sunday in a couple of respects as the Padres fell below the .500 mark (9-10) and lost for the fourth time in seven meetings with these supposed-to-be-awful Braves.

First, yes, a Padre starter struggled, this time Rasmussen, who couldn’t find himself or his breaking ball for the third consecutive start. He allowed five runs on eight hits in just three innings. In his last 12 innings, he has allowed 15 runs on 36 hits, not to mention three losses.

And true, there was little margin for error Sunday when you consider that this was the game Murphy finally got tired of the boos. He officially broke out of his season-opening slump by going four for five with a career-high-tying six RBIs, including two on his third homer. He was hitting .115 with one homer and two RBIs on April 18, but has since gone eight for 20 (.400) with two homers and 12 RBIs.

But despite both Murphy and Rasmussen, the Padres still could have won after they scored three runs in the fifth inning to pull to within 5-4. But because of the middle relief, that hurdle became insurmountable.

Grant came on in the sixth and promptly threw away a slow roller by Brave starter and winner Tom Glavine. Then one out later, he allowed a single to left by Jeff Blauser, a walk to Gerald Perry and the single to Murphy. When Leiper came on in the eighth, it was even quicker, and worse, as he allowed three singles and a double in the span of six hitters.

This was the fourth time in seven appearances that Grant has allowed at least one run. It was Leiper’s second blowup in two games, as he turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-1 loss Saturday by allowing three runs in one inning. In 6 2/3 innings this year, Leiper has a 10.80 ERA with eight walks, and actually gained his first strikeout Sunday thanks to a swing by Blauser.

“This is the worst I’ve pitched in my career,” Leiper said. “I haven’t pitched this bad since Little League.”

Overall, throwing out Greg Harris who has pitched just 3 2/3 innings because of a now-healed rib injury, the three other middle relievers (Greg Booker is the third) have allowed 12 earned runs in 27 innings (4.00 ERA) with 14 walks and 13 strikeouts.

And don’t think they aren’t thinking about it.

“The middle guys are getting down on themselves,” Dobson said. “When you do that, it’s hard to relax.”

Said Booker: “I think everybody keeps counting out our bullpen past Mark Davis, and we’re all trying to do too much to show we are capable.”

Booker was one middle reliever who did the job Sunday with a scoreless inning, including the personal victory of retiring Murphy on a pop out with the bases loaded in the fourth. Harris also showed that he is healthy with another scoreless inning, with two strikeouts. The reason neither stayed in the game is as old as the National League itself--McKeon needed to pinch-hit for them in an attempt to score runs.

The Padres actually scored first when Roberto Alomar, who entered amid a two-for-27 slump, became the first Padre hitter to start the game with an extra-base hit, by doubling and going to third on an error. He scored on Tony Gwynn’s single. In all, the Padres had 11 hits, and everyone seemed to begin breaking out of slumps except Carmelo Martinez, who went zero for four and is now in a one-for-27 slump, and John Kruk, who fouled out in a pinch-hit attempt and is four for 33 (.121) for the season.

But the early run Sunday meant nothing when the Braves scored three first-inning runs off Rasmussen, who has made a habit of giving those up. In his four starts, he has allowed eight first-inning runs on 14 hits.

“I’ve tried everything to get ready for the game,” said Rasmussen, who is 1-3 with a 7.65 ERA and 34 hits in 20 innings. “Before the San Francisco game, I warmed up late. This time I warmed up regular. I’m just not making the big pitch.”

Said McKeon: “It’s too early to say anything about Raz. Probably when the Reds traded him to us, they were wondering about his slow start. And look what happened (14-4, 2.55 ERA with Padres).

“We don’t panic here. We didn’t panic last year when we were 14-30, and we aren’t going to panic after 19 games. . . . It’s not time to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.”