Errors Apparent as Padres Hang On to Defeat the Cubs, 5-4 : Davis Gets 11th Save, Kruk Hits Homer, but 11 Mistakes Are Big Story on Saturday Night at Wrigley

The people in the old brick neighborhood around Wrigley Field put up a good stink over the installation of lights here. They said late-night baseball would cause mayhem. They said it would attract thugs.

On the first Saturday night game here, they were right.

The Chicago Cubs and the Padres, in front of 34,748 witnesses, attacked and mugged the defenseless baseball. They batted it away with gloves. They pounded it with their bodies. And how they threw it: against railings, against walls and even off the thankfully hard head of one utility infielder.

When they finished, the two teams had combined for 11 errors--a team record-tying six by the Padres and five by the Cubs. The combined total was four shy of a major league record that has stood for more than 80 years, and was the most ever in a game involving the Padres.

Oh yes, the Padres won, 5-4, thanks to slumping John Kruk’s two-run homer and Mark Davis’ 11th save. But when those in attendance fled home afterward, that is not what they told their children.

“I’m telling you, man, there was something lurking out there,” Padre third baseman Randy Ready said. “All those errors, there was something in the air. Something up there behind those clouds. Me and Templeton (Garry), we kept looking for a full moon.”

Surmised Tim Flannery: “I’m telling you man, they never should have messed with tradition. You can see, they aren’t supposed to play night games here.”

Among those in the Wrigley Field seats was television comedian David Letterman. Don’t be surprised if one night soon, you fall asleep watching stupid fielding tricks.

How strange was it? Left fielder Carmelo Martinez thinks he knows.

“Imagine this,” Martinez said. “All those errors, and I didn’t make one.”

He was among the chosen few.

The Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg, Gold Glove second baseman, in the worst night of his life, made two errors, including his first throwing error in 248 games. Second baseman Roberto Alomar, in what probably wasn’t even his worst night this week, made three errors.

After not making an error since April 9, shortstop Templeton threw a ball away. Five batters later, having not made an error since April 14, Randy Ready threw a ball away.

Cubs left fielder Gary Varsho flat dropped a fly ball. Cubs third baseman Curtis Wilkerson threw a ball that wound up 200 feet off target.

Things became so crazy and so contagious that one batter after reliever Davis entered the game in the seventh, he made an error.

Then there was Cubs shortstop Shawon Dunston. He nearly killed a man.

In the seventh, Ready hit a grounder to Dunston, who picked it up and calmly threw a perfect strike into the middle of the Padre dugout.

“I’ve seen plenty of foul balls go into the dugout on the fly,” Templeton said. “But a thrown ball?”

Sitting on the dugout steps, watching first base to see if Ready would beat the throw, was Luis Salazar. His mistake. The ball was upon him before he could react. At the last second, he saw a blur and put his hands up to his face and . . . plunk.

“You know what a pumpkin sounds like when somebody drops it?” Mark Davis asked. “That’s what it sounded like. We thought, oh gosh, they got one of us.”

Fortunately for Salazar, his hand deflected the ball off his ear. But it was enough of a blow to force him to the trainer’s room for a couple of innings, which altered the Padre strategy. You see, Salazar was about to enter the game as a--you guessed it--a defensive replacement. For Ready.

By the time Salazar finally entered in the ninth, he had seen enough.

“I was scared to play,” Salazar said. “I was afraid to even get in front of the ball.”

Said Manager Jack McKeon: “We felt like wearing batting helmets in the dugout, the way balls were flying in there.”

There were so many errors, the crowd booed hits. In the eighth inning, Dunston slapped a ball to Randy Ready’s left and off his outstretched glove for a single. When the “Hit” sign came on the scoreboard, the fans, obviously hoping for a major league record, waved their arms and hissed.

“Did you see that, can you believe that?” Ready asked. “They wanted errors, and they wanted errors bad.”

Said Cubs Manager Don Zimmer: “This was the worst big league game I’ve ever seen. It was a matter of who would give it to whom.”

Afterward, the only excuse anybody dared offer was that, because it was a cloudy day, the field was not watered, and trying to play on it was like catching ground balls off your driveway.

“It was so hard, my cleats wouldn’t go into the ground,” Martinez said. “And I weigh 210, brother.”

“It was hard as a rock,” Sandberg said. “That’s not an excuse for some of the errors I’ve made, but somebody is going to break a nose. I don’t know if they were expecting rain or not. But it didn’t rain.”

While it was the sloppiest game in Padre history--which perhaps shouldn’t surprise anyone considering the teams entered as two of the three most error prone in the league--it fell far from an overall record. Twice teams have combined for 15 errors, most recently on Oct. 3, 1904, when Boston got together for a fun afternoon with--who else?--these Chicago Cubs.

And that’s in the modern era. Saturday’s game was a gem compared to to the contest between Boston and St. Louis on June 14, 1876. Together, the fumble-fingered pioneers committed 40 errors.

Not that it made Saturday any less strange.

Stated Kruk: “Anytime I hit a homer, it’s a strange game. Anytime I get a hit it’s a strange game.”

Kruk’s eighth-inning, two-run shot, his first of the year, gave the Padres a 5-2 lead that even a bad night by Davis couldn’t blow.

Davis followed Walt Terrell with runners on first and second and none out in the seventh, with the Padres leading, 3-2. After a sacrifice bunt and his throwing error loaded the bases, he retired Andre Dawson on a first-pitch flyout to escape. In the ensuing two innings, he promptly gave up as many homers as he did all of last year--two, by Mark Grace and Curtis Wilkerson. But Grace’s homer was a leadoff hit in the eight, and Wilkerson’s homer was a leadoff hit in the ninth, and Davis otherwise survived.

“The key was to get that first double play before they realized I didn’t have any stuff,” Davis said. “Then I just threw curveballs and hoped for the best.”

And that left it for Kruk, who cinched the game in the eighth off reliever Calvin Schiraldi, following a single by Martinez with a homer to left.

“I’ve been changing my stance around so much, I finally decided just to do it the old way,” said Kruk, still hitting just .133. “I decided, if I’m going to hit .100, I’m going to do it the old way.”

The homer was somewhat pretty. Which was more than anyone could say about anything else here.

Padre Notes

Andy Benes, the Padres’ national No. 1 draft pick last summer, has done it again. The former of University of Evansville pitcher, now at double-A Wichita, ran his record to 4-0 Saturday night with a two-hit 9-0 victory over Midland. In 41 innings against obviously overmatched double-A opponents, he is 4-0 with an 0.45 ERA with just 20 allowed hits and 55 strikeouts. Although there won’t be any room for Benes on the Padres’ big league roster until it expands in September, look for him to at least make a move to triple-A Las Vegas, where the pitching staff is injured and struggling.

Manager Jack McKeon and pitcher Ed Whitson returned to Chicago from San Diego Saturday morning after representing the team at Friday’s memorial service for former Padre administrative assistant Rhoda Polley. According to McKeon, Friday’s service at Greenwood Mortuary had a standing-room-only crowd of about 300. It included Polley’s friends and associates from Yuma to Oakland, as well as many former Padre officials, including Buzzie Bavasi, former club president, and Bob Fontaine, former general manager. Before the sermon, the Rev. Ragon Flannery--father of Padre infielder Tim Flannery--wondered out loud whether McKeon was in attendance and whether he would like to say a few words. “At first I didn’t say anything--funerals are tough for me, and I didn’t want him to know I was there,” McKeon said. But after the sermon, the Rev. Flannery asked again, so the manager finally stood up in the back and spoke for five minutes. “I just said the Rhoda would have been overwhelmed if she could have seen all the people there,” McKeon said. “I said that in little ways, Rhoda had touched all of us.” After the Friday morning service, which caused McKeon and Whitson to miss Friday’s 3-1 loss in Chicago, they spent time with their families before flying back Saturday morning on owner Joan Kroc’s plane.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard

FOURTH INNING

PADRES--With one out Gwynn doubled to left. Clark singled to center, Gwynn stopping at third. Santiago reached first on second baseman Sandberg’s fielding error, Gwynn scoring, Clark taking third. Bielecki balked, Clark scoring, Santiago taking second. Martinez struck out. Kruk walked. Templeton grounded to third. Two runs, two hits, one error, two left on base.

FIFTH INNING

PADRES--With one out, Alomar singled to third, taking second on third baseman Wilkerson’s throwing error. Ready reached second on left fielder Gary Varsho’s fielding error, Alomar scoring. Gwynn flied to center, Ready taking third. Clark grounded to shortstop. One run, one hit, two errors, one left on base.

SIXTH INNING

CUBS--With two out, Dawson singled past second base, taking second on second baseman Alomar’s throwing error. Grace singled to left, Dawson stopping at third. Varsho singled to center, Dawson scoring, Grace taking second. Dunston flied to right. One run, three hits, one error, two left on base.

SEVENTH INNING

CUBS--Wrona reached first on second baseman Alomar’s fielding error. Stephenson, batting for Bielecki, singled to right, Wrona taking third. Wilkerson singled to right, Wrona scoring, Stephenson stopping at second. Davis replaced Terrell. Webster sacrificed, Stephenson stopping at third, Wilkerson stopping at second. Sandberg reached first on pitcher Davis’ throwing error, loading bases. Dawson grounded into a double play. One run, two hits, two errors, one left.

EIGHTH INNING

PADRES--Schiraldi took the mound. Martinez singled to left. Kruk homered to left, his first. Templeton struck out. Davis grounded to shortstop. Alomar fouled to third base. Two runs, two hits.