Padres Talk, Then Don’t Act and Lose, 12-2

Patience is something Padre Manager Jack McKeon professes to hold in an abundant amount.

Be it waiting out a reluctant trading partner or keeping the faith with his team when all around him see trouble, McKeon stresses an even approach.

But this Padre team is beginning to push him to the limit.

McKeon held a rare pregame meeting before Friday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants in hopes of turning around what has become a disastrous road swing. But the Padres must not have listened hard enough.

They promptly went out and lost their most lopsided game of the year, 12-2, to the Giants in front of 17,993 at Candlestick Park.

The loss dropped the Padres two games under .500 (30-32) for the first time since they were 19-21 on May 15. They trail first-place Cincinnati and Houston by six games, the biggest deficit of the season.

The Padres have lost four in a row and seven of their first eight on this 10-game trip.

That kind of play is what prompted McKeon to call the meeting. Speaking to reporters before the game, he was sketchy about details.

“It was just our regular monthly meeting,” he said. “Like some guys go to the Rotary (Club).”

But he hinted that he expressed general displeasure with the direction of his team and its lack of intensity.

“It was a refresher course,” McKeon said. “You figure at this level you don’t have to worry about motivating guys; you figure pride will do that.”

So far, that has not been enough.

Everything--except for the play of Tony Gwynn, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an infield single in the seventh--seems to have failed them on this trip.

It was all of their starting pitching in Cincinnati. Their ace reliever, Mark Davis, in Houston. Friday, it was their prize free-agent acquisition, pitcher Bruce Hurst.

Hurst, taken from the Boston Red Sox for a reported $5.25 million over three years, gave up six runs and 10 hits in the five innings in losing for the third time in four starts.

It was the second time that the Giants have ripped Hurst (5-5). They greeted him in his National League debut with eight runs and 10 hits in an 8-3 loss April 4.

If Hurst had to make his living pitching against San Francisco, he might want to consider returning to the American League.

Starting the damage was Kevin Mitchell, whose 400-foot homer to left led off the second inning. It was Mitchell’s 23rd (second off Hurst) and gave him 62 RBIs. Both figures lead the majors.

Mitchell, who hit his first homer since Monday, is one game ahead of Roger Maris’ pace in 1961, when Maris hit a record 61 homers. Friday night’s game was the Giants’ 60th. Maris hit his 23rd in the New York Yankees’ 61st game.

It was Mitchell’s only hit of the game, but his impact was felt in other ways. Although his only RBI came on his solo home run, Mitchell could be considered responsible for seven of the Giants’ first eight runs.

That’s because three times the Padres walked Mitchell, twice intentionally, to load the bases and instead pitch to Tracy Jones.

The strategy appeared sound on paper. Jones entered the game batting .127 with three RBIs and flew out in his first at-bat. But as has been the Padres’ fate lately, statistics and odds meant little. Three times the Padres walked Mitchell, and three times Jones countered with a two-run single--in the third and fifth off Hurst and in the sixth on an infield hit off reliever Greg Booker.

Fortunately for the Padres, the Giants removed Mitchell in the seventh before he could scare them into further damage. By then, San Francisco held an 11-0 lead with the help of Ken Oberkfell’s three-run, pinch-hit homer in the sixth off Booker.

Padre Notes

Injuries were the news of the day in the minor league system--three of the Padres’ top draft picks of the past five years are out with injuries. Right-handed pitcher Andy Benes, the first player taken in the 1988 amateur free-agent draft, has been placed on the seven-day disabled list at double-A Wichita with tendinitis in his right shoulder, a Padre spokesman said. It is not considered serious, and the move is viewed as precautionary. Benes will miss two starts. He lost for the second time in nine decisions Wednesday. Benes has 95 strikeouts in 86 innings and a 1.14 earned-run average. Right-handed pitcher Steve Loubier (7-3, 1.55 ERA) was moved up from Class-A Riverside to take Benes’ place.

Outfielder Shane Mack, who started the season on the disabled list before he was assigned to triple-A Las Vegas on May 4, will undergo arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to correct a bone spur in his right elbow and will be out indefinitely. Mack, the Padres’ first pick in 1984, injured the elbow in the off-season and missed the final 1 1/2 weeks of spring training. Mack was hitting .225 in 24 games for Las Vegas. He has a .241 average in 161 games as a Padre over two seasons.

Outfielder Thomas Howard, the Padres’ top choice in 1986, also will have arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair cartilage damage in his left knee and will be out four to six weeks. Howard was leading Las Vegas in hitting (.305) in 50 games.