McKeon Rips Padres After the Giants Do

The anger in Manager Jack McKeon simmered until he could hold it no longer.

His Padres finally took him to the breaking point Saturday night in a 3-1 loss to San Francisco in front of 32,615 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

After the game, McKeon closed the locker room door for five minutes and ripped into his slumping team, loudly enough to be heard in the stadium corridor.

“You’re a disgrace,” McKeon could be heard yelling. “I don’t have to take it anymore.”

McKeon was upset with a Padre collapse in the eighth inning that allowed the Giants to score three runs and wipe out a 1-0 lead.

McKeon had his harshest words for second baseman Roberto Alomar, who failed to cover first base on a bunt by Robby Thompson. That helped put runners on first and second with none out and set up Will Clark’s game-winning, two-run triple.

The tirade was out of character for McKeon, who has set a low-key tone since he took over for Larry Bowa on May 28, 1988. He shouted at his team for nearly two minutes in his first post-game outburst as a manager.

“It’s a shame,” McKeon told reporters after his team meeting. “I’m embarrassed. I reached my boiling point a week ago, but I was waiting for the right time to explode.”

The loss dropped Padres 11 games behind the first-place Giants in the National League West. That is the farthest the Padres have been out of first since they ended last season 11 games behind the division-winning Dodgers.

The victory was the Giants’ seventh in a row and fifth consecutive against the Padres.

It also was another blown save opportunity for Mark Davis. In his past six appearances, Davis has a save, three losses, a blown save and a no-decision.

It was the second time, Clark did the damage. His two-run homer in the 12th inning June 11 at San Francisco gave the Giants a 3-1 victory.

That time it was a first-pitch curveball that Clark hit; this time it was a fastball.

“I watched him in warm ups, and he threw two curveballs and six fastballs,” Clark said. “I went up there looking for a fastball and got it.”

The hit was Clark’s seventh in 13 career at bats against Davis.

“Will Clark knows he can hit Mark Davis,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said, “and Mark Davis know it, too.”

Davis said Clark’s past success against him didn’t matter, the problem was with him.

“It wasn’t a good pitch, I have to make a better pitch than that,” Davis said. “I shouldn’t come in and throw a pitch that he can drive, and that’s what happened.”

The two runs Clark drove in were charged to starter Walt Terrell, giving him his fifth loss in a row and dropping his record to 4-10. He joined Atlanta’s Zane Smith (1-11) and Philadelphia’s Don Carmen (2-10) as the only National League pitchers to lose 10 games.

As he had done in two earlier losses in the streak-3-2, at Houston June 7 and, 5-2, to Houston last Sunday in which Terrell allowed three runs (one earned) in seven innings-Terrell pitched well.

He allowed six hits, walked three and matched his season best of six strikeouts when he struck out winning pitcher Don Robinson (7-4) to start the fifth inning. But the effort was lost in the eighth inning.

The Giants had at least one base runner in each of the first five innings, but could not score against Terrell.

Their best threat came in the third when center fielder Brett Butler singled to center and advanced to second on Terrell’s wild pitch. After Thompson struck out, Clark walked to put runners on first and second with two out.

But Terrell got Kevin Mitchell to ground out to second to end the inning. That was part of a long night for Mitchell, the league leader in home runs and RBIs, against Terrell. He went hitless in three at bats, striking out, grounding out and popping out.

Terrell breezed through seven innings, but trouble began in the eighth.

Butler led off with a sinking liner to right field that Jack Clark, playing his first game in the outfield since May 24, fielded on a bounce for a single.

Thompson then appeared to take at least one Padre by surprise when he dropped a bunt on an 0-2 pitch. Terrell fielded the ball cleanly, looked to second but had no play and turned to first. But, with first baseman Rob Nelson charging, Alomar neglected to cover first, allowing Thompson to reach safely.

“I wanted to go to second base, but Benny (Santiago) was going. ‘One, one, one,’ ” Terrell said. “So I looked to first base, and I came very close to throwing there anyway.”

The Padres removed Terrell and brought in Davis to face Clark.This time he ripped Davis’ first pitch for a two-run triple down the the right-field line and into the Giant bullpen, scoring Butler and Thompson for a 2-1 Giant lead.

The Giants made it 3-1 when, after Mitchell grounded out to second, pinch hitter Bill Bathe hit a sacrifice fly deep to right field that Jack Clark caught crashing into the fence, allowing Will Clark to score the game’s final run.

The Padres had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a run that was a creation of Bip Roberts’ speed and the sacrifice of others.

Roberts, making his first start since June 11, led off the inning with a single to center. It was the seventh time in 10 starts that Roberts has led off the game for the Padres with a hit.

Padre Notes

Bip Roberts made his first start at third base as part of a lineup shakeup by Manager Jack McKeon. Roberts, who had played third once this season as a defensive replacement, replaced Luis Salazar. The move came after Salazar had a rough game against San Francisco Friday night. He failed to slide attempting to score in the second inning and was tagged out. Later, he missed a squeeze bunt attempt that resulted in Benito Santiago’s being tagged out by catcher Kirt Manwaring. “If you watch the play, you see the catcher go up, you have to go down,” McKeon said. “The cardinal rule is: when in doubt slide.” Then McKeon added sarcastically: “(Bip) gives ups a little more speed; he slides better.” Roberts played 47 games at third base last season at triple-A Las Vegas but has been used mainly in the outfield this season. Usually McKeon could replace Salazar, who had started 10 games in a row, with Tim Flannery or Chris James. But Flannery is on the 15-day disabled list with a torn muscle in his right forearm and James has a bruised right leg is available only to pinch hit. The start was Roberts’ first since June 11.

McKeon also juggled his outfield because of a slight injury to center fielder Marvell Wynne and the move of Roberts to third. Wynne bruised his right elbow when hit with a pitch Friday by Trevor Wilson. McKeon said he did not expect Wynne to play before Tuesday, when the Padres open a four-city, 12-game trip against the Dodgers. McKeon moved Jack Clark to right field from first base for the first time since May 24. Tony Gwynn was starting in center for the first time June 13 after starting the past nine games in right field. Shawn Abner started in left but he was moved to eighth in the batting order. Third baseman Roberts led off. It was the first time Abner did not lead off since June 14, when he made his first start since his recall from Las Vegas. Abner entered the game batting .182 (eight of 33). Rob Nelson took Clark’s spot at first. It was Nelson’s first start since he started three consecutive games the week before, when McKeon decided to rest a slumping Clark. Got that straight?

Eric Show will seek his third consecutive victory in today’s conclusion to the 12-game home stand. Show has allowed only seven earned runs in his past three starts and is coming off a 5-1, six-hit, complete game victory over the Dodgers. . . . Right-handed reliever Greg Booker has not appeared since he gave up five runs in two innings in San Francisco June 9. But the 13-game span without an appearance is not his longest of the season. He went 18 games without action from May 5 through May 25.