Padres’ McKeon Feeling Like Dealing After Another Loss

Padre Manager Jack McKeon carefully took the glasses off his head Thursday afternoon, rubbed his eyes with both hands and sighed in exasperation.

He says he’s tired. Tired of seeing his team lose. Tired of seeing his team flounder in key situations. Simply tired of seeing them play.

He has tinkered with the 24-man roster by making three minor trades. He has shaken up the lineup night after night. He has been Mr. Nice Guy to his players. He has been their worst enemy. And Lord only knows how often he has told them that this can’t go on much longer.

Well, after the Padres’ 7-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs before 34,814 at Wrigley Field, their third consecutive defeat and fifth in six games, McKeon said his patience finally has been exhausted.

Looking at Tony Siegle, Padre vice president, McKeon said, “No one can say they didn’t get a chance here. Nobody can say that. I gave every damn one of them a chance.”

Siegle, knowing as well as anyone that the Padres’ 40-45 record equals their low-water mark of the season, pressed his lips tightly together and nodded affirmatively.

Trader Jack, the man who has had 152 players come and go since his arrival in San Diego in 1980, is about to step into action.

“I could play it safe by sitting back and doing nothing,” he said, “but I don’t work that way. If you want to get anywhere, you’ve got to take risks. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

It is time to trade one of his prize catchers, either All-Star Benito Santiago or Sandy Alomar Jr., a two-time triple-A All-Star.

And it’s becoming clearer by the day that the choice will be Santiago.

“You could put either one on the market,” McKeon said, “but logically, you’d think Santiago would bring more. If you trade a Santiago, you’ve got to get a couple of players in the lineup, two pluses for one-minus. But it’s tough. I don’t think you could get two players for him right now.”

Santiago, who has been in and out of McKeon’s doghouse so often that Santiago wonders if the post-game spread should include bones, was out of the lineup again Thursday. He’s in the midst of a zero-for-11 skid, failing to hit the ball out of the infield in his past eight at-bats while his average has dropped to .239.

He continually frustrates McKeon with his lack of discipline at the plate, prompting McKeon to wonder aloud if his rookie season (.300, 18 homers, 79 RBIs) was not a fluke.

“You never know,” McKeon said. “Sometimes a guy has that one great season and never does it again.

“With him, though, I think it’s a question of time. How long? Who the hell knows? There’s no question when the light flicks on, he’ll be a good one, but who knows whether it flicks on at the end of his career or tomorrow?

“I know one thing, I can’t worry about being questioned or second-guessed if I do trade him.”

Although the Padres’ plunge from lofty preseason expectations dictates that McKeon must do something to aid his offense-starved team, he expects that it will take several more weeks to consummate a trade.

“I think the clubs that would like to have them (Santiago or Alomar) are pretty high in the race,” he said, “and they can’t afford to part with anybody. I’ve got to wait and see if somebody drops out or reconstructs their team early.

“But there’s no question we’ve got to do something.”

The Cubs thwarted McKeon’s trade plans earlier this season when he attempted to lure shortstop Shawon Dunston, offering a package that included Randy Ready, Carmelo Martinez, Greg Booker and a couple of minor leaguers.

Typically, not only did the Padres have desperate need for Dunston Thursday because of Garry Templeton’s bruised index finger, but they enviously watched him play flawlessly in the field while tearing up their pitchers at the plate.

In a game in which Bip Roberts made two second-inning errors at short, leading to two unearned runs, Dunston went two for four with an eighth-inning home run that landed on Waveland Avenue.

Padre reliever Fred Toliver surrendered three home runs--including Dunston’s--in his two innings, provoking McKeon to say, “I thought we were going to have to put a guy in the stands there for a minute. . . .

“What is it about this place that brings the worst in us? They hit the ball into the stands so easy, and we can’t even reach the infield dirt.”

The Cubs must have felt like the ’27 Yankees after the Padres left town. Chicago entered the series having lost eight of the past 10 games, with just one homer in the past 110 innings. They came away with a three-game sweep, outscoring the Padres, 17-7, and hitting four homers in 24 innings, including the three Thursday.

Of course, you’re not going to fare well in any series when you commit seven errors and hit .083 (two for 24) with runners in scoring position, stranding 27, including 10 Thursday.

“It’s just atrocious what we’re hitting with runners in scoring position,” McKeon said. “I have it, and I’m going to post it. I’m going to put it right on the wall in our clubhouse so they can see just how . . . they’re doing.”

The Padres showed in Chicago that they simply cannot handle the prospect of prosperity. Once again, they grabbed an early lead, 1-0, on Carmelo Martinez’s sacrifice fly in the second inning, scoring Roberto Alomar.

So what happens? Padre pitcher Walt Terrell, who had yielded just 19 walks in 106 1/3 innings, walked back-to-back batters for the first time this year in the second. Dunston made him pay with a run-scoring single to left, and with two outs, Roberts had Terrell wincing in frustration.

Roberts, starting at shortstop for just the second time since he was at Skyline High School in Oakland in 1981, first booted a ground ball by Jerome Walton. That loaded the bases, keeping the inning alive. The next ball was a routine one-hopper by Ryne Sandberg. Roberts fielded it cleanly, but his simple flip to second sailed into right, allowing two more runs to score.

“I should have made the plays, I’ve got no excuses,” Roberts said. “If you catch the ball, you should be able to make the out. What can I say? I just flew it.”

The Padres never recovered, leaving the bases loaded in the third and seventh innings without hitting the ball out of the infield and getting a stiff neck watching the Cubs tee off on Toliver in the seventh and eighth.

And for the sixth consecutive game, the Padres were unable to take advantage of the services of bullpen stopper Mark Davis, whose frustration at least was eased by the announcement that he was selected to the All-Star team.

“It’s special to me because I’m going to try to have my folks at this one,” said Davis, whose parents live in Sacramento. “My dad’s real sick, and I’d like him to see me in at least one All-Star game.”

The Padres, meanwhile, would love to get a late-inning lead again, just so they can see Davis pitch for themselves.

Padre Notes

The Padres committed 14 errors in their six games at Wrigley. . . . The Padres’ triple-A team in Las Vegas will be represented with three players and their manager at the triple-A All-Star game Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., second baseman Joey Cora and shortstop Jerald Clark were selected, along with Manager Steve Smith. . . . Cub right fielder Andre Dawson entered the Padre series in a six-for-54 slump (.111) but was able to get healthy again off the Padres’ pitching by going five for 11 (.455) with a homer and two RBIs. . . . Cub Manager Don Zimmer said he originally was supposed to be on the National League All-Star staff but backed out when he was scheduled today for surgery on his right knee. Instead of surgery, however, Zimmer received a cortisone shot a week ago, and his knee is the best it has been in months. “I told my doctor, ‘Hey, I’ll take one of these every week,’ ” Zimmer said. “He said, ‘No, no, no. You take one of these every week, and you won’t be with us much longer.’ ”

DAVIS AN ALL-STAR

Padres’ Mark Davis is named an All-Star, along with 4 Dodgers and 2 Angels. Story, Page 6.