Despite Loss, Benes Looks Good to Padres

Andy Benes sat in the back seat of the cab on the way to Olympic Stadium Friday afternoon, trying everything, anything, to keep his mind off his scheduled start in four hours.

It was about a year ago at this time that he was in South Korea with the U.S. Olympic Team. Now, he was in another foreign country, in a city he had never visited, with a dominant language he didn’t speak.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” he said. “I took four years of French, and I can’t speak a word. About the only thing I can do is read a menu and street signs. I guess that’s good for something, isn’t it?”

Benes went on and talked about his excursion to South Korea. He talked about his family that would be awaiting the news of his game back home in Indiana. He talked about his adventure the other day riding the subway to Shea Stadium.

The cab still was about five minutes from the stadium when, unable to restrain himself any more, he talked about the game ahead.

“I just want to do so well,” he said. “Maybe if I do well tonight, people will quit saying, ‘Andy’s not ready to be here; they brought him up to soon.’

“Because I think I do belong here. I think I’m ready. Now I have to prove it.”

Well, after his performance Friday night, he certainly doesn’t have to convince Padre management he is ready for the big leagues.

Oh, the Padres didn’t win, losing, 5-2, to the Montreal Expos. And the box score will reveal that Benes surrendered six hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings, including a home run. But even if Benes had pitched a complete-game shutout, making every batter look like Buddy Biancalana, the Padres could not have been more impressed.

“All those guys who say we brought him up too soon,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “Shoot, show me guys who can pitch like that.”

Pitching coach Pat Dobson: “I thought he’d make progress, but I didn’t think he’d make it like that, that good, that fast.”

Right fielder Chris James: “I thought he threw the hell out of the ball. That guy can throw. I mean the first four innings, he was unhittable.”

Then, of course, there was the pitch . It doesn’t matter how many pitches he throws the rest of his career, how many victories he obtains or how many home runs he allows. It will be remembered as the pitch that earned his teammates’ respect.

It was the start of the seventh when Spike Owen stepped to the plate. It was Owen who had tripled in his previous at-bat, leading the Expos to a three-run fifth that turned into a 4-1 lead by the seventh.

Owen, entering the game with a .235 batting average, dug his spikes in, trying to again get set to hammer the rookie.

Feeling nice and comfortable, Owen awaited the first pitch. Ouch. The ball nailed Owen on his right hip before he even had a chance to move.

It was a purpose pitch, Owen knew, and he yelled at Benes, telling him that he wasn’t going to put up with that from anyone, let alone a rookie. He stood at home plate for several seconds, contemplating rushing the mound as he did two months ago when he instigated a bench-clearing brawl against Houston. He then walked slowly down the first-base line, glaring at Benes and cursing him.

Well, as home-plate umpire Bob Davidson nervously stepped in front of Owen, a curious scene was taking place. Benes, with all of nine days in the majors, was walking toward Owen. If Owen wanted to say something, Benes was moving toward him so he could hear a little better.

Funny thing. Owen decided he didn’t have anything to say, after all.

“He’s not stupid,” Dobson said. “He’s not about to go after a guy, 6-5, 230, 235 pounds.

“Hey, the kid showed right there he ain’t afraid to throw inside to anybody.”

The kid also showed that he can take a punch, if need be. In the second inning, Larry Walker hit a line-drive off Benes’ right ankle. McKeon ran out. Dobson ran out. Trainer Dick Dent ran out. No problem. Benes threw five warm-up pitches, shooed them back to the dugout and resumed work.

Benes also showed that while it might be too early for anyone to predict greatness this season, he’s going to be fitting in quite nicely in the Padre rotation for 1990.

Throwing a slider for the first time in his career, after learning it just four days ago in New York, Benes had the Expos muttering to themselves the first four innings.

He allowed just two harmless singles during that time, striking out five of the first 10 batters he faced. He struck out the side in the third, the Expos so confused that each was out on a called third strike.

It was in the fifth that he finally showed signs he was a 21-year-old kid (22 on Sunday) making his second big-league start.

He opened the inning by walking his first batter of the game, Larry Walker. He got Nelson Santovenia to foul out to first baseman Jack Clark, but was called for a balk while facing Owen.

Perhaps rattled, Benes then surrendered a line drive toward the right-field fence. Right fielder James jumped, but a split-second too soon, and the ball sailed over his head, caroming off the fence for a triple. Pascual Perez scored Owen on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt.

Benes’ problems continued when he surrendered a single to Dave Martinez. He then balked again, tying him for the club lead already, and promptly surrendered a single to Tom Foley to right, scoring Martinez. He got out of the jam by retiring No. 3 hitter Andres Galarraga, and the only other run he allowed was a homer to Tim Raines on a two-and-oh pitch in the sixth.

“He was just outstanding,” Dobson said. “I told him I don’t even want him to think about wins and losses. Progress, that’s all I’m interested in, and building the foundation for next year.”

It might be difficult to understand for a pitcher who has grown up knowing only that an “L” next to his name meant failure, but Benes is starting to understand.

“I thought the difference was night and day between my last outing and this one,” Benes said. “I just felt so much more comfortable. And once I got out there, I treated it just like another game.

“That slider that Pat (Dobson) taught me, I took into the game like I’d been using it my whole life. I got hurt on it a couple of times, but for the most part, I was pretty happy with the way it felt.”

Benes threw 31 off-speed pitches, 21 were for strikes. Not bad improvement considering that just six of his 30 off-speed pitches were strikes in his first outing.

“You’re going to hearing about this kid for some time,” Dobson said. “He’s going to be a good one. And from what we’re seeing right now, he’s going to be real good one.”

Padre Notes

The Padres fell to 10 games behind the division-leading San Francisco Giants with just 40 games remaining to be played. . . . Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn, who was playing with an extremely sore left Achilles tendon and was questionable to even play Friday, went one for three.