No Pitcher Is Safe as Padres Lose

The door to Manager Jack McKeon’s office was closed Sunday after the Padres’ 14-8 thrashing by the Dodgers. Reporters were kept out. Teammates wondered who was inside.

Finally, after about five minutes, the door opened. Dennis Rasmussen, the afternoon’s starting pitcher, stepped out, not pausing to stop as he walked through the clubhouse, through the tunnel, and into the San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium parking lot.

Even though he had been taken out of the game more than two hours before its brutal conclusion, Rasmussen’s temper still was burning.

Actually, he wasn’t sure what angered him more: that McKeon pulled him out of a 2-2 game with one out in the third or the explanation he received for the move.

“He told me he’s tired of watching me pitch behind in the count and not challenging people,” said Rasmussen, who had been taken out of the game earlier just once in his previous 29 starts this season.

Did he believe that?

“Hell no,” he said. “I don’t buy it.”

Why then was he taken out?

“I don’t know why, I really don’t.”

Did he think it was a panic move, particularly considering what happened after the departure?

“You can go ask No. 15 why, and if he felt it was a panic move.”

No. 15 is McKeon, and he reiterated exactly what he had told Rasmussen to his face minutes earlier.

“I didn’t think he was throwing the ball good at all,” McKeon said. “I wasn’t going to take any more chances. (Mark) Grant and (Greg) Harris are well-rested, they’ve been doing a superior job.”

The trouble was, as Rasmussen explained: “It was just ugly after I left. Mud (Grant) didn’t pitch very well, and nobody else got the job done either.”

The Padres, yielding a season-high 19 hits and giving up more yardage on three homers and three doubles than the Chargers, dropped to six games behind division-leading San Francisco with the defeat.

Though not devastating (“Hey, I didn’t think we were going to win 20 in a row,” McKeon said), the Padres can’t afford any more defeats at this stage.

This is why it was so frustrating to leave prematurely, Rasmussen said. If he had been allowed to remain, he said, who knows? Perhaps the outcome would have been different. At least, he said, he’s confident the suspense would have lasted beyond the fourth.

By that time, the Dodgers had an 8-2 lead.

By the fifth, when the Dodgers heaped on four more runs, even Padre owner Joan Kroc had had enough and left her private box.

And by the sixth, when the Dodgers had a 14-4 lead, the only part of the stadium that remained faithful were the Navy lads in Section 15, who apparently had no way to get home.

Of course, judging by the crowd--19,342--you’d have thought the Padres were playing a spring-training game in Yuma, not the Dodgers in the midst of a pennant race.

The way it turned, well, people weren’t so sure. There were 35 players in the game, 19 by the Padres, and the only pitcher to throw more than than three innings was Dodger starter Ramon Martinez (4-3).

The Dodgers’ only regulars were first baseman Eddie Murray and third baseman Jeff Hamilton. The rest of the lineup had accumulated just seven homers and 71 RBIs all season.

Rasmussen, who previously had won three consecutive decisions, and four of his past five, made a critical mistake early, throwing a fastball down the middle to Mickey Hatcher on a three-and-one pitch in the first. He promptly deposited it over the left-field fence.

It was really nothing new for Rasmussen, who has allowed 27 runs in the first inning this season. But he settled down, striking out Murray and Hamilton. He breezed through the second.

Then came the third, an inning that Rasmussen said left him more frustrated than at any time this season. That’s quite a concession, considering that this is the same guy who opened the season winning just two of his first 15 starts.

The inning opened with Martinez hitting a zero-and-two pitch up the middle for a single. Jose Gonzales forced Martinez for the first out, and it looked as if Dave Anderson was the second out when he hit a popup into foul territory near the stands by first base. Oops. Jack Clark dropped it.

Given another chance, Anderson singled to center, bringing up Hatcher with one out and two on.

Rasmussen, remaining calm, stood on the mound, contemplating what he wanted to throw to Hatcher. He had a .294 career batting average against Rasmussen, but until the first inning had never hit a home run off him in 33 at-bats.

Trying now to regain his concentration, Rasmussen was interrupted when he saw pitching coach Pat Dobson strolling to the mound. Perhaps he was going to offer a little advice, Rasmussen figured.

Instead, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Grant coming in from the bullpen at the same time.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I didn’t get another chance. I was gone. Obviously, he didn’t think I could get Hatcher out.”

Grant, who had been scored upon in just one of his past seven outings, made the maneuver look good at the outset, striking out Hatcher while Rasmussen watched from the stadium tunnel.

Next up was Eddie Murray, who obviously was happy that he now was facing a right-handed pitcher instead of left-handed Rasmussen. A switch-hitter, Murray is much more dangerous against right-handers--.269 with 12 homers and 57 RBIs vs. .208 with four homers and 20 RBIs.

The Padres found this out the hard way, watching Murray blast a 400-foot home run into the right-center field seats, turning a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 Dodger lead.

“If I remember right what happened in the first inning, I struck out Murray,” Rasmussen said sarcastically.

One inning later, the Dodgers scored three more off Grant, including a leadoff homer by Rick Dempsey. Grant was lifted after yielding five consecutive hits.

“I’m trying to win, I’m trying hard to help the team win,” Rasmussen said. “It’s hard to do that when you’re taken out of a ballgame in the third inning.

“The bottom line is that it was my game. My ‘L.’ ”