Padres an Open-and-Shut Out Case : Baseball: A home run by Juan Samuel is all the scoring the Dodgers need as Tim Belcher throws a three-hitter to spoil the home team’s debut at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, 1-0.

The Padres hear the whispers. They see it in the faces of their fans. They sense it from the media.

The Padres’ 1990 season is just two days old, but already comparisons to this year and yesteryear are being made.

“Can you believe it?” said Tony Gwynn, the Padre right fielder. “People are hitting the panic button already. People are already jumping off the bandwagon, like it’s the end of the world or something.

“I hear them mumbling out there, saying this year’s going to be just like last year. There’s no comparison. But you’ve already got people writing us off.”

The team that’s supposed to bring the National League West title to San Diego, the Padres found themselves still winless after two games Tuesday, losing to the Dodgers, 1-0, in front of 52,254 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The biggest surprise is not so much that the Padres have lost their first two games but that their offense has been non-existent. This was the first time the Padres had been shut out in 67 games, ending the longest such scoring streak in the major leagues.

The Padres are hitting just .161 after two games, with an on-base percentage of .187. They’ve scored two runs in 18 innings. The middle of their order--Tony Gwynn, Jack Clark and Joe Carter--is batting .047 (one for 21) and has yet to reach second base.

This is a team that batted .298 during spring training, averaging 6.6 runs a game while winning 12 of 14.

But then again, with Tim Belcher already in mid-season form, pitching a three-hit shutout Tuesday, and with Orel Hershiser pitching like Orel Hershiser in the season opener Monday, there’s not a whole lot that even the ’27 Yankees could do.

“We saw a lot of second-line pitching in spring training,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said, “you’re not seeing that here. I said all spring that when you go in and face the Dodgers on a particular night, they can stop you.

“I know our hitters have been struggling a little bit, but when those guys are hot, you’re in tough shape.”

And on this night, Belcher never gave the Padres a chance.

Just three Padres reached base, all on singles, and not one roamed as far as second.

Instead of showing fatigue because of the shortened spring, Belcher simply became stronger as the night wore on, retiring 16 consecutive batters until pinch-hitter Phil Stephenson hit a two-out single in the ninth. One pitch later, a pop-up by Roberto Alomar, and the game was over.

“I guess the 32-day lockout affected the hitters as well,” Belcher said, “because they missed a few pitches. I can’t repeat enough how they just missed hitting a couple of balls a long ways.

“I got a little tired in the seventh inning for a fleeting moment. My legs didn’t get tired. I just wondered about my arm speed. I didn’t have an overpowering fastball.”

Well, you could have fooled the Padres. Belcher probably threw 90 fastballs in his 110-pitch array, but the Padres used them to put on a pop-up clinic. They flied out or popped up 15 times, eight balls being hit to left field.

“That’s as strong as I’ve ever seen him,” Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia said. “Not that he was throwing hard, we expected that. But the command he had was uncanny. When he has that, he’s tough to beat.”

Said Gwynn: “He just had that good fastball, that good rising fastball. He kept going up the ladder with it, and we kept popping it up.

“Everybody wants to come up with reasons on why we get out of the gate so slow, but this year, just take a look at two of the pitchers we faced. They’re two of the best in the business.

“I’m not worried. I don’t think anybody should be.”

Certainly, the Padres’ fears over starting pitcher Eric Show’s return were somewhat subsided.

For a guy who hadn’t pitched a big league game in nearly 10 months after undergoing a back operation eight months ago, and wondered for a time if he’d ever pitch again, this hardly is just another day.

But there he was Tuesday night, surrounded by reporters in front of his locker, talking about how he felt just fine . . . if only he could have that one pitch back.

It hardly was a vintage Show performance--4 2/3 innings, eight hits, one walk and one run--but it at least represented the first step in his comeback effort.

Show struggled at the outset, allowing two hits and a walk to three of the first four batters he faced, but started to settle down in the second. Show retired eight consecutive batters beginning with a strikeout of Belcher with one out in the second inning.

He cruised into the fifth, but after running into trouble this time, he could not escape.

Alfredo Griffin led off the inning with a single to right, his second hit off Show. Belcher sacrificed Griffin to second, bringing Juan Samuel to the plate.

He walked to the plate needing just a single into the outfield to score a run, and four pitches later, knew that only a home run would do.

Griffin, straying a bit too far from the bag at second, was caught by Padre catcher Benito Santiago. Griffin froze as Santiago threw the ball to second baseman Alomar and then broke for third. Too late. Alomar threw to third baseman Bip Roberts, who tagged out Griffin.

Griffin, with his head down, slowly trudged to the dugout, embarrassed by the play. Samuel looked on in sympathy. He had tried to steal second in the first inning and was out by, oh, about 10 feet.

Santiago, who complained all spring because no one attempted to steal off him in an exhibition, probably now can cross the Dodgers off his list of teams who won’t be bothering to pad his stats.

But whether Show subconsciously relaxed because of the strikeout or just plain threw a bad pitch, Samuel immediately made him pay.

He launched a homer into the left-center field seats, providing the Dodgers with the only run they’d need.

“I just got the ball up,” Show said. “I really didn’t think he’d hit it out though, because of where he hit it. That’s a deep part of the ballpark. But I guess when you make a pitch like that, it doesn’t matter.

“For the most part, I was happy with my outing, but I just gave up too many hits tonight, particularly one.”

Show followed the home run by yielding an infield single to Willie Randolph that bounced off the chest of Roberts and then another single to Kal Daniels to center field. That was all McKeon needed to see. It was no time to be sentimental. He called for his bullpen.

Mark Grant was the first to come onto the scene, getting Eddie Murray to pop up to second base to end the inning and retiring the side in order in the sixth.

It was Greg Harris’ turn in the seventh. He retired the first eight batters he faced, striking out a career-best five consecutive batters at one point, before Scioscia ended the Dodgers’ drought with a single to right. It was the first time they had reached base since Daniels’ single in the fifth, prompting a standing ovation from the crowd.

But it was too late. The Padres still could not score. Heck, they had a hard enough time just getting on base.

Padre Notes

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said he panicked Sunday when he showed up at his mother-in-law’s house in Long Beach on the eve of opening day and realized that he was about to break up an annual tradition. His wife, Alicia, and mother-in-law say a prayer for him every year before the start of the regular season, but they were in Alabama on Sunday attending a church convention. So now what was he going to do? “Simple,” Gwynn said, “I just had them say a prayer over the speaker phone for me. It’s the same prayer each year, but hey, it’s worked so far, hasn’t it?” . . . Bruce Hurst, who pitched eight innings in the Padres’ season-opener Monday against the Dodgers, went longer than any starter in the big leagues. It was only the third complete game in Padre history on opening day, the last occurring April 9, 1976 by Randy Jones against Atlanta. “He’s the only guy we’ve got who could go that long this early,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “You figure he and Roger Clemens (of Boston) are the only guys who could do that this early. You’re going to see the bullpen working a lot in these next couple of weeks.” . . . Padre outfielder Fred Lynn, who homered in the season opener off Orel Hershiser, said: “Hey, did I get a new name or something? Every time I read my name now, it says, ‘Fred Lynn, 38.’ ” . . . Padre third baseman Mike Pagliarulo on former Yankee teammate Don Mattingly’s five-year, $19.3 million contract: “I still say Donnie messed up. He should have asked for part of the team, and knowing how they feel about Donnie, they would have given it to him.” . . . The Padres donned their new uniforms for the home opener. . . . The Padres will continue their series against the Dodgers at 7:05 tonight with Andy Benes and Fernando Valenzuela the scheduled starting pitchers.