Padres Lose and Watch Reds Win

It’s supposed to be too early to get depressed over defeats. It’s supposed to be too early to lose your cool. And certainly, it’s too early to be scoreboard watching.

But when you’re going like the Padres, you forget all about the cardinal rules of baseball, and let out your frustrations any damn way you wish.

The Padres lost Tuesday to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, not only squandering numerous scoring opportunities, but watching the first-place Cincinnati Reds move yet another step ahead of them.

The Padres (16-17) may be just one game behind last year’s pace, and still are tied for second, but they haven’t been 8 1/2 games behind the division leader this early in a season since 1988.

“You can’t help but scoreboard watch,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “You keep thinking the Reds (23-7) can’t keep up the pace, but every time you look up, they’re winning.”

The defeat particularly was painful to the Padres because of their wasted pitching peformance: starter Dennis Rasmussen (5 1/3 innings, six hits, two runs), Mike Dunne (1 2/3 innings, one hit) and Greg Harris (2 innings, no hits).

The Padres left 11 runners stranded on the bases, and although they had eight hits, two sacrifices, and 13 baserunners, they performed in the clutch much the same way as the Lakers.

Take a look: The Padres came to the plate 10 times with runners in scoring position, just needing a hit to score a runner.

Nine times they failed.

“We had plenty of opportunities to get back in the game,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said, “but we couldn’t get a two-out hit. It wasn’t like we didn’t have the opportunities.

“But that’s how it goes sometimes, you play well, and still lose.”

The Padres’ frustrations never were more evident than the eighth and ninth innings.

In the eighth, Benito Santiago ended a zero-for-nine skein by leading off with a single to left. Phillie Manager Nick Leyva called on Roger McDowell, relieving Jeff Parrett. Santiago was sacrificed to second by Darrin Jackson. But there he stood, when Mike Pagliarulo lined out to third baseman Charlie Hayes and Garry Templeton flied out to left.

In the ninth, pinch-hitter Fred Lynn singled to right. He was replaced by pinch-runner Joey Cora, who went to second on Bip Roberts’ sacrifice.

Really, it was the ideal situation, McKeon said. He had Gwynn (.336) at the plate, and Alomar (.367) on-deck. What more could a manager want?

Gwynn and McDowell were locked in a battle at the plate. McDowell threw seven pitches, and was left with a full-count. The next pitch was a slider down in the strike zone, Gwynn swung, and hit a hard grounder . . . right to second baseman Tommy Herr.

Cora scampered to third, leaving Alomar the job to drive him in. Instead, Alomar hit a soft one-hopper back to the mound, McDowell threw to first, and the crowd of 22,596 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium groaned in anguish as the Phillies ended their nine-game losing streak in San Diego.

It was a game that left virtually every Padre player wondering, ‘What if?, particularly Roberts.

It was his baserunning blunder in the third inning that might have cost the Padres a run, one which would have kept this game going on into the night.

Roberts hit a ball into the right-center gap that reached the wall in the third inning. He rounded second, and appeared that he could make third, but stopped a few steps off the bag. The ball was thrown in by center fielder Lenny Dykstra to shortstop Dickie Thon, and he flipped to first baseman Ricky Jordan, who snuck behind Roberts and tagged him out.

“He came out of nowhere,” Roberts said softly. “I should have been more alert.”

The blunder turned out to be quite big when Gwynn followed with a single to left, and Alomar walked. They were left stranded when Joe Carter popped up to Thon, just the beginning of a night of frustration.

Rasmussen, who never had lost to the Phillies in his previous five starts, was breezing along for the first four innings.

After yielding a leadoff single to Dykstra, Rasmussen retired 11 consecutive batters--his longest streak of the season.

Then came the fifth. Jordan led off with a monstrous shot into the left-field seats. Three pitches later, Carmelo Martinez, who was not offered a contract by the Padres at the end of the 1989 season, followed with another homer. This one landed a few rows shy of Jordan’s blast, but Martinez was much more theatrical circling the bases, taking his time and stomping on home plate.

Rasmussen survived the fifth, but in the sixth, Tommy Herr singled to right with one out, and Von Hayes followed with a bunt-single.

Two men on base. One out. It was as good a time as any, McKeon and Dobson figured, to call for Dunne.

Dunne, who had arthroscopic shoulder surgery six months ago, and had not pitched in a big-league game in eight months, gulped hard, and took the mound.

Sure, he had pitched a no-hitter in Las Vegas two weeks ago, he told himself, but that was against triple-A hitters. This was the show. And although it was not imperative to make a good first impression, he knew it sure would help.

His National League debut began with Jordan at the plate and Martinez on deck. The only thing he really knew about them was seeing the two home runs flying over his head.

Well, it was too late now to panic. And he was too scared to be nervous. So he just pretended he was back in Las Vegas, and he got the same kind of results.

It began with Jordan flying out to right, and Martinez popping up to second, ending the inning. He flew through the seventh, with a single by Hayes being his only flaw, and his Padre debut was a hit success.

Yet, as exciting as it might have been for his return to the big leagues, it still can’t stack up to his three-week adventure in Las Vegas.

“It was an eventful trip, I’ll say that,” Dunne said. “I pitched a no-hitter, I swallowed a chicken bone and went to the emergency room, I sprained my wrist, I won some money playing black jack, and my wife got a royal flush playing the slots.”

Dunne was removed from the game in the bottom of the seventh when Phil Stephenson pinch-hit, and drew a walk. He went two second on Roberts’ ground ball, to third on Gwynn’s deep fly ball to center, and scored on Alomar’s single to center.

Still, the Padres were one run shy when Greg Harris took the mound for the eighth. No problem. He retired all six batters he faced, striking out three of them, and setting the stage.

It was the first time since April 15 that Harris had pitched at least two innings without allowing a baserunner. His secret? He and Padre pitching Coach Pat Dobson had watched videotapes of Harris, and discovered that he was tipping off his breaking ball along with a flaw in his delivery.

“I was wondering whether my breaking ball wasn’t breaking, or what,” Harris said. “But then I saw I was patting my glove with the ball every time I threw a breaking ball. I guess I found the answer.”

Yet, it was all of small consolation.

Padre Notes

The quandary of who will start Saturday night for the Padres against the New York Mets is over. No, it won’t be Mike Dunne, who was called up Sunday from Las Vegas. No, it won’t be Eric Show, who is 0-5 with a 7.88 ERA. Instead, it will be Andy Benes, the winning pitcher Monday in the Padres’ 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The reasoning for the move is simple. The Padres have an off-day Thursday and another on Monday, allowing the Padres to go to a four-man rotation. The earliest they will need a fifth starter is Saturday, May, 26, in New York. . . . Show, who sat in the bullpen Tuesday night for the first time since 1986, accepted his demotion in good spirits despite the fact that it may be rather costly. Show, who earns $800,000 this season, has a clause in his contract that guarantees his 1991 salary for $1.1 million if he pitches in 175 innings. Yet, if he remains in the bullpen, it will be an impossible incentive to meet. The option then will belong to the Padres, who have the right to sign him for $1.1 million--$200,000 of which will be deferred--or pay him a $250,000 buyout and allow him to become a free agent. . . . The Padres will conclude their three-game series at 1:05 p.m. today against the Phillies. Ed Whitson (3-1) and Ken Howell are the scheduled pitchers.