Padres Kept in a Funk by Phillies : Baseball: A 6-5 loss, which leaves team nine games behind Cincinnati in the NL West, is the product of a number of missed opportunities.

The putrid smell that filled the Padre clubhouse Wednesday morning was caused by a skunk running amok underneath San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Really, just ask the security guards.

Now, if you wonder about the scent the crowd of 17,710 noticed later in the day, yes, that was courtesy of the Padres.

Leaving an aroma that even had Manager Jack McKeon fleeing for Las Vegas afterward, the Padres found more new and innovative ways to lose, dropping a 6-5 decision to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Padres (16-18) managed to lose as many home games to the Phillies in 18 hours as they had in the previous three years, and with two months still to go to the All-Star break, they find themselves trailing the Cincinnati Reds by a season-high nine games.

“Everything’s going . . . right now,” said Pat Dobson, the Padre pitching coach. “The one day you pitch well, you don’t hit. The one day you hit, you don’t pitch. And when you have both, something happens defensively.

“It’s been that way for three years here, and I don’t know what the answer is. It’s beyond me. Hell, none of us know.

“And every time this happens, someone goes into a coma, and before we can bat an eyelash, we’re 11 games back in the loss column.

“Look at how far Cincinnati is ahead of us. It’s not a good feeling.”

This was a game in which the opposition gave the Padres every conceivable opportunity to win. The Phillies made two defensive blunders in the final three innings, walked four batters and still were able to giggle at the Padres’ inability to capitalize.

Let’s see now. In the seventh, the Phillies walked three consecutive batters, loading the bases for catcher Mark Parent, a career .187 hitter who’s batting .261 (six for 23) this season. Surely, McKeon would call in Benito Santiago (.343 with five homers and 17 RBIs) to pinch-hit, right? After all, Santiago is batting .333 with two outs and runners in scoring position.

Instead, McKeon decided to show confidence in Parent by staying with him. Parent popped up to second baseman Tommy Herr. The Padres still trailed, 5-1.

Then there was the eighth. Santiago, who was inserted for Parent in a double-switch, led off with a single to left. Bip Roberts walked. Tony Gwynn lined a single under the glove of first baseman Ricky Jordan, scoring Santiago and sending Roberts to third. But the only damage the Padres mustered the rest of the inning was a sacrifice fly by Alomar. The deficit now was 5-3.

But the ultimate exercise in futility was the ninth.

The Padres, after yielding another run in the top of the inning, needed three runs to tie, and they got two in a hurry.

Mike Pagliarulo led off with a double, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games, equaling the longest in the National League this season (also achieved by Santiago). Phil Stephenson followed with a single, scoring Pagliarulo.

Garry Templeton then hit what appeared to be a double-play ball toward the bag at second. Shortstop Dickie Thon and second baseman Tommy Herr converged, but neither came up with the ball, and everyone was safe. Santiago was next up and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, moving Stephenson to third and Templeton to second.

“You’ve got the ideal situation,” McKeon said. “It’s the guys you want up there.”

Bip Roberts was at the plate. Tony Gwynn was on deck. Roberto Alomar was in the hole. What more could you want?

McKeon figured he needed just one hit for a tie game. Well, he got the hit.

He still lost.

“That’s the way things are going for us,” McKeon said. “We get the hit we want, and we hit it too hard.”

Hard to believe? Take a look.

Roberts, battling Roger McDowell for seven pitches, lined a 1-2 fastball into center field. Stephenson scored easily. Templeton, well, he was retreating back to second, waiting to see if Lenny Dykstra would catch the ball. It dropped 20 feet in front of him.

By the time Templeton realized it wouldn’t be caught, he was only halfway to third and had no prayer of even attempting to score.

“If a guy stops,” third base Coach Sandy Alomar said, “I can’t send him.”

Although Dykstra and Phillie Manager Nick Leyva said Templeton made the proper call in waiting, Alomar said Templeton made a mistake by looking back at Dykstra instead of at him.

“If he had been running all the way, I send him,” Alomar said. “There’s nothing I can do when he doesn’t look at me.”

Still, the Padres were left in an optimal situation. Runners on first and third. One out. Gwynn at the plate.

Gwynn, batting .286 with runners in scoring position, wanted to make sure he pulled the ball or, at worst, hit a sacrifice fly. Tie game at the very least, right?

Uh-uh. He hit a sharp ground ball to Thon, who flipped to Herr at second. Herr threw back to Jordan at first for the double play.

“I hit it hard, right on the screws, so I can’t be disappointed,” Gwynn said. “It’s not like you can guide it. What can you do?”

It’s a question the Padres have been asking themselves a lot lately. They’ve lost three of the past four games and have not been above .500 for three weeks.

The biggest problem, McKeon says, is simply pitching--the Padres’ 4.04 ERA is better than only three other teams in the league. But most devastating, McKeon said, is the 40 home runs they’ve allowed, including Von Hayes’ two-run homer in the first inning off starter Ed Whitson (3-2). They not only have yielded more homers than any team in the league--including eight in the past four games--but Atlanta is the only other NL team that has given up as many as 30.

“We’ve got to start keeping the ball in park,” McKeon said. “It’s killing us. . . .

“Let’s face it, our pitching just isn’t doing what it did last year. We’re getting behind early in too many games.

“We’re not the kind of club that can come back.”

Indeed, the Padres have not come back from a game in which they’ve trailed since April 15, and they are 4-14 when the opposition scores first.

“Sure, we’re concerned with what’s going on,” Gwynn said, “but it’s not the end of the world. It’s a long season, crazy things can happen.

“I’m not going to hit the panic button.

“Well, not yet, anyway.”

Padre Notes

Padre first baseman Jack Clark, on the 15-day disabled list with his lower back injury, could possibly miss part if not all of the Padres’ upcoming nine-game trip beginning Tuesday in Montreal. Although he’s eligible to come off the DL Monday, he said he feels the worst he has in days and is uncertain about his return. “We’re not in any hurry, we just want to get him well,” Manager Jack McKeon said. “If it takes another week, fine. If it takes two weeks, fine.” In the meantime, the Padres are being inundated with telephone calls from people recommending various back specialists. The latest? Pro golfer Billy Casper, who telephoned Padre pitcher Bruce Hurst on Tuesday, recommending his own specialist. . . . Padre first baseman Joe Carter, who played in his 215th consecutive game Wednesday, now has the second-longest consecutive playing streak in the major leagues among active players, trailing only Cal Ripken Jr. of Baltimore. Carter moved into second place this week when Dodger first baseman Eddie Murray missed Saturday’s game with a strained left hamstring, and Texas Ranger outfielder Ruben Sierra injured his left ankle this week while chasing his 3-year-old in a mall while headed toward the escalator. “It’s a nice streak, but what am I,” Carter said, “1,000 games behind Ripken?” Actually, 1,038 games behind. Ripken is third on the all-time list behind Lou Gehrig (2,130 games) and Everett Scott (1,307). . . . McKeon made the most of the Padres’ afternoon start today and off day Thursday by taking a trip to Las Vegas. He’ll catch a couple of games with the Padres’ Las Vegas triple-A club, which just so happens to be playing Phoenix, for which son-in-law Greg Booker pitches. . . . Tom Romenesko, Padre director/player development, wonders if he should change to the medical profession considered the latest developments. Not only have five minor league players undergone surgery in the first six weeks of the season, but his wife, Becky, is scheduled for a back operation today, and his 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, just suffered a torn patellar tendon in her knee while cheerleading. “The way things are going,” Romenesko said, “I’m afraid to even call my answering machine. The only people healthy in my family are me, my son (12-year-old Todd) and my dog (Pennant).” . . . The Padres’ biggest casualties have been at shortstop: Luis Lopez (major reconstructive knee surgery), Jose Valentin (chronic dislocated shoulder) and Scott Bream (back). “I’m ready to take an ad out in the paper for a shortstop,” Romenesko said. “I told (Tom) LeVasseur, our shortstop at Las Vegas, if he gets hurt, he’ll be fined $2,000. We can’t afford to lose another shortstop.” . . . Tom Werner, the managing partner in the prospective ownership group for the Padres, is planning to spend the weekend in San Diego, watching the three-game series against the New York Mets.