Padres Too Tough for Dodgers

Beach balls being tossed around the stands still receive the loudest cheers here. Adults who steal foul balls from children still receive the loudest boos.

But recently, something else has happened at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. It is big-play baseball. It is pitchers who make opposing hitters look bad and slap hitters who make opposing pitchers feel helpless.

The team doing this is the San Diego Padres. The expert witnesses to this phenomenon are the Dodgers, who were beaten Sunday by a late rally for the second time this weekend, losing, 2-1, in 10 innings.

“These guys are not letting up,” Dodger Lenny Harris said. “It’s going to be tough to beat them. It’s like they are never out of it. It’s like they are coming at you every inning.

“These guys were right on us .”

Wasted was Harris’ sixth-inning homer, his first since last Sept. 15. Also wasted was Ramon Martinez’s suitable encore to his 18-strikeout performance against the Atlanta Braves last week. Martinez yielded only seven hits in 7 1/3 innings to the National League’s top hitting team. He also had seven strikeouts, including Jack Clark three times.

But their last hit against him was an RBI double off the wall in right-center by Roberto Alomar. That tied the score at 1-1 in the eighth.

Tim Crews immediately entered the game, worked out of a bases-loaded jam, and stopped the Padres in the ninth. But the Dodger offense, stifled by starter Andy Benes on three hits in 7 1/3 innings, did not get a hit off relievers Craig Lefferts and Greg Harris.

That set up the Padres’ winning rally, against reliever Jay Howell in the 10th. As in other recent Padre victories, it was quick and simple.

With one out, Bip Roberts leaned into a Howell fastball. The ball hit his hand, and Roberts took first base. Howell’s next pitch was in the dirt, and Roberts took second.

Up stepped Alomar, who fell behind 1-and-2. Looking for a perfect fastball, he fouled off four pitches until, he says, he got that fastball. He grounded the ball past Howell, over second base, and into center field. Roberts came around third base and slid into home before Gibson’s throw arrived.

“He threw the fastball right where I wanted it,” said Alomar, who has a 10-game hitting streak and is batting .336 overall. “A fastball was all I could hit up there.”

Alomar, referring to a time earlier in this season and perhaps other seasons, added, “Before, we might have just given up. But now, we play nine innings. We are playing some great baseball.”

The Padres have won 12 of their last 16 games. They trailed the National League West-leading Cincinnati Reds by 10 games last week, but have since cut that to 5 1/2.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, are left with the sinking feeling that while they should have won all three weekend games here, they couldn’t. And in baseball, to lose close games is to lose faith.

“I think we will see how strong our character is, if we can come back after a loss like this,” Crews said.

The guy being tested most in the character department is Howell, whom the Dodgers really don’t blame for this loss. After all, the offense could only get three hits in 10 innings, and he was only given the opportunity to face three batters.

“That’s the life of a reliever, there’s nothing you can do about it,” pitching coach Ron Perranoski said. “You hit a guy, you throw a wild pitch, they get a ground ball up the middle, and the game is over. That’s tough.”

Howell, who blew a save less than 24 hours before this loss, fell to 2-4 with one save, four blown saves and an earned-run average of 3.86. He could have many excuses, including a stiff shoulder that has never fully loosened up, but Sunday he offered none.

“I just got beat today, and that’s it,” he said. “Physically I’m not where I’d like to be, but that is getting to be an old song and I’m not singing it anymore.

“I’ve got to put my shoulder to the wheel and keep going. I’ve been through this before. I’ll bounce back.”

Benes, who some Dodgers said lacked everything but a good fastball, has given up only two runs and 11 hits in 28 1/3 innings against them since he came to the major leagues last year.

Lefferts, who threw 1 2/3 shutout innings Sunday but received no decision, is 9-0 lifetime against the Dodgers with no saves.

“Does Lefferts pitch everybody else that tough?” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda asked. “He looks like Lefty Grove against us. And that Benes, he’s no Mickey Mouse pitcher. He’s proven himself to us.”

When asked if the Padres had proved themselves to the Dodgers, Lasorda responded with a question.

“Let’s go down the lineup, and let me ask you. . . is Alomar a good player? Is Tony Gwynn a good player? Is Joe Carter a good player? Is Jack Clark a good player? Is Benito Santiago a good player?” Lasorda asked.

“These guys have one heck of a team.”

Dodger Notes

Despite some recent promising performances from Tim Crews and Don Aase, the Dodger bullpen situation grew even worse after Sunday’s game when they were forced to recall a disabled pitcher from triple-A Albuquerque. Pat Perry was placed on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his left shoulder. Returning to the Dodgers is pitcher Mike Hartley, who recently was sidelined with a strained groin but was scheduled to return to the Albuquerque roster this week. In three appearances at Albuquerque, Hartley had two saves with no allowed runs. Perry said he overworked his arm during the recent trip, when he threw three consecutive days in St. Louis and Pittsburgh after having not pitched since last September.

But Perry blamed only himself. “The way I see it, once I am on the roster, I’ve got to pitch whenever, so I will go out there with everything short of a broken arm,” he said. “Looking back, maybe it was a mistake, but I’m not looking at it that way. The bottom line is, I just wasn’t ready, and hopefully with these 15 days I can get ready and have a chance at doing something in whatever is left of the season.” Perry had a 9.53 ERA in six appearances. Hartley had no decisions with one save, three blown saves and a 3.38 ERA in 14 appearances with the Dodgers earlier this season.

The Dodgers confirmed that Mike Maddux would start against Houston Tuesday. It will be Maddux’s second chance to win the fifth starter job. In his first chance June 6 against Houston, he gave up two runs on three hits in three innings. . . The Padres have won eight of 12 games decided in their last at-bat.