Padres Lose, Prove Zimmer to Be All Wet

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch leaned back in his office chair, looked at the cluster of reporters in front of him and raised his hands in the air.

“Anyone got any suggestions?” he asked.

Silence.

Sorry, big guy, this baby’s all yours.

The Padres, who only three months ago were virtually everyone’s pick to win the National League West, if not run away with the division, have become everybody’s favorite patsy.

It has been ugly enough as it is, and their losing streak has been downright nasty, but Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs in front of 33,856 at Wrigley Field turned into the ultimate embarrassment.

Cub Manager Don Zimmer was so fed up seeing his pitcher, Greg Maddux, go without a victory that he publicly proclaimed before the game that he’d take a swim in chilly Lake Michigan if Maddux beat the Padres to end a personal 13-game drought.

So, anyone have an extra pair of size-44 swim trunks lying around?

Zimmer, 5-feet-10, 205 pounds, appeared after the game wearing blue sunglasses, an open life jacket and a buoy strapped around his legs.

“I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously,” he said. “I swim like a rock.”

But just as Pittsburgh Pirate broadcaster Jim Rooker walked across the state of Pennsylvania last year and Chicago White Sox broadcaster Tom Paciorek shaved his head on TV after similar statements, don’t be surprised if Zimmer is forced to swim at least a few strokes toward the other side of the lake 60 miles away.

Maddux not only won his first game since May 5, but with the exception of Jack Clark’s homer, he allowed just three baserunners to even reach third during his seven innings.

Not bad for a guy who was 0-8 with a 6.15 ERA in his past 13 starts and had not won a game since the last time he faced in the Padres in Chicago.

“What a better team to do it than against us,” said Padre starter Dennis Rasmussen (7-7), the latest victim of their offensive ineptitude. “It isn’t like we’re lighting the world on fire.

“Heck, and when we get down, it’s like we lay down and die.

“We haven’t smelled a rally since San Francisco a couple of months ago.”

The Padres’ losing ways have reached such epidemic proportions that they have even gotten Riddoch thoroughly depressed after just a week on the job.

“And I’m an eternal optimist,” Riddoch said.

The Padres (38-49) have lost 18 of their past 22 games and are now firmly entrenched in their worst period of this length since Aug. 21-Sept. 16, 1974, when they lost 21 of 25. And that was the year they finished at 60-102.

It’s little wonder Riddoch already has lost five pounds in a week and was asking reporters if he really looked like “death warmed over?”

“This is unbelievable isn’t it?” said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn. “Every day, I come in here thinking that today’s the day. That today we’ll turn it around. But we’ve said that for the last 20 days or so, and what have we won, three games?”

The Padres, who are left fighting for their dignity instead of anyone in the National League West race, have resorted to using the second half of the season as a tryout camp, with third base the position with the “Help Wanted” sign.

After going through 11 third basemen since 1987, the Padres are begging for someone to step forward and secure the position.

The latest experiment involves Eddie Williams, the 25-year-old San Diego native who is with his fifth organization. They want to see if Williams can fill the bill, then say goodby to Mike Pagliarulo, who’s eligible for free agency.

Well, while the Padres might be excited about his offensive potential--.277 (five for 18) with two homers and three RBIs his first four games--his defense leaves them wincing.

It was Williams who cost the Padres two runs and perhaps the game Wednesday with his bases-loaded error in the fifth. Luis Salazar hit a slow chopper toward the bag, and Williams had no trouble fielding the ball, but his throw to Clark at first was about seven feet out of his reach, allowing two runs to score.

There was another ball that probably should have also been fielded by Williams in the second when Lloyd McClendon hit a sharp grounder toward third. But when Williams tried to make the play, the ball stayed down and rolled into left field, scoring a run. The official scorer originally ruled the play an error, but minutes later changed it into hit.

“I don’t want to bury the kid,” Riddoch said. “Let’s give him a chance and see if he can play up here. We don’t have a whole lot of time left to analyze our situation, and we want to know by the end of the year whether he can play for us or not.”

Williams, who made 16 errors in 66 games for the White Sox in 1989, understandably was a bit defensive when talking about his latest fielding mishaps. Then again, he’s quite used to being questioned about his glove.

“I can’t worry about it, just because of my reputation,” Williams said. “Every day you step on the field, anybody can make an error. It just so happens that I made an error today that probably cost us the game.

“If I made a great play every time, I wouldn’t have been in the minor leagues, now would I? If I didn’t strike out, I probably would have been Mike Schmidt overnight.”

While Williams is playing, starting successive days against right-handed pitching, Pagliarulo has been left sitting on the bench pondering his future. Riddoch has told him that he wants to take a good look at Williams, but it doesn’t help Pagliarulo accept the benching any more easily.

“It’s damn tough sitting on the bench,” said Pagliarulo, 30. “I’d rather stay home. I don’t really understand it. I’m not a veteran. They haven’t really seen me play, either.

“I don’t like it, but what am I going to do, picket? Hold a sign? I don’t have an alternative. But if you’re a team player, you do what you’re told and keep your mouth shut, and that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”

Pagliarulo has started 54 games, batting .249 with three homers and 15 RBIs and committing 10 errors. The Padres say his production is adequate, but they still would like to see him with more power.

The Padres also are making it known that they believe Joe Carter belongs in left field, not center. He likely will remain in left for most of the season, Riddoch said, with Shawn Abner and Thomas Howard in center.

“I don’t know what’s more important right now,” Riddoch said, “leaving the veterans in there and winning games, or leave the young kids in and see what they can do. I think the best thing for the organization is to find out whether these kids can play or not, but I hate to sacrifice wins doing it, too.

“It’s quite obvious we’ve got some problems right now, and I have to fight through it. I’m the manager, and I feel responsible for it. Maybe I don’t deserve it, but I’ll take the blame for what we’re going through.

“I guess that’s why I really don’t have an appetite right now.”

Padre Notes

Padre pitcher Mike Dunne, who was in a half-cast Wednesday after breaking his right fibula Tuesday, showed reporters X-rays of the fractured bone. It was shattered so severely, Dunne said, that doctors must X-ray the leg again next week to determine if it must be re-broken and properly set. “But as bad as my leg is broken,” Dunne said, “my heart is broken worse.” Dunne, who missed the last month of the 1989 season with arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, said that he now will look into pitching winter ball in the off-season. “I haven’t talked to anybody about it yet,” Dunne said, “but I’ve got to start getting some innings in.” . . . The Padres have yet to decide who to bring up to replace Dunne but have narrowed their options to between pitcher John Davis and utility infielder Joey Cora. . . . Whitey Wietelmann, the former longtime Padre coach who still works in the organization, is planning to retire at the end of the season.

PADRES AT A GLANCEScorecard

SECOND INNING

Padres--Clark homered to left, his 13th. Templeton grounded to second. Parent grounded to third. Abner reached first on shortstop Dunston’s throwing error. Rasmussen bounced to pitcher. One run, one hit, one error. One left. Padres 1, Cubs 0.

Cubs--With one out, Salazar singled to right. Villanueva fouled to first. Ramos singled to right, Salazar taking third. McClendon singled to left, Salazar scoring, Ramos stopping at second. Maddux fouled to catcher. One run, three hits, two left. Padres 1, Cubs 1.

THIRD INNING

Cubs--Dascenzo doubled to left. Sandberg walked. Dascenzo picked off second, Sandberg taking second. Dunston lined to center. Dawson doubled to left center, Sandberg scoring. Salazar lined to right. One run, two hits, one left. Cubs 2, Padres 1.

FIFTH INNING

Cubs--With two out, Sandberg singled to left. Dunston singled to left, Sandberg stopping at second. Dawson walked, loading the bases. Salazar reached second on third baseman Williams’ throwing error, Sandberg and Dunston scoring, Dawson stopping at third. Villanueva lined to left. Two runs (zero earned), two hits, one error, two left. Cubs 4, Padres 1.

SEVENTH INNING

Padres--With two out, Roberts doubled to left. Gwynn singled to left, Roberts scoring. Williams forced Gwynn. One run, three hits, one left. Cubs 4, Padres 2.