Padres, Clark Get Tossed Again

There was all the talk this spring by baseball fans of boycotting major league games because of the lockout. That lasted as long as it took them to drive to the ticket window.

There have been the recent threats by Padre fans of staying home because of the Padres’ collapse. Sure. The Padres hold a Towel Night, and 51,000 people show up at the ballpark.

Talk. Talk. Talk.

Casual threats. Little action.

Well, leave it to Ed Montague’s umpiring crew to finally take a stand this weekend. Instead of peacefully watching the Padres, they decided to just start kicking them out of games.

It was first baseman Jack Clark’s turn to go again Sunday. His emotional outburst in the fourth inning proved to be the highlight of the Padres’ 6-4 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals, ending yet another Trip From Hell.

It was the second successive series that the Padres (38-53) were swept, and they finished the trip with a 1-10 record, their worst since 1973. They somehow managed to lose all four games to the Cardinals, 41-53, who not only hadn’t won four consecutive games all season, but whose only sweep of anybody was a two-game series May 15-16 against Houston.

The result of this mess is that the Padres now have lost seven consecutive games, 11 of their past 12, 20 of the past 23, 22 of 26, and . . . well, you get the picture.

“I’m afraid to look at my back right now,” said Padre Manager Greg Riddoch, who’s 1-10 since taking over for Jack McKeon at the All-Star break. “There could be knives. There could be daggers. There could be tire marks.

“Man, can anything else go wrong?”

You don’t really want to know, do you skip?

The Padres, Riddoch will tell you, are having a hard enough time winning games as it is, but when you lose your sole source of power in the fourth inning of a tight game, you kind of have a feeling this isn’t going to be your day.

“That wasn’t one of my favorite things to happen today, let’s just say that,” Riddoch said.

The scenario actually unfolded in the first inning. With one run in, and Tony Gwynn on second, Clark was called out on strikes by home-plate umpire Jerry Layne.

Clark let Layne know just what he thought of the call by dropping his bat and helmet in front of the plate as he walked back to the dugout.

“I didn’t like him showing me up there,” Layne said, “but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want him to think I was egging him on.”

When Clark walked up to the plate in the fourth inning, and began to settle into the batter’s box, he turned around and asked Layne if he would check the baseball. Layne said he thought it was rather curious that Clark would ask for a favor from him, and took the time to tell Clark what he thought of him for his actions in the first inning.

Clark immediately turned around and let Layne know what he really thought of him. Layne responded. And in a matter of seconds, he ejected Clark, and the two went jaw-to-jaw while Riddoch and third-base coach Rob Picciolo intervened.

When Riddoch finally convinced Clark to leave the scene before he really got into trouble, Clark tossed his bat, and then his helmet. He got into the dugout, and then two more helmets came flying onto the field.

And just when he made sure that he got the attention of Layne and the crew, and in full view of the TV cameras, gave them the Italian salute, a variation of the common street gesture.

And that, in the words of Montague, “didn’t help his case any.”

It’s unknown just what will happen to Clark. Certainly, he’ll be fined. Certainly at least $400, probably even more. It’s also quite possible that he will be suspended for at least a game by National League President Bill White.

“We’re going to file our reports,” Montague said, “and it’s up to the league president from there.”

Clark, who also was ejected Thursday night, refused to talk about the incident, knowing that he could further endanger himself of a suspension by saying what was really on his mind.

His only comment on the ejection: “It was chicken . . . “

Layne, who perhaps is best-known to Padres’ fans for his ejection during his rookie season last year of Gwynn, talked plenty of the incident.

“I just told him how I didn’t appreciate what he did in the first at-bat,” Layne said, “and that there was no need to show me up in front of 40,000 (actually 31,261) people. I wasn’t looking for trouble. But he didn’t like me doing that, and he went off the deep end.”

It then became almost slap-stick comedy in the exchange between Layne and Montague, with the reporters as the straight men.

Montague: “Didn’t he say something about that he was in the big leagues for 12 of 15 years, and you’re only a rookie, Jerry?

Layne: “Yeah, he didn’t like me, as a rookie umpire, questioning a 12-year veteran?

Montague: “Like it’s OK for him to do it, then. He questioned your family heritage a few times too, didn’t he?”

Layne: “Yeah, something like that. I know he started cussing me.”

Montague: “Then he started throwing out those helmets. The first one he threw just missed hitting me. But it was a horse . . . shot. He missed all of us.”

Reporter: “Did he make a gesture at you?”

Montague: “Yeah, he was either saying, ‘Up your . . ., or we’re No. 1.”

Reporter: “I think he was saying, “Up your . . . “

Montague: “Thanks for clearing that up.”

There was a Padre player ejected in three of the four games this series, and typifying their bizarre season, not once did an ejection occur during any action.

Clark was ejected in the middle of the sixth inning Thursday by home-plate umpire Jerry Davis for arguing a called-third strike while taking his position in the field. Pitcher Eric Show was ejected in the seventh inning Saturday by home-plate umpire Mike Winters after he already had left the game. And there was Sunday’s outbreak.

Show, whose ejection Saturday was the first of his career, came to Clark’s defense after the game, saying that Clark was being baited by Layne, and that Layne was turning the game into a “mini-fiasco”.

Show realized Clark probably was using a few words that you won’t find on public television, but heck, what was their excuse when he was ejected Saturday.

“Rich (Rodriquez) was pitching,” Show said, “and all I said was, ‘Call a strike.’ Usually when you get tossed out, you get to call their mother a name or something. I didn’t swear, or say anything about his mother.

“Well, I might have said he was the worst. And that’s not true. There’s worse than him.”

And so there you have it, another fun-filled afternoon in America’s heartland where the Padres’ trip came to a skidding halt.

It was the first time in seven games that the Padres managed to score more than three runs, and for the first time in 57 innings, they actually had a lead at the end of a full inning.

But performances such as shortstop Bip Roberts’ three-for-four, two-RBI day were squandered when reliever Greg Harris gave up a two-run double to Tom Pagnozzi in the eighth.

“That’s why I feel so bad, because we need to win games like these,” Harris said. “We all know what’s going on right now. We feel worse than anybody about this. But it’s got to get better.

“It can’t keep going like this.”

Padre Notes

Dal Maxvill, Cardinal general manager, interviewed Milwaukee Brewer hitting coach Don Baylor on Saturday and said that he is a legitimate candidate for the Cardinals’ managerial job. Baylor is the fifth of seven candidates Maxvill has injured for the job to replace Whitey Herzog. The others are Joe Torre, Hal Lanier, Pat Corrales and Gene Tenace. Two other candidates, Gaylen Pitts and Mike Jorgensen of the Cardinal minor-league system will be interviewed this week. The Cardinals also wanted to interview Montreal Expo batting coach Hal McRae, but he declined, saying, “I don’t want to quit what we started. I’m not going to leave these guys in the middle of the season.”. . . Former Padre pitcher Mark Davis telephoned Padre Manager Greg Riddoch over the weekend, trying to lift his spirits. . . . Pat Dobson, Padre pitching coach, signed a one-year, $28,000 contract to manage the Ft. Myers team in the Senior League again this season. . . . Padre left fielder Joe Carter gave Cardinal first baseman Pedro Guerrero a haircut during the four-day stay. “I saw Benito Santiago and I asked him who cut his hair and he said Joe did,” Guerrero said. “So I said I have to have Joe cut mine.” Said Carter, laughing: “I knew Pete was in a bind financially and couldn’t afford to get a haircut, so I thought I’d help him out.”