Padres’ Win Upstaged by Clark Crisis

Padre management met privately Sunday morning and addressed the future of first baseman Jack Clark, and just as that discussion concluded, Clark himself was summoned for a 55-minute, closed-door meeting.

There might have been minimal suspense Sunday afternoon at Veterans Stadium during the Padres’ 9-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, but if you wanted tension and anxiety, the Padre clubhouse was the place to be before the game.

By the time Clark’s day finally ended, he had a heart-to-heart talk with Manager Greg Riddoch; his uniform jersey was stolen; he hit his 21st home run; he was informed, through reporters, that the Padres will continue contract negotiations; he notified the Padres, through reporters, not to bother.

“It’s the starting point,” Clark said, “and it’s the finishing point.”

And you laughed when W.C. Fields put on his tombstone, “I’d rather be here than in Philadelphia.”

The Padres concluded another zany trip Sunday by ending their five-game losing streak--and scoring just one fewer run in the second inning (five) than they had in their previous five games combined.

It was that kind of day for the Padres, whose curiosity was raised the moment Jack McKeon, Padre vice president/baseball operations, walked through the clubhouse door Sunday morning with assistant Bill Beck, to meet privately with Riddoch.

The door then opened, and before anyone anyone could say a word, Riddoch hailed Clark.

It didn’t open again until 55 minutes later, and when Clark emerged just before game-time, neither he nor Riddoch would discuss their conversation.

Sources said McKeon and Riddoch, among other things, talked about Clark’s future in the organization and the possibility of trading him after he rejected an offer of a one-year contract of about $2.5 million along with an option year.

The Padres want him back, they say, but after Clark berated the organization Friday, well, the decision might not be left up to Riddoch and McKeon.

Ostensibly, Riddoch called Clark into his office to find out whether Clark wants to stay with the Padres--and whether he could temper his frustration by keeping a few thoughts to himself.

Although Clark says he still would like to stay with the Padres, he has a dim view of the handling of his contract situation and the general Padres’ woes.

“It’s been a good season in a way,” Clark said, “but in a lot of ways, it’s been a disaster.”

Of course, much of the same can be said about the Padres’ season. And if Clark is traded or departs via second-look free agency, Riddoch isn’t sure if 1991 might be more of the same.

“It’d be hard to find a guy like that,” Riddoch said, “and if there are guys like that, they’re not available. You start looking at other organizations, and they’re just not there.”

Clark might have missed 44 games and 51 starts this season, but he still has 21 homers, tying for the team lead, owns the fourth-highest RBI total at 52 and dwarfs everyone with his .555 slugging percentage and .429 on-base percentage.

“That’s the thing,” Riddoch said. “He can do in half a season what most guys do in a whole season. How do you replace that?”

That is a concern for a team that scored 15 runs and batted .204 in the first nine games of the road trip. The drought ended abruptly Sunday.

The Padres scored five runs in the second inning--albeit all unearned on three Phillie errors--added two more in the fifth inning on RBIs from Shawn Abner and starting pitcher Ed Whitson himself. A two-run homer by Clark in the seventh finished it.

“I didn’t hardly even see that second inning,” said Whitson, 12-7 with a league-leading 2.31 ERA, “because I was so woozy with that heat. It was the hottest game of the year for me. But you know, I don’t care if it’s 200 degrees out there, or how ugly or pretty it is, I’ll take the runs.”

In Whitson’s past three outings, the Padres have outscored the opposition, 20-2, giving him three consecutive victories in as many starts for the first time this season.

It also was a momentous day for Padre left fielder Joe Carter, who attained the 1,000th hit of his career with a fifth-inning double off Jose DeJesus. Ironically, it occurred at the site where he obtained his first, a single off Steve Carlton.

Carter, who took 12 games and 13 days to get his past five hits, actually appeared to hit his 1,000th in the second inning with an infield grounder that DeJesus threw away, but it was ruled an error.

“I’m kind of glad that wasn’t it,” Carter said. “I didn’t want to see a broken-bat, 13-hopper that went eight feet be the one. Guys were telling me I would have had to keep the bat, which broke in eight pieces, than the ball. . . .

“Really, I’m just glad to get it out of the way, to tell you the truth. I was putting too much pressure on myself. Now, I don’t have to worry about anything else.”

The Padre front-office wishes it could be so fortunate.

Padre Notes

Padre catcher Benito Santiago, who suffered a fractured left forearm June 14 when San Francisco Giant pitcher Jeff Brantley hit him with an 0-2 inside fastball, says there will be no acts of vengeance when he sees him again tonight. “There was a time I hated him,” Santiago said, “but I realize that’s baseball. I want to forget about it and just play baseball.” So is there any plan of action if Santiago does face Brantley again? “Take him deep,” he said. . . . Jack Clark, on the thefts of his uniform and Fred Lynn’s: “Somebody’s got 600 homers worth of jerseys.” . . . Padre outfielder Shawn Abner was fined $100 by Manager Greg Riddoch for uttering obscenities at a group of fans above the Padre dugout during the second game of their doubleheader Saturday against the Phillies. “I just lost my cool,” said Abner, who was hitless in four at-bats. “I was frustrated, and I let them get to me.” . . . Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn conceded the batting title race Sunday, saying it now belongs to either Lenny Dykstra of the Phillies or Willie McGee, who was traded to Oakland from St. Louis, but has enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Gwynn is hitting .312, and even if he batted .400 the rest of the season (obtaining 48 hits in 120 at-bats), he still would finish with a .329 batting average--trailing McGee’s .335 and Dykstra’s .341.