Padres Want Clark, but This Night, Umpires Don’t

The Padre front office might cringe each time first baseman Jack Clark opens his mouth and wince every time he goes down with an injury, but club Chairman Tom Werner made it clear Tuesday that he will make every attempt to re-sign him.

Werner, who returned from his vacation in Bermuda only to read about Clark’s admonishment of ownership Friday over their initial contract offer, said Tuesday the outburst will have no effect on the Padres’ commitment to bring him back.

“It is not our style to negotiate with players in the press,” Werner said before the Padres’ 6-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, “but we very much would like to have Jack return next year.”

“We hope we can come to some fair resolution.”

Werner would not directly comment on Clark’s verbal attack on the organization--in which he criticized the Padres for their one-year, $2.5-million offer with a one-year club option at about $2.5 million--but he let it be known it has not soured his opinion of Clark.

Remember, this is this same guy who employs Roseanne Barr. If he can tolerate her antics, a little criticism from a ballplayer isn’t going to faze him.

Really, the only people who seem upset are the Padre fans, who for the second consecutive game booed Clark each time he was announced . . . although a crowd of 12,162 hardly makes it a deafening sound.

They booed him particularly after his fifth-inning strikeout, but in a matter of seconds, the noise was directed toward home-plate umpire Gary Darling.

After Clark struck out, he dropped his bat and started back to the dugout. He then flipped his helmet, which bounced off the feet of Giant catcher Terry Kennedy. And when Darling turned around, Clark fired his shin-guard onto the field. Darling threw him out while Clark had his back to him.

Clark, who had doubled and scored in the first, went back to the bench and sat down. First-base umpire Bruce Froemming walked over to the dugout and motioned to Clark to leave the bench.

Sorry, Clark said with a few choice words, he wasn’t moving.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch ran out to home plate, spoke his mind to Darling in the most-animated discussion he’s had with an umpire this season and walked back to the dugout. It was only then that Clark left, taking the Padre offense with him.

“I thought he could be fined for throwing his bat,” Riddoch said, “but not thrown out. We’ve got enough problems without worrying about the umpires.”

The Padres managed just two hits after Clark’s departure, and their 4-3 lead began to turn into another defeat when Giant third baseman Matt Williams tied it with a one-out, run-scoring single in the sixth. The Giants put it away in the seventh while perhaps justifying their Aug. 11 decision to release pitcher Atlee Hammaker.

The Giants lit into their former teammate when he entered the game in relief of Andy Benes. Shortstop Mike Benjamin greeted him with a triple to center, and pinch-hitter Bill Bathe homered off him two pitches later. The Giants actually had a chance to hit for the cycle in the inning after Mike Kingery’s single, but Will Clark struck out, leaving them without a double.

No matter. The Padres weren’t threatening any more anyway, losing for the ninth time in the past 11 games and reducing their magic number for mathematical elimination to 13.

This is why the Padre front-office already has their eye on next season, knowing that they’ve certainly got enough offensive woes without attempting to play a season without Clark’s bat.

It remains unknown just whether they’ll be able to re-sign Clark, who, with pending collusion damages, could be a second-look free agent at the end of the season. They’ve made their first offer, but Clark said with any more offers like that, he’d actually feel more respected if they just gave him the maximum 20% pay cut to $1.8 million.

“That’s why I don’t quite understand the fans’ reaction,” Clark said before Tuesday’s game. “I’m sure they look at it like, ‘Hey, here’s another greedy ballplayer.’

“But, hey, I wasn’t the one who brought up money. I’m not the one asking for a contract. I’m not the one saying how much I’m worth. Hell, I don’t even know what I’m worth. Maybe I’m not worth what I’m making now. Maybe nobody is. But they’re the ones who came to me, and I just wanted to let him know that I didn’t appreciate the offer.

“Come on, I can get more than that in arbitration. That didn’t make any sense. I’m not an idiot, and am not going to sign anything that just comes my way.

“I know what I sign for will affect other guys who sign behind me. If I sign for what they want, it will affect a lot of other guys, and other clubs will come in and try to sign their guys for low figures, too. That’s why I have to be careful.

“But I want everyone to know this is not a personal attack on the fans of San Diego or the city. I like it here, and I’d like to say here. It’s not like I came out and said, ‘If you don’t pay me, trade me. Play me or trade me.’

“But I tell you what, they could have had a hell of a deal if they had taken care of it earlier. By everyone dragging their feet, it’s just going to cost them that much more, especially after the collusion ruling came out.

“There shouldn’t be extensions and grace periods and this or that. Hey, this is the market. This is the player. Get it done, or don’t do it all.”

Padre Notes

The Padres, in a goodwill gesture, have called up catcher Tom Lampkin although he won’t be able to play in any games. Lampkin was optioned Aug. 22 to triple-A Las Vegas and told that he’d be back when the Padres expanded their roster Monday. Well, in Lampkin’s first game for Las Vegas, he suffered strained ligaments in his right thumb on a foul tip. Not only was Lampkin out for the season, but the injury was going to cost him 30 days of major league service time. In short, Lampkin was out $16,666 that he would normally receive. But the Padres surprised him, telephoning him and saying they were calling him up anyway, cast and all. Lampkin had the cast taken off Tuesday and went right to work in the bullpen, wearing a splint. “I really appreciate what they did for me,” said Lampkin, who’s expecting his first child in December. “I’ll do anything they want. The biggest thing I have to watch for is trying to do too much.” . . . Padre producer Steve Silverman was called in Tuesday by the front office to discuss his comment critical of Jack Clark on a private broadcast line that was picked by the Padre bench during Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies. The message sent to him was loud and clear: Keep your thoughts and comments to yourself. . . . The broadcasting department also is scrambling trying to explain the fiasco of sending Tim Flannery to Philadelphia for Saturday’s game, only to tell him he was not needed and sending him back home. Total cost of the miscommunication: $3,500. And you wonder why the new Padre ownership is evaluating every phase of the front office. . . . The Padres have hit just nine homers in the past 28 games, prompting outfielder Fred Lynn to say: “Gee, I remember one month with Baltimore (May, 1987) when we set a major league record with 57 homers.” . . . Although Padre outfielder Joe Carter is just one RBI behind Matt Williams of the Giants for the league lead, he certainly has had plenty more opportunities. Carter has been to the plate with 341 men on base this season, including 243 times with runners in scoring position; Williams has batted with 269 men on base, 180 in scoring position.