Clark Receives Suspension, Fine, Rips Umpiring : Baseball: His comments come before Dodgers beat Padres, 2-1, to give pitcher Ramon Maretinez his 20th victory.

Five days after Jack Clark picked up and threw first base after being ejected in San Francisco, the base made its final impact.

Clark received word Monday from National League President Bill White that he was being suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount. A little while later, the Padres lost to Los Angeles, 2-1, as Dodger right-hander Ramon Martinez won his 20th game of the season in front of 23,730 in Dodger Stadium.

Clark learned of the suspension six hours before Eddie Murray singled home pinch-runner Jose Offerman with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth against Padre starter Andy Benes (10-11). Clark said he hadn’t even heard what the fine was and he didn’t know if he would appeal White’s decision. If he decides not to appeal, the suspension will take place tonight.

“There are three games left,” he said before Monday’s game. “Who gives a . . . This game’s not over yet. I might get thrown out of this one before it’s over with.”

Clark started and lasted until he was removed for a pinch-runner in the ninth--but that came long after he lashed out at the current state of major league umpiring.

In a 30-minute discourse before the game, Clark criticized baseball’s younger umpires, saying, among other things, they are too quick with the thumb and some of them hold grudges. He didn’t name anyone--”I don’t even know their . . . names,” he said--but that didn’t stop a long critique.

“A lot of the umpiring has gone downhill a long ways over the years,” he said. “The quality isn’t there anymore. These young guys, their only recourse is, throw the guy out. Not just me, everybody. Just throw the guy out.

“Bill White should know as well as anybody the fans don’t pay to come and see umpires, especially rookie umpires. Arguments have been a part of the game for a long time--it’s part of the stuff that the fans come to see.

“I got thrown out the other day (and didn’t even) swear at the guy. You can’t even bring up anything anymore. It used to be if you swore, you were allowed to do it. We’re not just milk drinkers out there. We’re trying to beat the other guys, draw blood. When the game comes to the point where we’re supposed to be fair to the other team, that’s the time I don’t want any part of it. If you can’t get intense and get involved in the game and care about what happens to you personally because it affects your team. . . .”

One thing that has Clark irritated is that he has been ejected twice in St. Louis this season and once in San Francisco--both of which are teams Clark used to play for.

“Your intensity is (increased) quite a bit from what’s going on,” Clark said of playing against a former team. “The boos and everything are more intense. Some umpires don’t take anything into consideration. . . . They take (a confrontation) as a personal attack, and they want to show their power.”

Clark said he thinks some of the younger umpires are rushed into the majors too quickly.

“It’s obvious by the guys they toss out left and right in situations . . . early in the game,” he said. “They just change the course of (the game) for stupid, ridiculous reasons because they don’t want to have any confrontations. Well then don’t be an umpire. Be a Boy Scout, if that’s what you want to be. . . .

“If the league doesn’t take a harder look at that, there are going to be other confrontations on and off the field because guys are not going to put up with it.

“Young umpires want to bait guys into confrontations. They want to say they threw a Jose Canseco out . . . they want to say they threw a star player out. What do they get, a Brownie button when they do that? That’s the way they act.”

Three of Clark’s four ejections this season have been by the same crew. Just one of the four umpires who have ejected him has been a regular NL umpire for ore than two full seasons. Clark’s ejection last week in San Francisco was by Bill Hohn, who became a regular member of the NL umpiring staff in April, 1989. Clark’s other ejections this season were by Gerry Davis (July 19 at St. Louis), who has been a regular NL umpire since 1985; Jerry Layne (July 22 at St. Louis), who has been a regular NL umpire since 1989; and Gary Darling (Sept. 4 vs. San Francisco), who has been a regular NL umpire since 1988.

“I take each game individually,” Clark said. “If I get thrown out, I don’t carry it to the next day and hold a grudge. I just take it as the heat of the battle. They don’t. They stretch it out and make it World War III. That’s not quality umpiring.”

In the game, the Dodgers’ Martinez, 22, became the team’s youngest 20-game winner since 21-year-old Ralph Branca won 21 in 1947.

Martinez also finished with a 2.92 earned-run average, 223 strikeouts, a major-league best 12 complete games and won his last five decisions. Along the way he had an 18-strikeout game, pitched in the All-Star Game and was 13-0 against Western Division teams.

Padre Notes

In what will likely be his final game for San Diego, pitcher Eric Show will start Wednesday’s season finale and attempt to get his 100th career victory as a Padre. Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said he approached Show about starting in place of Bruce Hurst. . . . The good people of Greeley, Colo., where Riddoch lives and was as a substitute high school teacher in the off-season, must not be Padre fans. Riddoch said his wife, Linda, has received three calls so far this fall asking if Riddoch was available to teach that day. . . . Tonight’s game has been pushed back to a 7:30 start to accommodate ESPN. . . . The Dodgers announced that Tom Lasorda’s coaching staff will be retained for next season.