Padres Fail To Laugh Away Loss : Baseball: Phillies’ 4-3 victory in 12 innings takes gives Padres something to consider on swing through NL East.

The Padres have been able to look the other way when going to their bullpen. They’ve been able to shake their heads and laugh it off when their relievers have stumbled.

When you win games the way the Padres have, one can afford such delicacies.

But Saturday night, after the Padres blew two late-inning leads, resulting in an excruciating 4-3 defeat in 12 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, the laughter stopped.

The Padres, a club source said, will announce today the recall of Derek Lilliquist, a left-handed starter/reliever, and Steve Rosenberg, a left-handed reliever, from their triple-A Las Vegas team.

They decided earlier in the day that starter Greg Harris would be placed on the disabled list with anconeus tendinitis in his right elbow. Although the Padres said they would wait until today to determine his replacement, they already have decided that Lilliquist will take his place.

Lilliquist, 3-3 with a 4.33 ERA last season, is expected to join the team today here and start Tuesday night against the New York Mets. After his scheduled start, he likely will be put into the bullpen.

Rosenberg, acquired in the final week of spring training from the Chicago White Sox, will be used strictly as a reliever. To make room for him, the Padres are expected to place lefty Pat Clements on the disabled list. Clements, who has a stiff back, did not pitch Saturday night.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch would not confirm the moves, saying only: “I don’t have the faintest idea what we’ll do.”

Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, did not attend the game and was unavailable for comment.

The Padres were within one strike from winning the game in the ninth inning for a 2-1 victory, only to have Wally Backman hit a two-out, 1-2 pitch for an infield single off Larry Andersen, tying the game.

The Padres took a 3-2 lead in the 12th inning on Paul Faries’ single, the first RBI by a Padre third baseman in 68 at-bats. The Phillies tied the game off reliever Mike Maddux on John Kruk’s single with one out, and won it on Rod Booker’s run-scoring single, with Von Hayes sliding in just ahead of catcher Benito Santiago’s tag.

“These are the tough ones to lose,” Riddoch said. “We thought we had the thing won twice.”

The Padres, taking the lead in the top of the ninth on Benito Santiago’s bouncer in front of the plate, appeared to be all set to wrap up their 12th victory in 18 games in front of the crowd of 20,334.

Craig Lefferts, the Padres’ bullpen stopper who allowed a leadoff single to Dale Murphy, had two outs and pinch-runner Rod Booker on third when Riddoch came to the mound. Lefferts was expecting Riddoch to decide whether he wanted him to pitch to right-handed hitter Dickie Thon, or pitch around him and face left-handed hitter Mickey Morandini.

It was neither.

Riddoch was asking for the ball.

“I wasn’t thinking about coming out of there, that’s for sure,” Lefferts said. “That’s the first time that ever happened to me.”

Was he upset?

“Hey, my job is just to throw the ball,” he said. “The rest is Greg’s decision.”

Just why did Lefferts come out of the game?

“Lefty wasn’t popping the ball like we thought he should,” Riddoch said. “That’s why we went with Larry. You want to go with your best in that situation.”

Said Lefferts: “Hey, I thought I had my usual pop. Maybe he thought that because I only threw one fastball.”

Andersen, who was a bit surprised at the decision, began throwing his warmup pitches when he noticed something irritating--switch-hitter Wally Backman. Not only is Backman a much better hitter facing right-handed pitchers, batting .303 against right handers compared to .194 against lefties last season, but he owns a career .500 batting average (seven for 14) against Andersen.

“That guy always wears me out,” Andersen said.

Still, Andersen was able to get ahead of Backman on a 1-and-2 count, and then attempted to throw a slider down and on the inside part of the plate. Instead the ball was left up over the plate.

Backman slapped at the ball, and when he hit it, Andersen thought the game was over. Then he looked back in disbelief. He thought second baseman Bip Roberts was playing up the middle, but instead, he was in his usual position. Roberts dove for the ball, but had no chance to make a play, bouncing the ball in frustration as Booker came across with the tying run.

“If I move Bip two steps up the middle, like I should have,” Andersen said, “it’s a one-hopper and the game’s over. But I forgot to move Bip. I forgot to check to see where Bip was playing.

“Chalk it up to senility, but it really chaps my (rear end) that I forgot. We should have had that game.”

The Padres also blamed themselves for being humbled offensively, particularly considering they were facing a starting pitcher who had not thrown a pitch in the major leagues since Aug. 6, 1988. They were facing Danny Cox, who underwent Tommy John surgery March 31, 1989, in which he had a ligament transplant in his right elbow, and spent the past 32 months in rehabilitation.

The way he looked, he could have been mistaken for Roger Clemens. Cox allowed only three hits and one run in seven innings, with the only mistake he made being to Padre starter Andy Benes.

Benes, who allowed only four hits and one run in four innings, might have been the losing pitcher if not for his 361-foot home run in the third inning. It was his second career homer, each occurring against the Phillies. His first homer was Sept. 3, 1989, against Dennis Cook of the Phillies.

Benes has gone 11 starts without a victory.

“I guess it was just one of those games,” he said. “I’d just like to be involved in a game that we win sometime.”