Padres’ Loss Exposes Benes’ Big Frustration : Baseball: Montreal hands slumping Padres fifth loss in six games, 4-1, and keeps right-hander winless.

Pitcher Andy Benes grabbed a beer Friday night after the Padres’ 4-1 defeat to the Montreal Expos, stalked across the clubhouse floor and tried to calm himself in the sanctuary of the trainers’ room.

He sat inside for perhaps 25 minutes before emerging. He walked to his locker. Put his head down. And stared at the floor.

Finally, when it was time to talk, Benes didn’t know know what to say. What could he say? So he said little.

“If I could say what I wanted to say,” Benes said, “you couldn’t put it in your paper, anyway.”

He then paused, glanced across the room and said: “It’s just frustrating. You wonder when it’s going to end. It’s the same (stuff) every time.”

For the 12th consecutive time, dating back to Aug. 24, 1990, Benes failed to win a game.

Five times he has started this season.

Five times the Padres have lost.

Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, even talked to Benes, trying to comfort him. He at least was able to induce a laugh.

Just what did McIlvaine say?

“He said we might have an Andy Benes Win Night on the next home stand,” Benes said.

It’s been that kind of season for Benes. The three runs he allowed in seven innings at Olympic Stadium were the most against him since his first start of the season. Take away his first start, and Benes has a 2.39 ERA in the past four games.

But if you want to know why he continues to lose, there’s no need to look any further than his run support. The Padres have scored four runs in 39 innings, and Benes furnished one of those runs himself when he hit a solo homer against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I know so much is being made of how many runs we’ve scored,” Benes said, “but hey, there’s nothing you can do about that. You got to turn it around sometime.

“Don’t you?”

Certainly, there’s been no signs of recent life from the Padres (12-11), who hit .183 in the past six games and generated only four hits off Expo starter Oil Can Boyd.

Boyd entered the game with a 0-3 record and 6.26 ERA, but he struck out seven and walked only two in seven innings against the Padres.

“He looked like Cy Young,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said. “He just deals against us. We can’t do anything against that guy.”

Against the Padres, Boyd is 3-1 and has 1.46 ERA in five career starts, but the Padres thought they were going to knock him out of the game early on this night.

“I really thought we’d get to him,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “The way we started, I thought, ‘We’re going to score, and we’ll get that guy out of there by the fifth inning.’

“It shows you how much I know.”

Bip Roberts led off the game with a walk, stole second base and reached third on catcher Ron Hassey’s throwing error. Tony Fernandez, Tony Gwynn and Fred McGriff had yet to take their cuts.

But Fernandez, in a one-for-26 slump (.038), popped up to short center field for the first out. It looked to be inconsequential when Tony Gwynn--in a two-for-17 (.118) skid--followed with a fly to medium-depth right field.

“I thought it was deep enough to score Bip,” Gwynn said. “I started running down to first, and I realize, ‘Hey, this might not be deep enough. It was going to be a close play.’ ”

Evidently, so did Roberts. Roberts, who said his view was blocked by third baseman Tim Wallach, tagged up and took off. He got halfway to home when he realized the ball was going to be awaiting him.

“I stopped because it was just a feeling you get, that you know you’re going to be out,” Roberts said. “And I had that feeling all the way down. I should have been smarter and read it myself.”

By the time Roberts turned around and headed back to third, Hassey had thrown the ball to Wallach, who tagged him out.

“When I saw where (right fielder Marquis Grissom) caught it,” Gwynn said, “I said, ‘Oh no, he’s not going to make it.’ So I thought Bip made the right play myself. I don’t think Bip would have made it.”

Bruce Kimm, Padre third base coach said: “Actually, it was my fault. I screwed up. I was just trying to be aggressive.”

Still, when McGriff led off the second inning with a homer to center, and Benito Santiago was on third and Paul Faries on second with only one out, the Padres looked as if they would be able to shrug off the play. But Shawn Abner, who’s hitless in 18 at-bats, struck out. Benes grounded out.

Little did the Padres realize they would get only one hit the rest of the night. In fact, if not for Grissom’s error on Roberts’ fly ball in the eighth inning, the last 17 batters would have gone down in order.

It was a crazy night all around. Gwynn, a four-time Gold Glove winner, dropped Dave Martinez’ fly ball in the sixth inning, leading to a run. Expo left fielder Ivan Calderon, who weighs 225 pounds, went from first to third on an infield grounder. Mike Aldrete, returning to his former home, went 0 for 3, and still doesn’t have a hit this season. Hassey stole second base when no one was covering, only his 14th stolen base in 14 years.

And you wonder why Riddoch was having his heart and blood pressure checked after the game?

“I got dizzy before the game,” said Riddoch, who takes medication for an irregular heartbeat. “I thought I was going to black out. I just had one of those spells, so I figured I better have someone check me out.

“I think I’ll be all right.”

The Padres, who have lost five of their past six games, might be a different story. They also learned that left fielder Jerald Clark’s strained calf might sideline him the rest of the trip. When you’ve scored more than four runs once in the past eight games, you hardly can afford to take the top RBI leader from the lineup.

“It can’t get any worse,” Roberts said.

Can it?