Padres Unable to Get Back at Dodgers : Baseball: Team upset about comments made by Lasorda. Padres officially knocked out of pennant race with 5-2 loss.

The Padre players discussed it among themselves Tuesday, becoming more and more agitated at the mere mention of Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda. The coaching staff privately talked about it, too, but was more discreet in revealing their scorn.

The Padres, hoping to take out vengeance on the Dodgers, instead were left angry at themselves, losing 5-2 to the Dodgers Tuesday in front of a partisan Dodger crowd of 19,169 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The outcome officially eliminated the Padres (77-75) from the National League West race, and allowed the Dodgers (88-64) to boost their division lead to two games over the Atlanta Braves, who were rained out.

Now, with that bit of inevitablity out of the way, the Padres would love nothing more than to trash the Dodgers’ playoff plans. They still have four games remaining with the Dodgers, and the Padres still have visions of being the ones who’ll help the Braves to the title.

Maybe they wouldn’t have cared so much a week ago if the Dodgers won the division. Those tomahawk chops were getting to be annoying, you know. But when Lasorda openly criticized Padre third base coach Bruce Kimm last week for not sending Darrin Jackson home on a play against the Braves, the Padres became irate.

It happened last Thursday when Kimm held up Jackson at third base instead of sending him home in the ninth inning on a single to left field. The Padres never scored, and they eventually lost the game, 4-2, in 10 innings.

It was a decision that was heavily debated in the Padre clubhouse, but what incensed the team was to read Lasorda’s comments a day later. Apparently, Lasorda watched the replay on ESPN, and criticized Kimm’s decision to a reporter, and Lasorda’s comments were published in San Diego.

The way the Padres figure it, it’s OK for them to second-guess the move, but for some other manager--particularly Lasorda--to make a comment was blasephemy.

“We’ve been talking about it,” Padre reliever John Costello said, “and we still can’t believe he said those things in the paper. That got all of us up.

“Hopefully, we’ll send a lot of guys home for Lasorda these next few games, and then we’ll see how he likes it.”

Said reliever Larry Andersen: “I think we’re all looking forward to this. Nobody wants to see managers popping off about other third-base coaches. If you say that stuff, it means you’ve never made a mistake before. You can’t tell me Tommy hasn’t cost them a game or two where he’s made decisions that cost them.

“Really, you just get so sick of the whole Dodger mystique. All you hear is, ‘The Dodgers do this. The Dodgers do that.’ It’s like the Dodgers think they’re better than everyone else.

“It’s just like a guy who comes in and thinks he’s the greatest player in the world. You’d like to see him fall.

“I think we’d all like to see these guys go down.”

The Padre coaching staff is as irritated as the players at Lasorda, but chose to remain quiet. If Lasorda wants to apologize, they’re willing to listen. But really, no matter what he says, they won’t conceal their disdain for him, openly pulling for the Braves.

“I don’t think you’ll find too many guys, if any, pulling for the Dodgers,” Teufel said. “It’s like everyone wants that Cinderella story. When the Dodgers got Brett Butler over the winter, and Straw (Darryl Strawberry), it was like they were supposed to win it with all the free agents they bought.

“The Braves, hey, they don’t bother anybody.”

Everyone in the Padre clubhouse, it seems, has their personal reasons for wanting to damage the Dodgers’ pennant hopes:

--Andersen still is perturbed that Lasorda acted as a cheerleader, inciting the fans, when Andersen last pitched in Los Angeles.

--Mike Maddux has a dislike for the organization for the way they treated him, eventually releasing him.

--Tony Gwynn still was talking Tuesday how he’ll never forget that Lasorda brought in left-hander John Candelaria to face him with two outs, and nobody on base in the ninth inning this season, as if to spite him.

Of course, the trouble with the Padres’ ill-will toward the Dodgers was that it led to even more bitter feelings after the game, upset at themselves for not knocking off the Dodgers.

The Dodgers took advantage of rookie Ricky Bones early, taking a 3-0 lead by knocking him around for five hits and three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

It hardly was the starter that the Braves would have liked to the Padres throw against the Dodgers, but if nothing else, at least Bones (4-5) has not shown favoritism in the pennant race. He was shelled for eight hits and five earned runs in 1 1/3 innings in his last start against the Braves.

The Padres came back with two runs in the fifth inning off Dodger starter Mike Morgan (14-9), and appeared they might make a game of it.

Teufel led off the fifth with a single to left, stole second, and scored on Thomas Howard’s run-scoring single. Howard then stole second, and after pinch-hitter Tom Lampkin moved him to third on a grounder, Howard scored on Bip Roberts’ groundout. Suddenly, the Padres had reduced the deficit to 3-2.

It would be the last the Padre offense would be seen again. Morgan retired the next 15 batters until issuing a leadoff walk to Tony Fernandez in the ninth inning. Candelaria came on to strike out Fred McGriff, and Roger McDowell induced a double-play grounder from Benito Santiago, ending the game.