Padres Delight in Dodger Distress : Baseball: Looking anything like division leaders, Dodgers blunders contribute to 8-2 loss to Padres.

The Padres were laughing aloud Wednesday night, giggling over their conquest. Beating the Dodgers was a lot more fun than they envisioned.

The Padres swatted away the Dodgers, 8-2, in front of a crowd of 25,668 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, and wondered how the Dodgers can look so bad and still be in first place in the National League West.

The Dodgers, who never will be asked to put on a fielding clinic on their best night, anyway, looked like the Bad News Bears in this episode. They stranded seven baserunners and put suspense back in the routine ground ball, being charged with three errors. At least two more could have been called.

There was much for the Padres to celebrate:

Starter Andy Benes (14-10) won his 10th consecutive decision. It’s the longest winning streak in the National League since Dennis Martinez won 11 in a row in 1989, and only one shy of the Padres’ franchise record set in 1985.

They also got a kick out of Fred McGriff’s homer in the fourth inning, his 30th of the season. He became the first Padre since Dave Winfield in 1979 to hit 30 homers in a season, and now has reached that milestone in four consecutive seasons.

And the Padres chatted away about Padres catcher Benito Santiago’s three-run homer in the seventh inning, which not only put the game out of reach, but gave Santiago his career-high 82nd RBI.

But there was no moment more satisfying than the fourth inning.

Remember, the Padres still are incensed at Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, who last week criticized Padre third base coach Bruce Kimm. Lasorda apparently didn’t like the fact that Kimm held up Darrin Jackson from scoring against the Atlanta Braves, which eventually turned into a Brave victory.

This time, it was the Padres’ turn for the last laugh.

Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia set the stage by leading off the fourth with a triple. Juan Samuel struck out for the first out, and Mike Sharperson then followed with a lazy fly ball to right field.

Padre right fielder Jerald Clark camped under the ball, but still was in an awkward position for the throw home. No matter. The throw hit Santiago on one bounce. Santiago spun around and had time to tag out Scioscia.

“I wasn’t sure he was even going to try it,” Clark said, who had only two previous outfield assists. “It was kind of shallow. I guess they thought they had to take a chance.

“It sure helped us out, though, didn’t it?”

Said center fielder Jackson: “I was a little surprised too. I thought he was just going to fake it. Then, I thought, ‘Wow, there he goes.’ ”

So maybe this third base coaching gig isn’t so easy?

“It is kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Jackson said, laughing.

Lasorda was too busy trying to downplay his criticism of Kimm last week to talk about Clark’s play. He screamed at a reporter before the game, denying he would ever say such a thing. He later admitted he indeed had second-guessed Kimm’s move, as late as Tuesday, but his comments were supposed to be off the record.

He later apologized to Padre Manager Greg Riddoch for allowing his remarks to become public.

Lasorda’s apology only made it that much more of a joyous night for the Padres, who beat the Dodgers for the first time since July 4. Their victory prevented the Dodgers from gaining their biggest lead over the Braves since Aug. 21, leaving them 1 1/2 games ahead with nine games remaining.

The Dodgers could hear the snickering all the way to the parking lot.

“You get sick of hearing it all the time,” said Dodger outfielder Chris Gwynn, the younger brother of the Padres’ Tony Gwynn. “It’s like teams are waiting for us. We’ve heard all year how guys rested up just to play us. And teams have thrown so many lefties against us this year, it’s not even funny.

“Everybody wants to kick our butts. It’s like us against the world. Everywhere we go, it’s ‘Beat the Dodgers. Beat the damn Dodgers.’

“The worst, though, was when we got to Atlanta. We get off the plane, and the grounds crew is doing the tomahawk chop at us. We go, ‘Oh, man, it’s going to be a long weekend.’

“But really, it’s been like that all year. Outside of LA, I don’t know who’s pulling for us.”

Padre second baseman Tim Teufel, who played on the 1986 New York Mets’ World Series team, knows the feeling well.

“We heard everything that year,” Teufel said. “ ‘We’re cocky. We’re arrogant. Are they limping or pimping?’ I guess the key word was arrogance. We had a lot of confidence, and people mistook it for arrogance.

“Hey, Pittsburgh is doing the same thing, but you just don’t notice Pittsburgh’s limp as much.”

The way Benes was pitching, the Dodgers didn’t have a chance for any strutting, and not once did Lasorda hug anybody. After giving up a run-scoring single to Eddie Murray in the first inning, Benes allowed only one other baserunner to reach third during his seven-inning stint.

Dodger starter Bob Ojeda (11-9) really didn’t pitch that poorly during his 4 1/3 innings, but with the Dodgers reverting to their fielding antics, it looked like a three-ring circus from the outset.

“It was just something that happened,” Dodger shortstop Lenny Harris said. “We haven’t had one in a while, and we were due for one.”

Lasorda defended his infielders, saying: “The infield looked like a golf course with nothing but divots in it.”

Bip Roberts opened the comedy act in the first inning by grounding to second baseman Juan Samuel, only to have Samuel bobble the ball for his 17th error of the season. Jackson followed with a sharp single to left, setting the stage for the Dodgers’ next blunder.

Tony Fernandez hit a soft pop-up in shallow right field. First baseman Eddie Murray drifted back, appeared to have the ball, and then stuck his glove high into the air, and missed it. Everyone was safe, loading the bases.

McGriff then completed the show by hitting a grounder to Murray. He threw to Harris for the force at second base, but Harris’ relay throw wound up in the Padre dugout, allowing Jackson to score.

Ojeda prevented further damage by striking out Benito Santiago and inducing Teufel to hit a bouncer back to the mound.

In the fourth inning, Ojeda grooved a fastball to McGriff, who belted the pitch over the center-field fence for his 30th homer of the season.

But the Dodgers collapsed around Ojeda in the fifth.

Third baseman Mike Sharperson got into the act by allowing leadoff hitter Craig Shipley’s grounder to skip off his glove for an error. Benes followed with a bunt in front of the pitcher’s mound. Ojeda pounced on it and threw to second for the force, only to have Harris drop the ball.

Roberts then tried the same trick with another bunt. Ojeda went to third this time, and although his throw appeared late, third base umpire Eric Gregg ruled him out. The decision incited an argument from Riddoch, but Gregg wasn’t changing his mind.

No matter. Jackson made them pay the price with a single to center, scoring Shipley, and knocking Ojeda out of the game. Ojeda was left bouncing the baseball on the pitching rubber in frustration.

Kevin Gross, whose six victories in the second half leads the Dodgers, came in for damage control. He retired Fernandez on a bouncer to shortstop, and after an intentional walk to McGriff loaded the bases, he struck out Santiago on four pitches.

Still, the Padres ended the suspense with Santiago’s homer. Time will now tell just how costly the Dodgers’ defeat may prove to be.

“We can’t sit back and watch the other team,” Dodger right fielder Darryl Strawberry said. “We have to think about what we have to do.”