Harris’ Rough Outing Adds to Padre Woes : Baseball: Unexpected pitching problems besiege team, compounding concerns about the offense. McIlvaine seeking to make a trade.

For Padre pitcher Greg Harris, the explanations were as scarce as outs.

Harris gave up 10 runs and nine hits in only one inning Wednesday in the Padres’ 10-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants. It was the kind of performance that can be as devastating to the psyche as it is to the earned-run average.

“There’s not a whole lot I can say,” Harris said, “not a word. It was the worst outing of my life. It was terrible. It was hard to swallow. I got embarrassed out there.

“Sometimes it’s good to get humiliated, and have a little humbleness set in. But I don’t take this lightly. It hurts. It hurts real bad.”

Harris, who’s expected to be integral in the Padre rotation, has lost all three games he has started this spring. He has allowed 16 hits in seven innings. His ERA has ballooned to 18.00.

If Harris was the only starter struggling, the Padres might be be concerned. But Bruce Hurst is winless with a 5.73 ERA. Ed Whitson is in Columbus, Ohio, awaiting tests on his strained right elbow. Andy Benes has pitched only one inning because of recent surgery. And Ricky Bones might be traded.

It’s possible that two spots in the Padre rotation will be filled by either Jose Melendez or nonroster invitees Mark Knudson or Dave Eiland.

And pitching is supposed to be the strength of this Padre team?

“If you look at it from afar,” Harris said, “there aren’t any positive signs right now.”

Indeed, with only 19 days remaining before opening day in Cincinnati, the Padres aren’t exactly feeling cocky. Or even confident.

“Things haven’t gone as planned,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “We didn’t foresee some of the problems that have emerged.

“We thought we had four veterans and a rookie in our rotation. Now, we have two veterans and a whole lot of question marks. It’s a difficult situation.”

The Padres, who left the Phoenix area after Wednesday’s game and will resume the second half of their spring in Yuma beginning Friday, have won only three of 13 exhibition games. There have been no signs this team will exceed preseason expectations of fourth or fifth place.

It is no wonder, then, that Padre General Manager Joe McIlvaine has been working the phones the past 10 days, determined to make at least one major trade before the season opens.

McIlvaine’s target still is third baseman Gary Sheffield of the Milwaukee Brewers, but he’s waiting for the Brewers to become realistic before a deal can be consummated. The Brewers are asking for starter Ricky Bones, infield prospects Jose Valentin and Luis Lopez and outfield prospect Matt Mieske. The Padres are willing to give up Bones and one of the prospects, sources said, but won’t allow their farm system to be pillaged.

Meanwhile, the Padres continue to shop reliever Craig Lefferts. Several teams have made inquiries, McIlvaine said, but no concrete proposals have been offered.

Catcher Benito Santiago, who also is on the block, will start the season in San Diego. The Toronto Blue Jays have expressed interest, but sources within both organizations were pessimistic a deal can be made.

Other Padres have attracted interest. Outfielder Thomas Howard, who probably will start the season on the bench, could be gone before opening day. Catcher Tom Lampkin also might be traded simply because the Padres prefer to have Dann Bilardello as their backup, and Lampkin would have to pass through waivers before being sent down to triple-A Las Vegas.

“Sometimes,” McIlvaine said, “your decisions may be made by other teams.”

The Padres, however, have resolved many key personnel decisions.

If their season were to open today, their 25-man roster would look like this:

Infield starters: Fred McGriff, first base; Kurt Stillwell, second base; Tony Fernandez, shortstop; Craig Worthington, third base. Bench: Tim Teufel and Craig Shipley.

Outfield starters: Tony Gwynn, right field; Darrin Jackson, center field; Jerald Clark, left field. Bench: Howard, Oscar Azocar and Kevin Ward.

Catchers: Santiago and Bilardello.

Starting rotation: Hurst, Harris, Benes, Bones and Melendez or Knudson.

Bullpen: Randy Myers, Larry Andersen, Lefferts, Mike Maddux, Rich Rodriguez and Melendez or Knudson.

In left field, Clark probably will get the nod over Howard because the Padres need more power in their lineup to be competitive.

“I really hope Jerald comes through,” McIlvaine said, “because we need Jerald. Jerald is one of the key players. Our people think he can hit between 15 and 20 homers, and drive in 70 to 80 runs. We need that extra power source.”

Clark is hitting .308 this spring and leads the team with three homers and five RBIs, but Howard also has been impressive. He is hitting .348 in eight spring-training games. Yet Howard still looks uncomfortable in center and might have to be used strictly in left field.

Perhaps, with Stillwell proving he can be at least adequate at second base, the most nagging concern is third baseman Craig Worthington. He has come exactly as advertised: great glove, weak stick. Worthington is batting only .136 in 10 games this spring, with no extra-base hits.

“Defensively, he has few peers,” McIlvaine said, “but he needs some work with his bat. I’m convinced he can still hit. I think it’s in there. He just hasn’t shown it yet.”

For the rest of spring training, at least, the Padres can address their problems in Yuma.

“It’s like we’re a semi-pro team in Phoenix,” McIlvaine said. “We have no field. No clubhouse. No offices.

“I was even calling clubs the other day on a public pay phone.”

The Padres today are expected to receive the results of Whitson’s magnetic resonance imaging test today, which should indicate how long Whitson will remain on the disabled list.

Even if the results are negative, the Padres will scramble the next three weeks to find a capable starter. They’ve already decided to convert Melendez into a starter; he has allowed five hits without a run in seven innings this spring.

“I really don’t believe it’s going to be a lingering thing with Whitson,” McIlvaine said. “From all the reports we have, we just don’t think it’s going to be that serious. We’re just going to have to improvise.”