PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : So You Were Stuck in Traffic? : Padres Will Delay Game for You

After drawing their smallest crowd of the season Wednesday night, the Padres delayed the start of Thursday’s game 15 minutes because of heavy Cap Day traffic.

What time is the game? What time can you get here?

Literally.

Padre players were not pleased.

“When they postponed the game, it really fouled up the players’ timing. That’s why we got beat today,” said Tony Gwynn, who wrapped his point in thinly veiled sarcasm. “We’d have won today if we played at 1:05 p.m. But somebody, I don’t know who, decided we give 15 extra minutes to the fans. It screwed our timing up. We had to be Good Samaritans and delay the game because there was so much traffic.

“Every time they give away something at the ballpark, you know there’s going to be a traffic jam.”

Which brings to mind tonight, when the Padres will hold Cap Night .

“So you fans, before you leave the house, realize it’s giveaway nite and leave 20 minutes early,” Gwynn said. The Padres also remain unhappy with the playing field. Several players have said it is too hard, but Fred McGriff said they have been attempting to soften it up during the past two days.

But, he said, it was so soft Wednesday night that he awoke Thursday with a sore left ankle.

“It’s fast,” McGriff said of the field. “It was bad last year, and it’s the same as last year, to me, with bad hops.” Benito Santiago extended his hitting streak to nine games. . . . Kurt Stillwell missed his second consecutive game with a dislocated finger on his right hand but said it was improved and he was available for emergency duty Thursday. . . . Expo outfielder Ivan Calderon was scratched right before game time with a strained rib muscle.