Pitching Deserts the Padres : Baseball: Eiland joins ranks of troubled starters, getting battered by St. Louis in the Cardinals’ 7-1 victory. Padres finish home stand 6-7 despite a .290 average and solid bullpen work.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch has this little joke. With pitcher Dave Eiland’s back miseries this season, whenever somebody asks, “How’s Eiland?” Riddoch often replies, “Unto himself.”

Island unto himself. Get it?

Well, Eiland was unto himself in the Padre clubhouse before the end of the second inning Sunday afternoon. The Padres were routed by St. Louis, 7-1, in a game that was finished nearly before the relievers’ pregame walk to the bullpen.

More back spasms for Eiland? Nope.

Baseball spasms. The baseball convulsed its way all over the field on nearly every pitch Eiland threw.

“Just one of those days, you know?” said Eiland, who added that his back was fine. “It seemed like I would make a good pitch and they would hit it, not very hard, but it would find a hole.”

Not very hard? If you call everything other than a home run not very hard, maybe . . .

He faced 15 hitters, and seven scored. He allowed nine hits--a triple, three doubles and five singles--and walked one.

After only 1 2/3 innings, his earned-run average nearly doubled, from 3.86 to 7.00.

Eiland (0-2) was hit so hard and gone so quickly that the Padres barely had time to survey the damages.

“He was leaving balls up,” Riddoch said.

“I was getting some up,” Eiland said.

“Oh, no, a few times he had (them) down,” pitching coach Mike Roarke said.

Oh.

By the time the Padres batted in the first, they trailed, 4-0.

By the time they batted in the second, they were behind, 7-0.

And this was against a Cardinal team that was resting its fourth and fifth hitters--third baseman Todd Zeile and first baseman Pedro Guerrero. It was also against a Cardinal team that arrived in San Diego with seven players on the disabled list--including first baseman Andres Galarraga and second baseman Jose Oquendo.

Basically, the only Cardinal regular playing in the infield Sunday was shortstop Ozzie Smith.

And they treated Eiland as if they have faced better in batting practice. Center fielder Ray Lankford and right fielder Felix Jose each went 3 for 5. Smith, first baseman Gerald Perry and third baseman Craig Wilson had two hits apiece.

Two runs would have been enough in front of 15,739 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, because Cardinal starter Bob Tewksbury (3-0) shut down the Padres on only six hits. Other than a Fred McGriff home run, Tewksbury’s mistakes went unnoticed and the 31-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 1.46--third best in the NL.

Riddoch didn’t say anything about Eiland being unto himself after the game. He wasn’t in a joking mood, and you couldn’t blame him. The Padre pitching staff is in tatters.

While the relievers have, for the most part, pitched well, they have been used much more than the Padres had planned. During Sunday’s pasting, Eiland faced 12 batters and the Padres were in a 5-0 hole before Riddoch had anybody warming up in the bullpen.

“We’re taxed,” Riddoch said. “That’s why we tried to stay with (Eiland) a little bit longer.”

Said Roarke: “We didn’t want to be down there in the bullpen in the second inning. As a result, they got about three more runs.”

Jose Melendez was unavailable, having pitched three innings Saturday night. Larry Andersen, who has a bruised forearm and has not pitched since April 27, is still unavailable. That left Pat Clements, Mike Maddux, Rich Rodriguez and Randy Myers as Riddoch’s only options.

Clements, Rodriguez and Maddux were summoned, and they combined to do what Eiland couldn’t: shut out the Cardinals on three hits in the final 7 1/3 innings.

“Look, we really haven’t had real good pitching from any of our starters, except for (Greg) Harris, the last turn around,” Roarke said. “Andy (Benes) had two bad games, (Bruce) Hurst had two where we got behind early. . . .”

In their past four games, no Padre starter has lasted more than six innings. And nobody has gone more than six innings in six of the Padres’ past seven games.

Eiland has been especially guilty, averaging fewer than four innings per start. He had to leave two starts early--April 10 and 21--because of back spasms.

He has pitched only 18 innings in his five starts, lasting fewer than two innings in two of the starts and failing to make it past 5 2/3 innings in any start. In his 18 innings, he has allowed 28 hits.

Relievers Rodriguez (24 2/3) and Melendez (23 2/3) have pitched more innings than Eiland.

“If we can stay healthy, I think it will help us in the long run with consistency,” Rodriguez said. “The bullpen has been put in every situation possible in the last month, and I think we’ve handled it well. . . .

“Our job in the bullpen is to pitch. We help the starting pitcher as best we can. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We don’t sit and say, ‘Oh no, we hope this guy goes nine tonight.’ That’s not what we’re getting paid for.

“We assume the responsibility and we welcome it.”

But for now, one tired staff is welcoming two off days this week--one today and one Thursday.

The Padres batted .290 during their longest home stand of the season and yet went only 6-7. If they don’t get some pitching soon, they will be spending the rest of the season toward the bottom of the NL West, in a position in which island people have found themselves in the past.

Marooned.