Padres Aren’t Quite Ready to Make Plans for Funeral

Kevin Towers, the San Diego Padre general manager, was dressed to kill, wearing a black, double breasted suit as he arrived in the Bronx on Sunday night.

“New?” someone asked.

“No,” said Towers. “My funeral suit.”

Funeral suit?

“The Yankees’ funeral,” Towers quickly added, correcting the impression that he may have thought his Padres were dead after only one World Series game.

No way, of course, but after two?

Well, the Padres now appear to be on life support.

They got only 2 2/3 innings from starting pitcher Andy Ashby on Sunday night, were frustrated by the magic of Orlando Hernandez through seven, saw their bullpen continue to struggle some and were ultimately embarrassed by the Yankees, 9-3, to leave New York 0-2 in the best-of-seven event.

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Sterling Hitchcock, who has defeated three Cy Young award winners (Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine) in October, will have to beat a fourth (David Cone) Tuesday night in San Diego or the hearses will be at the gate in anticipation of a Yankee sweep.

“It ain’t going to be easy,” Tony Gwynn said of the task ahead, “but this is the time of year miracles can happen, especially if you make them happen.

“We’re going to have to go home and see if we can find a way to do what we want to do. Right now the Yankees are doing what they want to do. Right now it doesn’t look good from our standpoint. You give up nine runs in each of the first two games of the World Series, it’s kind of hard to expect to win. We’ve really just got our butt kicked is all.”

It happened late in Game 1 and it happened early in Game 2.

In his 2 2/3 innings, Ashby gave up 10 hits and seven runs--the three in the first all unearned, the result of a Ken Caminiti throwing error.

“I’m very frustrated and disappointed,” the 17-game winner said with a hoarse voice later, insisting that the onset of laryngitis (“I think it was the result of all the yelling I’ve done in the last week”) did not impact his performance.

“I couldn’t have asked to feel any better,” Ashby said, “which makes it even more frustrating. I just didn’t pitch good. I was overthrowing my cutter and behind in the count. I didn’t have a chance to mix in breaking pitches or get in any sequence or rhythm.”

Neither, he added, was he able to deliver the pitch that might have got him out of the first without damage after the Caminiti error.

“He’s made unbelievable plays behind me, but I wasn’t able to do what I needed to do for him,” Ashby said.

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Three in the first and three in the second and the Yankees had a lock on their 122nd victory.

El Duque came from different angles with different speeds, giving up six hits and one run in seven innings.

How good was he?

“Well, other then having an 8-0 lead,” said Gwynn, who didn’t finish a thought that Caminiti seemed to as he said:

“He’s good. He changes speed and changes location. You’ve got to be on your game, but he’s hittable.”

The problem is, a Padre pitching staff that outpitched the vaunted Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros has also been hittable. In the first 14 innings of the first two games of this Series, games started by aces Kevin Brown and Ashby, the Padres gave up 18 runs.

Brown, pitching with a sinus infection, was undone by the bullpen. Relievers Brian Boehringer (he gave up a two-run homer to Jorge Posada), Donne Wall (he walked three in 2 2/3 innings) and Dan Miceli (he worked out of a bases loaded situation of his own making) were unsteady in Game 2 as well, but the damage was done early.

“We haven’t done a real good job of commanding the inside part of the plate, then going away,” pitching coach Dave Stewart said. “We’re giving the Yankees some comfortable at-bats. I still think we can pitch with the Yankees as we did against the Braves, but I’m disappointed we haven’t. We haven’t pitched back to back games like this all year. We have to make adjustments and don’t have much time to do it, but I’m confident we’ll come back a different staff Tuesday. We have to be aggressive. We have to pitch inside.”

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The Yankees led the American League in runs, walks and on-base percentage. They can undo any pitching staff and stretch the patience of any pitching staff with their own patience.

“The one thing that sticks out is how selective they are and how they work the count to their advantage,” said Towers. “You think of the Bronx Bombers and you expect them to bomb, but they’re not free swingers at all.

“You’ve got to battle. You’ve got to work your tail off to get them out, and that can be mentally draining.

“How many 1-2-3 outs have we gotten? You’re throwing five, six, seven pitches to every hitter.

“I still think our pitchers match up to theirs, but I’ve never seen a more patient team and you don’t expect that in the American League, where every team tends to swing from the heels. I’d have to say they’re as good as advertised.”

The result is, it’s the Padres on their heels, down a little, Caminiti acknowledged in a clubhouse devoid of the usual music.

“We’ve got our work cut out, but the change in atmosphere will be good,” the third baseman said of the return to San Diego. “I’ve learned never to say never with this team, and I’ll never say never about any team I’m on. If I didn’t think we had a chance I’d quit.”

The Padres have a chance, but Kevin Towers might want to keep his funeral suit handy.