Padres Can’t Take Advantage of the Chances

SAN DIEGO â€”  The good people of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, when they are bored, have this habit of tossing around beach balls. Monday night, they were bored. So many beach balls were tossed.

So when is one of the Padres finally going to break down and ask, could they please pass one of those beach balls across home plate? When the Padres are batting? With runners in scoring position? Please?

When it counted, the Padre hitters couldn’t do a thing with the tiny regulation white ones again Monday, blowing scoring opportunities like unsettled basketball teams blow layups, losing 5-2 to the Chicago Cubs in front of 22,296.

The Padres led off one inning with a walk to their pitcher , Jimmy Jones, and couldn’t score. Another inning, they loaded the bases after one out and couldn’t score. They put their first four runners on in the first inning--and could only score twice.

In the first eight innings, 16 Padres reached base. Only two scored. In five of those innings, a runner was stranded in scoring position. Is there a record for most tying runs at the plate without that team tying the game? The team that is last in the National League in RBI (53) has remained there.

In the 10 games of this 12-game home stand, of which the Padres have won five, they have averaged 2.8 runs per game. Of their five victories, three were shutouts. With their 13 men stranded Monday, a season high, they have left 47 in their last five contests (9.4 per game). And most of this Friday was against a fellow named Jamie Moyer. Last season, in three starts against the Padres, Moyer lasted a total of 14 innings, being pounded to the tune of an run per inning (9.00 earned-run average). This time they kicked him around for seven hits and six walks in his six innings. But every time they nudged him near the edge, they found sympathy.

Sometimes it was forced by good pitching from Moyer, who entered the game with a 5.09 ERA. But other times it was, well, a little ridiculous.

“Every day I think we’re gonna come out of it,� Padre Manager Larry Bowa said. “You can’t teach killer instinct. A good team will put other teams away.�

And how to get a killer instinct?

“You get the stuff kicked out of you for so long you finally get mad,� he said. “This team kicked the stuff out of us last year (9 victories in 12 games) and here they are starting all over again. I’m wondering when somebody’s going to finally get mad.�

The worst of it was the third, when, with one out, Benito Santiago singled, Chris Brown singled and Shawn Abner walked. But Garry Templeton, who entered the game 4 for 9 lifetime against Moyer, harmlessly popped to first. That brought up pitcher Jones, who had retired seven straight batters at that time and deserved to stay in. He hit a harmless grounder to third to end it.

Once Moyer left, the Padres couldn’t score against the trio of Les Lancaster, Frank DiPino and Goose Gossage. The Padres’ leadoff man reached base in seventh and eighth innings, only to be stopped each time. In the seventh, Santiago’s double-play grounder and pinch-hitter Marvell Wynne’s foul out killed chances. In the eighth, after Templeton led off with a single, three straight good hitters (Randy Ready, Tony Gwynn and Roberto Alomar) were retired.

Gossage came on with one out on the ninth, allowed a single by Keith Moreland, but to the delight of his old fans who were chanting “Gooose,� retired Santiago on a strikeout and Brown on a lineout to end the game.

All of which made a shaky appearance by Jones--four runs in his four innings--enough to drop him to 2-3.

Shortly after Jones had allowed two first-inning runs on a homer by Andre Dawson, he knew even two might be too many.

For the second time in five days, their first four Padre batters of the game got hits. But just as in last week’s 6-4 loss to St. Louis, all of those baserunners could only amount to two runs.

Gwynn led off with a single up the middle. Alomar followed with a walk. John Kruk followed with a drive to right, another single, which scored Gwynn and moved Alomar to second. Moreland followed with a drive to left to score Alomar, only his second RBI in the last 17 games after four in the season’s first week.

Moreland took second on a late throw to third from Rafael Palmiero as he tried to get Kruk. Runners on second and third, none out. But then everything stopped. Santiago grounded out. After Brown was intentionally walked, Abner struck out swinging on a 1-and-2 pitch that was so outside, it was nearly in the Padre dugout. Then Templeton hit an easy grounder to shortstop Shawon Dunston to end it.

Padre Notes

When Padre Manager Larry Bowa heard the news that colleague and friend Pete Rose had been suspended for 30 days from Cincinnati for bumping umpire Dave Pallone, he reacted like any good manager. “That’s a joke,� Bowa said. “Pete was wrong as far as pushing an umpire was concerned, but a lot of times, an umpire is walking toward you at the same time you are walking toward him, and that causes a bump.� . . . Bowa also said the league’s current method of handling umpire complaints is unfair. “You have to live with a suspension, because the league president hands it down, but the league never gets the manager’s side of the story. They get an umpire’s report and that’s it. Sometimes umpires tell different stories from what is actually said, sometimes they fabricate stories. And the manager doesn’t get a chance to defend himself. The only chance he gets is to appeal, but how many appeals have worked?� . . . Bowa also thought the suspension was too long. “They could have made their point with 10 days or five days.� . . . Chub Feeney, Padre president and former National League president, disagreed with Bowa’s assessment. “The league president sees lots of film on incidents, and then the manager has every right to appeal,� Feeney said. “I think the managers always got a fair shake when I was there, and I’m sure it’s the same with Bart (league president Bart Giamatti) there.�