Clark, Terrell Have Trouble Against Astros

HOUSTON â€”  The curveballs that dive in the dirt, the sliders that tail toward the dugout, the junk , it’s all starting to get to Jack Clark.

For the fifth consecutive game Saturday--every game this season--the Padre first baseman was given nothing honest to hit. So he didn’t. He stood by almost helplessly as the Astros, with the fine National League debut of pitcher Jim Clancy complementing the bad Padre debut of Walt Terrell, defeated the Padres, 6-2, in front of a paid crowd of 19,427 at the Astrodome.

Clark wasn’t the reason the Padres lost--Terrell allowed nine shots (officially scored as hits) in just 4 1/3 innings and that was that.

But Clark continued what has become a theme in this first week, one in which the Padres have won just two of five games. He didn’t get a hit. Not only didn’t he get a hit, he never made contact. He walked twice and struck out twice.

Thus far in 12 at-bats, he has one hit, seven strikeouts and five walks. That’s an .083 average. The man who is supposed to be the Padres’ most feared hitter is a man without a bat. And a man who has lost his patience.

“Two walks and two strikeouts just don’t get it,� Clark said. “They just aren’t pitching to me. They aren’t giving me anything. Tonight, they get the big lead, and there is two out and they are still giving me nothing. I’m thinking, ‘I’m not that good of a hitter, am I?’ I guess they figure they don’t want to give me anything to get me started.

“I’ve got make adjustments. Maybe get all over the plate or something. That will be a big step, because it goes against what I’ve forced myself to do to accomplish what I’ve accomplished. But if I got to do it . . . “

Clark’s voice hardened to a tone one only hears these days in late-night Western movies.

“One of these days, sooner or later, somebody is going to pay,� Clark said. “And when they do, they will pay in a big way.�

The problem, agreed everyone from Tony Gwynn to Manager Jack McKeon, is that everybody remembers Clark from his days with the St. Louis Cardinals a couple of years ago, and everybody is still afraid of him.

“It’s kind of obvious, he’s been pitched really nasty,� Gwynn said. “He’s been getting a steady diet of curveballs and fastballs that are three inches off the plate. They are trying to get him to chase them. He’s been around too long to chase them. So he walks--he’ll walk 140 times this year.

“I know what they are thinking, because when we faced Clark we always thought the same thing. Do not let him beat you.�

Said McKeon: “I won’t alibi for him . . . they’ve made some pretty good pitches to him.�

At least one alibi exists, but Clark refuses it.

He has been battling a groin pull suffered in Palm Springs in the last week of spring training. But he said Saturday that his groin has nearly healed and presents no problems hitting.

“The problem is in its tail end; I don’t notice it hitting, I just have to be careful when I run,� he said.

The problem with the pitching is heightened when one considers that the batter hitting behind Clark, Carmelo Martinez, has been even more disappointing that Clark. Coming off a six-homer spring, Martinez is one for 15, that one being a single.

“But Jack is going to get pitched like that if Carmelo was behind him or not,� McKeon said. “That’s just how teams view him.�

In the first inning Saturday, when former Toronto veteran Clancy began a good run that lasted 8 1/3 innings with just two allowed runs on six hits, Clark came up with Gwynn on first and two outs. He struck out looking.

In the fourth and sixth innings he walked and never got past second base. He came up in the eight with Gwynn again on first base after a single. Again, he struck out, this time with a too-hard checked swing.

“I realize I’m going to strike out--I would rather strike out than go for some of those pitches and hit into double plays,� said Clark, who didn’t help himself with a fourth-inning fielding error that led to an Astro run. “They fall behind in the count to me but still give me their second- and third-best pitches. They know how bad I want to hit it. So I go for it and ending up checking my swing and . . . if they force my hand, I’ll have to change the way I approach things up there, that’s all there is to it.�

Terrell’s struggles didn’t make things any better. His outing means that after one outing each, the five Padre starters have lasted just 30 2/3 innings--just over six innings per start--allowing 42 hits and 21 runs for a 6.18 earned-run average. The two new guys--Bruce Hurst and Terrell--have allowed 19 hits and 11 runs in 9 1/3 innings.

Terrell struggled in allowing a run in both the second and fourth innings; then the Astros finished him in the fifth with four straight shots: a single by Rafael Ramirez, a single by Billy Hatcher, a double by Glenn Davis and an two-run double by Bill Doran.

“I got the ball up; I don’t know what I was doing, but I just got it up,� Terrell said. “It was just bad pitching.�

Said McKeon: “I think a couple of the new guys have been maybe trying to overachieve, trying too hard. They’ll settle down.�

Padre Notes

Bruce Hurst was greeted in the clubhouse before Saturday’s game with his own special rap song written and recorded on cassette tape by relievers Mark Grant and Greg Booker, who call themselves “The Bully Boys� because of their time spent in the bullpen. The song joked about, among other things, Hurst’s abstinence from caffeine and alcohol. It included lines such as “His very first outing was the worst of the year . . . he went into the clubhouse and almost had a beer.� Or “60,000 dollars is one day’s pay . . . that’s why he lives in Rancho Santa Fe.� Or “After a game he’s happy as can be . . . he reaches for a Coke, caffeine free.� Booker and Grant recorded the song near the hotel here at one of those shopping mall instant-recording studios that have popped up around the country. They have been writing the song since the club’s trip to Las Vegas last week. The Bully Boys’ manager, Mark Davis, sprung for the cost of the three-minute tape, $18. “We wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t like Hurst so much,� Booker said. “How sweet,� replied Hurst, who laughed throughout the the playing of the song. “I guess I really owe them one.�

John Kruk was benched for the third consecutive game Saturday, this time because of a sore right shin, one of many small injuries that have been nagging him. Manager Jack McKeon had a meeting with Kruk and discussed the possibility that the injuries are being caused by his weight (about 210). Kruk agreed and said he will try to lose a few pounds. “If I don’t, my shin will explode,� Kruk said. “The thing is to maintain my weight. Not starve myself, Jack said not to starve. Just don’t eat the bad foods. Like hot dogs. And pizza. And beer.� Kruk is the only hitless regular, in eight at-bats. . . . Both Luis Salazar and Walt Terrell showed up in the Astrodome this weekend in suits. Coincidence? Hardly. When both were with Detroit last season, they were required to wear suit jackets in public on the road except in Anaheim and Arlington, Tex., in both cases because of the heat. “I don’t think it’s a bad rule, actually,� Terrell said. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we look professional.� . . . Mark Grant has a soft spot in his heart--and wallet--for the Astrodome. More specifically, the visitors’ dugout toilet. You see, he owns it. Two seasons ago, in a fit of rage after a tough start, Grant took a bat to the toilet and demolished it. He said that last year he received a bill for the toilet and soap dish and other items that amounted to around $300. “What the heck, I thought it would be a lot more than that,� he said Friday. “Do you know how much porcelain costs these days?� . . . One of the big stories of the Astros’ spring was the extra work in the batting cage taken by their pitchers. Houston Manager Art Howe figured it couldn’t hurt. And so it hasn’t hurt. Last season, with two out and runners in scoring position, Astro pitchers were zero for 80. That’s right, hitless. This year, in the season opener, with runners on second and third and two out, pitcher Mike Scott came up and promptly singled.

PADRES AT A GLANCEScorecard

SECOND INNING

Astros--With one out, Doran tripled to right. Bass singled to left, Doran scoring. Ashby flied to short. Caminiti grounded to short. One run, two hits, one left.

FOURTH INNING

Astros--G. Davis reached on third baseman Salazar’s throwing error. Doran reached first on first baseman Clark’s fielding error, G. Davis taking third. Bass singled to left, G. Davis scoring, Doran taking second. Ashby grounded to first, Doran taking third, Bass taking second. Caminiti struck out. Clancy struck out. One run, two hits, two errors, two left.

FIFTH INNING

Padres--Templeton doubled to left. Terrell doubled to center, Templeton scoring. Alomar flied to center. Salazar grounded to second. Gwynn flied to right. One run, two hits, one left.

Astros--With one out, Ramirez singled to right. Hatcher singled to center, Ramirez stopping at second. G. Davis doubled to left, Ramirez scoring, Hatcher stopping at third. Doran doubled to right, Hatcher and G. Davis scoring. Leiper replaced Terrell. Bass walked. Ashby grounded into double play. Three runs, four hits, one left.

SIXTH INNING

Astros--Caminiti doubled to center. Clancy sacrificed. Young walked. Ramirez singled to right, scoring Caminiti, Young stopping at second. Young took third on Santiago’s throwing error. Hatcher walked. G. Davis popped to shortstop. Doran flied to left. One run, two hits, one error, three left.

NINTH INNING

Padres--Wynne homered to right, his second. Santiago grounded to shortstop. Templeton singled to right. Agosto replaced Clancy. Ready, hitting for Kruk, grounded to the pitcher, Templeton stopping at second. Alomar struck out. One run, two hits, one left.