Padres Fall Apart at House of Cards

ST. LOUIS —  Larry Bowa Disease must be contagious, because Deacon Jones. the Padre batting coach, has caught it.

Normally, Jones minds nobody’s business but his own, but after Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, Jones let loose.

As Bowa was telling reporters “We’d have trouble beating Las Vegas the way we’re playing,” Jones took his head out of his hands and shouted successive curse words.

At the top of his lungs.

Bowa, his eyes wide as could be, said: “Who was that?”

“Deacon,” somebody said.

“That’s good,” Bowa said.

What Bowa meant is that it’s about time somebody else flipped his lid. The Padres are 6-17. It’s not only that they’re losing, it’s how they’re playing the game.

Thursday, starter Storm Davis (0-4) threw 86 pitches--two of them very wild ones--allowed five bases on balls and walked in a run in a little more than four innings. Ed Wojna relieved Davis in the fifth and balked in a run. The Padres trailed, 5-1, after six innings.

Marvell Wynne had an RBI single in the seventh, and catcher Benito Santiago--who earlier had thrown out Vince Coleman--hit a two-run homer in the eighth. The Cardinal lead was one. But, for Cardinal reliever Pat Perry, the ninth inning was as quick as 1-2-3, and the Padres had lost their second in a row.

“People say, ‘Be patient, be patient, be patient,’ ” Bowa said. “It’s real difficult to be patient watching what I’ve been watching the last three weeks. Things happen day to day that don’t happen in a Triple-A game.”

He was referring to Davis, who had lost two close ones to the Giants and Dodgers, but who wasn’t even close against St. Louis. Davis walked Coleman to begin the game. Santiago then threw the ball into center field as Coleman stole second and ended up on third. He also ended up scoring. That same inning, Davis threw a wild pitch, and Santiago later said he now knows what it’s like to be a hockey goalie.

In the third inning, Coleman got on again, but Santiago caught him stealing second with a laser throw. Davis then gave up successive singles to Ozzie Smith, Terry Pendleton and Jack Clark for another run. Davis followed with a walk to Willie McGee to load the bases and eventually walked 28-year-old rookie second baseman Rod Booker to force in the run and make it 3-1, St. Louis. The fourth ball to Booker was so far outside that Santiago had to lunge to prevent another wild pitch.

“I was trying to keep the ball away (outside),” Davis said. “It’s harder to miss away than in.”

Davis missed again in the fifth. Pendleton led off with a double down the right-field line and went to third on another wild pitch, as Santiago failed to make the kick save. Clark walked, and Bowa replaced Davis with Wojna.

When asked whether he would keep Davis in the rotation, Bowa said: “What am I supposed to do? Get a whole new rotation? Here’s a guy who’s supposedly a big league pitcher who’s completely lost at this time. Completely lost. He has no idea right now.

“Storm had thrown 80 pitches after four innings. That’s unbelievable. Eric Show, in L.A., had 80 pitches after eight. Unbelievable. And the first 17 hitters Storm faced, he was behind (in the count) to 15 of them. Unbelievable.”

Davis had similar concerns. He walked into Bowa’s office to ask whether he was staying in the rotation.

Bowa said yes, but also told him to try throwing one over the plate for once. Davis said he’d give it a shot.

“The thing is, being 0-4, I can’t erase those losses,” Davis said. “They’re there forever. A hitter can go 1 for 40 and then go 15 for 20 and almost erase everything. But a pitcher can’t. In my own mind, I’ve got to start from scratch.”

Wojna also has some work to do. When he came in for Davis to face McGee, he got ahead 0-2 in the count, and then balked. Pendleton scored from third, to make it 4-1. Home plate umpire Eric Gregg said Wojna hesitated as he began his windup, which is a balk, and Bowa agreed. Bowa said umpires had warned Wojna during spring training that he had a bad habit of starting and stopping in his windup.

Wojna remembers the warnings, but says the only balks that ever had been called on him were on moves to first base, not to the plate.

“That was a first today,” Wojna said. “He (Gregg) picked a terrible time to do it.”

After the balk, Wojna gave up a single to Booker that turned out to be the game-winner.

Booker, who spent seven years in the minors, couldn’t stop smiling afterward. When asked when he might frown again, and he said, “Probably 1989.”

Jones, meanwhile, isn’t sure when he’ll smile again. He’s on medication for high blood pressure, so his Bowa impression may not have been advisable.

“I’m tired of getting beat,” Jones explained. But he also said he felt a heck of a lot better.

“Larry always goes berserk,” Jones said. “Maybe that’s why I have high blood pressure, and he doesn’t. He lets his (anger) out, and I don’t. Hey, it felt great.”

Padre Notes

Shortstop Garry Templeton was a last-minute scratch Thursday because of a stiff neck. Randy Ready took his place and had an RBI double in the third. . . . Reliever Goose Gossage (rib injury) will throw in a simulated game when the Padres return to San Diego next week. At that time, he will know if he’s ready to come off the 15-day disabled list.