Padres Blow Pair of Leads, Fall to Dodgers in 10th

LOS ANGELES â€”  It’s a baseball tradition, just as sure as spring training and “Down in front!â€�

As July fades into August, teams that have fallen out of the pennant race begin to look toward next year. In the process, they dip into their farm system.

And minor-league names begin to fill major-league lineups.

That was the case in Dodger Stadium on Thursday night but, as the Padres dropped a 6-5 decision to the Dodgers in 10 innings, it was actually the Dodgers who were looking to 1993 and the Padres who remained focused on catching Atlanta and Cincinnati in the NL West.

On a lazy summer’s evening perfect for daydreaming about October excitement, the Dodgers announced that outfielder Darryl Strawberry will undergo back surgery and miss the rest of the season. They also waived infielder Juan Samuel and recalled second baseman Eric Young from triple-A Albuquerque.

The Padres, in front of 35,961, blew two leads and a chance to pull to within four games of the Braves. The Padres have blown five leads in their past four games in Dodger Stadium.

Brett Butler led off the 10th with a walk off Jose Melendez (5-7). Butler was balked to second and moved to third on Young’s second hit of the game, a line single to center. After Eric Karros was walked intentionally and Mitch Webster struck out, Todd Benzinger delivered a fly ball to medium right field.

Butler, sliding to the infield side, barely beat Tony Gwynn’s throw and Benito Santiago’s tag.

Still, the Padres (55-48) have not been this close to first place in late July since 1985 and, how often can you recall the Padres watching the standings and the Dodgers being in the miserable position of simply wishing the season were finished?

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch, who has been in the organization since 1987, said he has not seen a more talented Padre team--although, as usual, he shied away from any talk of the Padres being expected to win.

“This is the best team I’ve seen,� Riddoch said. “The fallacy in that is, is the competition the same as it was then?

“I think this is the best Padre team I’ve seen, but it is also the strongest division I’ve seen.�

Tell that to the Dodgers, who remain 16 1/2 games behind division-leading Atlanta. They have lost eight of their past 10 and don’t have any other options except to plan for 1993.

“We’ll see what happens when we finally give these kids an opportunity to play,� Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “We have to determine if they’ve going to fulfill their promise.�

Young, 25, was batting .337 in Albuquerque. He was inserted into the lineup immediately, and, in the seventh, singled, stole second and scored a run to tie the game, 5-5.

Samuel, an NL All-Star as recently as last summer, was batting .262.

“We want to get Eric up here to play,� said Fred Claire, Dodger general manager. “It was time to make the move. Everybody recognized that, including Juan.

“It is time for us to see what we have.�

But the decisions still didn’t make the present any easier to handle. Strawberry, who will have the surgery for a herniated disc in his back in mid-August, had tears in his eyes during an impromptu press conference just before game time.

“This is a very difficult time for me, but they say I don’t have a choice,� Strawberry said. “I’ll be prepared to be back next spring. I’ll be ready. I’ll be strong.�

Said Claire: “He will be our right fielder next year. He will work hard at it. I believe he will be there.�

Although they are planning ahead, the Dodgers devoted a few innings Thursday to taking care of the present. They took a 1-0 lead in the fourth by taking advantage of two Craig Lefferts mistakes: a walk and a wild pitch.

The walk came with one out, and Karros was the beneficiary. Three batters later, Karros scored from third on the wild pitch.

The Padres came back with three runs in the top of the sixth, making it look for a while as if Lefferts was easily on his way to a career-high 13th victory.

In a game of giveaway, the Dodgers reciprocated Lefferts’ mistakes when shortstop Jose Offerman booted a two-out Darrin Jackson grounder.

One batter later, Santiago singled home Gwynn.

Then, up stepped Jerald Clark, who sent a triple rattling around the right-field corner. Jackson and Santiago scored, allowing the Padres to take a 3-1 lead.

In keeping with recent Dodger tradition--they have committed 101 errors this season in 102 games--all three runs were unearned.

But Lefferts lasted only two batters in the bottom of the sixth. Butler led off with a single and then Young walked.

Up stepped Karros, who sent Mike Maddux’s third pitch down the left-field line. Butler and Young scored and Karros ended up at second.

The Padres would have had him trapped off of second on the play but, on the throw to the infield, nobody was covering second.

Karros scored three batters later on Carlos Hernandez’s single to center, and it was 4-3, Dodgers.

Like each lead in this game though, the Dodgers’ was short-lived. Fred McGriff’s two-out, two-run homer to dead center in the seventh, on a 3-and-1 pitch from Steve Wilson, put the Padres back on top, 5-4.

The booming homer was quite a statement for McGriff, who has been attempting to break out of a deep slump. He was in a 2-for-24 rut when he hit the homer.

It was only McGriff’s third homer since July 5. He still leads the NL with 21 homers.

News of Atlanta’s 5-0 loss at San Francisco reached Dodger Stadium well before the end of the game but, no matter how badly Riddoch would like to win the division, he refuses to discuss scoreboard-watching. He insists that he does not read the standings each day.