Padres Beaten by Cardinals : Whitson Has Another Tough, Short Outing in 7-1 St. Louis Win

ST. LOUIS — Those weary of asking what is wrong with the Padre batters were granted relief Monday. The question wasn’t answered--these are still the Padres--but finally replaced with a new and more unusual one.

What is wrong with Ed Whitson?

In a 7-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the hitters didn’t hit but avoided the spotlight because a certain opening-day pitcher had trouble pitching. And fielding. And bunting.

For his third straight game.

Under the assumption that a team’s blues can be only considered serious when they strike the fiercest, most combative members of that team--then color the Padres’ blues serious.

The Padres have lost eight out of nine, and Ed Whitson has lost two straight and, has been terrible in three straight.

“When you’re going good, you get the breaks,” Whitson said late Monday, after sitting on the bench for the final six innings. “But Lord knows, we ain’t going good.”

In front of a raucous-as-usual 28,346 at Busch Stadium, Whitson lasted about as long as a box of popcorn. After allowing one hit for two innings, he allowed six hits to the first eight batters in the third. One of the other hitters reached on his fielding error.

By the time Whitson was removed for Greg Booker, the Cardinals had scored six runs, or five more than they would need. Overall, in 2 innings Whitson allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits.

“I’m struggling like everybody else,” Whitson admitted quietly, echoing a sense of numbness that pervaded the Padre clubhouse. This is the same Whitson, you may remember, who started the season different. He allowed the Houston Astros only two hits in seven innings opening night. After four starts he was 2-0 with a 2.13 earned-run average. He was averaging 6 runs per start. That was April 23.

Since that night he has made three starts and lasted seven innings. Total.

During that time he has allowed 20 hits. There have been two home runs and six doubles. And those hits have accounted for 16 runs for an ERA of 20.57.

This has dropped his record to 2-2 and raised his ERA to 6.12.

The difference between then and now?

“Nothing,” Whitson insisted. “It’s breaks. When you are going good, you catch them. When you aren’t, you don’t. That’s baseball. I can’t explain why it happens, but it does.”

Pitching coach Pat Dobson said he could explain why it happened to Whitson Monday.

“Mistakes,” Dobson said. “Physical mistakes. Two mistakes that, if he doesn’t make them, he gives up only two runs. Plain mistakes.”

Whitson’s night began poorly even before the inning, when he was called upon to bunt with Shawn Abner on first base after a walk and no outs in the third inning of a scoreless tie. He fouled off one attempt, pulled his bat on another pitch from Larry McWilliams that was a called strike, and finally struck out swinging. Roberto Alomar then grounded into a double play to end any possible threat and set up Whitson’s real downfall.

“I don’t think that (his failure to bunt) had anything to do with Whit’s problems,” said Manager Larry Bowa, who held a 15-minute pregame meeting to cover hitting fundamentals, but excluded the pitchers. “Whitson has just had some rough outings lately.”

The meeting didn’t do the hitters any good, as baseball’s lowest scoring team (2.6 runs per game) was held to less than three runs for the 22nd time in 29 games. Immediately after the Padre half of the third inning, Whitson continued to not do himself any good.

He started the Cardinal third by allowing pitcher McWilliams to lash a double down the left-field line. On the first pitch. After getting ahead 0-and-2 on Vince Coleman, he allowed another double to left field, scoring McWilliams.

If this is starting to sound familiar, of the Padres pitchers’ last 22 allowed hits, 14 have gone for extra bases, with 12 doubles and a triple and a game-winning homer.

With Coleman on second, Whitson made his first mistake. Ozzie Smith hit a sure-out grounder to Carmelo Martinez in the hole to the left of first base, except Whitson was slow getting off the mound. By the time he took Martinez’s throw and touched first, Smith was already there.

“I didn’t realize the ball was in the hole but . . . no excuses,” Whitson said. “I just didn’t break to the base in time.”

One out later, Tom Brunansky doubled off the left-field wall for a second run, setting up Whitson’s second mistake. Slow Bob Horner hit a high bouncer halfway down the first-base line. Whitson ran over, grabbed it, and then dropped it. Horner was safe and another run scored. A double by Terry Pendleton and a two-run single by rookie Luis Alicea and Whitson was finished.

Padre Notes

The Padres’ lineup card, and breaths, were held until 5 p.m. Monday, only two hours before to the game, when Shane Mack finally walked into the clubhouse. He had been playing in Vancouver, B.C., with triple-A Las Vegas before being recalled Sunday night. He boarded a 7:20 a.m. flight Monday and arrived in St. Louis around 4:30 p.m. Because pitcher Keith Comstock arrived an entire day late from Las Vegas last week, the Padres were uncertain what would happen this time. Mack could have arrived in St. Louis Sunday night, as his recall was certain Sunday morning when Tony Gwynn’s right thumb was placed in a cast, but neither team President Chub Feeney nor General Manager Jack McKeon could be found to authorize the player transfer. Thus, Mack played one final game for Las Vegas Sunday afternoon and, just as the Padres feared, nearly got hurt. He was hit twice by pitches, as Pacific Coast League pitchers had been stopping at nothing in order to stop his Las Vegas-record 27-game hitting streak. The season-long streak was broken as he went 0 for 3.