A Little Is a Lot to Padres : Just 1 Run Needed as Show and Davis Shut Down Pirates

PITTSBURGH —  One of the ironies of baseball is that the most basic outcome--the 1-0 decision--is often the result of the most complex game. So it was Tuesday for the Padres, who couldn’t defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0, without the three things this otherwise puzzling team has no shortage of: dedication, dramatics and--bet you can guess the third “D”--Mark Davis.

The dedication wasn’t the kind you would think but a personal dedication of the game by starting pitcher Eric Show to a favorite uncle who died near Pittsburgh on Saturday. Afterward Show was visibly emotional, and it wasn’t because he had just pitched eight shutout innings to improve his record to 4-1 and move within three of becoming the all-time Padre victory leader.

He spoke not of records but of his late uncle, Bill Laubenheimer, and surviving aunt, Helen.

Said Show: “As I’m sitting there watching this thing end in the ninth inning, I was saying, ‘If not for me, let us win this game for them. Please.’ ”

He had been watching the another part of Tuesday’s equation, the guy who lately has rented a room at the bottom of Padre box scores, Mark Davis. On Tuesday he entered his most difficult situation yet--ninth inning, a runner on second, none out. One hit and the run would have scored; shoot, two fly balls and the run would have scored. But he struck out Barry Bonds, retired Junior Ortiz on a grounder to first and caught Rey Quinones’ grounder himself to end the game with his 10th save in 10 opportunities. Three saves in the next five games and Davis will tie the major league record for saves in one month.

“I’ve never seen anyone come in and do what he is doing,” Manager Jack McKeon said.

Finally, let’s not forget the dramatics, now commonplace for the only team in the National League that is undefeated (6-0) in one-run games. This time, the Padres were aided by great fielding plays by left fielder Carmelo Martinez and third baseman Randy Ready and in the game’s key hit by Garry Templeton.

The shortstop doubled off Pirate starter Bob Walk in the fifth and then came around to score on Roberto Alomar’s single. Templeton added another hit and made a couple of fine fielding plays, all of which furthered the notion that he’s currently the Padres most valuable position player. And afterward, McKeon finally admitted what many had thought obvious.

“I haven’t said this before . . . but I didn’t care that Dickie Thon left this team,” McKeon said of last year’s platoon shortstop, who demanded to be traded and was subsequently dealt to Philadelphia. “All along, I’d just as soon Templeton get more playing time. And he’s showing what he can do with it.”

All in all, it was a rather pleasant couple of hours for the Padres, who won their second consecutive game and improved their trip record to 5-3 in front of a chilled paying crowd of 5,296 at Three Rivers Stadium on what could be termed Hockey Night in Pittsburgh.

A few blocks away, the NHL’s Penguins were involved in a Stanley Cup battle with Philadelphia. Most of the baseball crowd was following and cheering that game, so many missed, among other things, the fact that the usually mild Show came out and didn’t so much finesse the Pirates as check them into the boards.

Show struck out two of the first four hitters. After walking leadoff hitting Gary Redus to start the first inning, he retired eight in a row and 16 of the next 19. He ignored the 40-degree temperatures and unfamiliar, young Pirate lineup--they started rookie catcher Tom Prince, outfielder Steve Carter in his major league debut and Rey Quinones, a career American League shortstop--to strike out seven and lower his ERA to 3.22.

Already the all-time Padre leader in career strikeouts with 853--a record he set last year--Show should soon tie Randy Jones with 92 career Padre victories. Tuesday night was No. 90. Isn’t it ironic how a former rebel is awakening in the middle of his career to find himself a role model?

“It is,” said a smiling Show, 32, in his ninth year of winning games here. “But that’s just a characteristic of the game. It’s like, what have you done for me lately? I’ve had my share of controversy but . . . people have short memories in this game.

“It’s nice to be close to the record, but I know . . . true loyalty doesn’t exist anymore. I’ll be welcome here as long as I produce, and I’m going well. So to set a record won’t change anything in my life. I mean, they traded Babe Ruth.”

Show wanted to talk about a different sort of loyalty, one to his elderly uncle from a northern Pittsburgh suburb called Allison Park. Bill Laubenheimer died suddenly of a heart attack Saturday night, and Show decided that, for only the second time in his career, he would dedicate a game to somebody.

“I wanted this one for Bill and Helen; I respect them enough to want to win this game for them,” said Show, who in 1983 had dedicated a 2-1 victory over San Francisco to his late grandmother. “When I would come in town, we would always get together. I’m not sure how old my uncle was, but people talk about an age gap--there was no age gap with us. I thought about this a lot, and I am so happy I was able to win it. Not just me, the team. It could have gone extra innings, I didn’t care. Just as long as we won.”

Davis saw to that with 16 pitches in the ninth inning after Bobby Bonilla reached second on a grounder that skipped past Alomar for a two-base error. It was Alomar’s second error of the game and his seventh and eighth of the season, incredibly high numbers considering prototype second baseman Frank White of Kansas City committed just four all of last year.

In trotted Davis and, well, it all sounds the same after a while. He throws a hitter strike one with a curve, then works him over for a couple of more pitches, maybe a couple of balls, before nailing him on one of the corners with a fastball for strike three or a weak grounder.

It happened to Bonds after Bonds fouled off five pitches. It happened to Ortiz, who fell behind one-and-two before grounding out to Jack Clark at first. And something similar happened to Quinones, just traded here from the Seattle Mariners, who lunged for a fastball and grounded out to Davis after Davis had actually fallen behind him two-and-zero.

“He’s just so tough--he shows you the fastball but won’t let you do anything with it,” Bonds said. “Then with his curve, you know he’s going to throw it, but you can’t sit on it because he throws it so hard.”

Davis, showing that pitching is the best defense, put the finishing touches on what actually was some pretty good Padre defense, particularly on the left side. Templeton, now hitting .268 with just one error, made a couple of lunging stops. Ready made a lunging dive of a Jose Lind grounder in the second with Redus running off second. Lind was safe at first, but Redus had to stop at third and was stranded there when R.J. Reynolds flew out to center field.

Then there was Carmelo Martinez, an outstanding first baseman whose skills in the outfield inspire little fear. Thus Reynolds tried to take third from first on a none-out single by Bonilla to left in the sixth. Martinez picked up Bonilla’s line drive on one bounce and tossed it to third in the same motion to Ready, who tagged a diving Reynolds, who didn’t believe it.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard

FIFTH INNING

PADRES--With one out, Templeton doubled to left. Show grounded to third. Alomar singled to right, Templeton scoring, Alomar taking second on the throw. Ready singled to third, Alomar taking third. Gwynn grounded to first. One run, three hits, two left.

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