Wetteland’s Start Ended by Padres

SAN DIEGO —  Reality finally found its way to John Wetteland Saturday night, battering his arm and ego, teaching the rookie pitcher that on losing teams, nobody is spared.

After two smooth tryout starts, Wetteland’s first start as a regular member of the Dodger rotation ended in pieces. He held the San Diego Padres to two hits in four shutout innings but couldn’t get an out in the fifth, and the Dodgers went down to a 9-4 defeat before a crowd of 38,167 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The decisive inning started with three straight line drives up the middle that turned Wetteland red-faced and angry. He then lost all grip on himself by tripping over Eddie Murray while attempting a simple throw to first base.

Wetteland eventually allowed more runs in one inning--five--than he had yielded in his previous seven appearances combined, a span covering 16 innings.

“It was pretty rough, my rear end is sore,” Wetteland said afterward. “I’ve had it kicked before and I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t like it.

“If someone was shooting at you with a (rifle), you would be mad too. That’s what those balls looked like, like they were being shot at me.”

A funny thing has happened to this showdown series with the Padres for third place. After two games, the Dodgers are in fifth place. They have been passed by Cincinnati and are 3 1/2 games behind the Padres.

As bullpen coach Mark Cresse was passing Manager Tom Lasorda’s office after the game, he asked, “What time do we get to the ballpark tomorrow?”

A despondent Lasorda, not yet able to deal with a tomorrow, shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I just don’t know.”

Saturday night was indeed hard to understand. The Padre pitcher was Don Schulze, making his first start for San Diego, his first start against the Dodgers and his first start anywhere in 20 days. He was acquired by the Padres in a July 22 trade with the New York Yankees after spending most of the season at triple-A Columbus. Yet Schulze gave up only two runs in six innings for the win.

Wetteland, meanwhile, is a big part of the Dodger future. Entering the game with a 2-2 record, he had a 2.20 earned-run average, having allowed 28 hits in 45 innings. In his previous two starts, he allowed three runs on five hits in 11 2/3 innings. It was enough to convince Dodger officials last Tuesday that he should be in the starting rotation in place of Mike Morgan.

He was brilliant at times in the first four innings. He was saved in the second by a leaping, body-banging catch off the center-field wall Billy Bean. He saved himself in the third and fourth innings by striking out three of the seven batters he faced.

“It was all so smooth, I thought I had it . . . and then it blew up in my face,” said Wetteland, who then described the fifth inning the way a victim describes an auto accident. “It was like, this stuff never happens to you. You never count on it happening to you. But then it does.”

With the teams in a scoreless tie, Chris James led off the fifth with a single that bounced off the back of the mound and up the middle. Wetteland got ahead of Mike Pagliarulo, 0 and 2, before Pagliarulo lined a singled up the middle. Benito Santiago hit Wetteland’s next offering up the middle for another single to score a run on a pitch that Wetteland said typified his problems.

“(Catcher Mike) Scioscia comes up to me after the pitch and says, ‘Do you know what you threw?’ ” Wetteland recalled. “I said ‘Yeah, I threw a fastball.’ Then he said, ‘Do you know what I called?’

“Then he showed me his fingers. He had called for a curveball.”

The worst was yet to come. Schulze attempted a sacrifice bunt, plopping the ball between the mound and first base. Wetteland and first baseman Murray reached the ball at the same time. Wetteland grabbed it, Murray kneeled to avoid getting hit by the throw, but the pitcher stumbled into him. By the time Wetteland righted himself for the throw, it was low and late, and the bases were loaded.

Bip Roberts then bounced a ball into right field, scoring two runs. Roberts and Jack Clark each finished with three RBIs for the Padres.

Wetteland was relieved by Morgan, but not before he had to walk off the field to the sound of the stadium organ playing, appropriately, “Hard Day’s Night.”

“I thought I had the bunt, but Eddie did, too,” Wetteland said. “He tried to duck, he did the best he could, I just couldn’t step into the throw.”

Observed Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson: “Wetteland has a lot of talent, he can really throw the ball. He’s just like any rookie. You put a little heat on him, he can get erratic.”

Morgan allowed two more of Wetteland’s runs by throwing a run-scoring wild pitch and allowing an RBI fly by Clark. But Wetteland blamed only himself.

“Rookie mistakes. I made a lot of rookie mistakes, most of them mental,” he said. “I didn’t have a good sense of composure.”

So what does he do now?

“All I have to do is know what I did, which I do,” Wetteland said. “And I go from there.”

Dodger Notes

Kirk Gibson’s legs were examined Thursday and Friday by Dr. Robert Tiethge near Gibson’s home outside Detroit, but no new problems were found. The findings were consistent with the results from previous tests showing no ligament tears or bone damage. Yet, for the first time, Dodger Vice President Fred Claire did not rule out Gibson missing the rest of the season with a strained left hamstring and sprained right knee. “I’m not going to count him out, nor am I going to count him in,” Claire said. “After Kirk has worked his rehabilitation program, I’m going to listen to everyone’s thoughts, and together we’ll make a decision.” Gibson, who left the team for Michigan Wednesday, won’t return until Tuesday. There were some clubhouse murmurings about his prolonged absence, with some Dodgers wondering why Gibson was given permission to leave the team before being ruled out for the season. “I don’t doubt Kirk’s dedication to getting in the best playing condition,” Claire said. “I don’t think it’s a double standard. We let other players do their rehabilitation away from the team. Mike Marshall worked out away from the team. Mike Davis worked out away from the team. The main thing is that the players continue to do their work, and I know Kirk is working.”