Eric Show Survives Chicago : Outing Uneventful for Pitcher, Padre Offense in 2-1 Loss

CHICAGO —  He will pitch in bigger games, more exciting games, better games. Yet of all the debts left in his baseball life, Eric Show may never settle a greater one.

When the Padre pitcher wakes up in San Diego this morning, the first thing out of his mouth just might be a laugh, because he and his demons are even.

Nearly a year after he was chased from the Wrigley Field pitching mound and threatened with death for hitting a Chicago hero, Andre Dawson, in the head, Show returned for the first time Thursday to face the Chicago Cubs and 15,628 fans.

The fans weren’t bad. And Show was great.

Over six innings, he allowed just one run on six hits. He retired Dawson three times without incident. So worried about fan reaction, he tested earplugs during pregame warm-ups. Yet he threw them away before the first inning and wouldn’t have needed them after the second.

The Padres lost, 2-1, in 10 innings, but in another contest at least as important and certainly with a deeper effect, Show won.

“I do feel a whole lot better . . . it would have been so easy to fall apart,” Show said afterward, relief showing in an occasional smile. “What happened last year may be brought up again sometime in the future . . . but it doesn’t matter now.”

A pitcher was hurt Thursday, but it wasn’t Show. It was the Cubs’ Calvin Schiraldi, who was carried off the field after he sustained a deep bruise from a line drive by Carmelo Martinez.

Dawson was hit, but it was only by the brick wall down the right-field line when he stumbled chasing Garry Templeton’s foul pop in the seventh.

The day’s only confrontation occurred afterward, when Show refused to talk to members of the Chicago print media, who last year called him everything from a “liar” to a “bad pitcher” after he knocked Dawson unconscious and caused a near riot at Wrigley Field.

“You don’t write the truth,” he announced to a couple of reporters, who stomped away in a huff.

That was the worst on a day when the few fans who actually heckled Show sometimes couldn’t tell him from Dawson.

Said pitcher Ed Whitson: “The only guy I heard shouting, he was shouting at me. Then I realize he thinks I am Show. So I flash him my number and he apologizes.”

No question, these were the Padres, who lost their fifth straight, and 11th in 12 games. Fourteen hits but just one run? Outstanding pitching that finally just grew weary of carrying the load? Yes, it was those Padres.

“A laughing matter,” Manager Larry Bowa said, setting the league record for most consecutive days of comparing a team’s offense to a joke. “Other teams get two and three hits in a row while we stand around and never score. Never score. “

Well, not never . On this just-completed trip, the Padres scored nine runs in seven games and lost six of those games. Their blessed run in Thursday’s eighth inning broke a 22-inning scoreless streak, evening out what Padre reliever Mark Davis has spent the last month doing to the other guys.

Speaking of spinning your wheels, that Padre run--on an RBI double by Benito Santiago after right fielder Dawson and first baseman Mark Grace lost his fly ball in the sun--only tied the game. The Cubs won it two innings later when, with two out and two runners on, rookie Damon Berryhill doubled off the left-field wall between a leaping Shane Mack and Keith Moreland.

You could blame it on Davis, who allowed his second game-winning hit in five days. In the 10th, he allowed a single to rookie Grace and, after retiring Dawson on a foul ball, issued a two-out walk to Rafael Palmeiro to set up the hit.

But don’t bother. There’s enough offensive blame to last until the All-Star break.

“This is the first day in a while that we’ve actually had people out there (on base), and we’ve got nobody to get them in,” Bowa said. “It’s time the older guys start taking charge. We are putting too much heat on the kids, who are holding their own. We need somebody who knows how to step up there and get a two-out hit.”

Show said that after Thursday’s cleansing, he’s ready to become one of those veteran leaders. He is not talking about hitting, but he could have been, as he is the team’s leading hitter at .333.

“Myself, Templeton, Moreland, all of us veterans are going to start taking a more active role--especially me,” Show said. “I haven’t done it before because I’ve had problems to iron out in my own life. But I’m going to start doing more now.”

Since last July 7, Show has existed in the shadow of an inside fastball and the 24 stitches that were needed to repair Dawson’s left cheek. Show left Wrigley Field immediately after he hit Dawson that day, and he spent the rest of the Padres’ Chicago series hiding in his hotel room and hoping he would never have to return. A simple pitching rotation, and Bowa’s unwillingness to alter it, dictated otherwise last week when Show first learned of Thursday’s assignment.

As much as he didn’t want to pitch here, after thinking about it, he realized he couldn’t bear the thought of not knowing what would happen if he did.

“There are certain things you must do in this game,” Show said before the start. “This is one of them.”

Thus he arrived at Wrigley Field at 12:45 p.m. Thursday with the majority of the team. As he stepped off the bus, he was confronted by a man selling Eric Show voodoo dolls. He blew the man a kiss.

Once he was in the clubhouse, the joking continued.

“You know, Wrigley Field is the worst place for this to happen,” another pitcher told Show in mock seriousness. “Think of all those rooftops outside the fence, all those snipers waiting up there.”

“Hey, Parent,” yelled another player to the starting catcher, Mark. “Don’t spend too much time on the mound today.”

Show laughed along with them. But he was the last one out of the clubhouse. He did not appear in the dugout for batting practice until an hour later. And he was wearing earplugs.

“I’m not sure how they will affect me,” Show said in a loud voice. “I might try them.”

After an uneventful trip to the bullpen for pregame warmups--”I thought it would be the worst there, but it wasn’t,” he said--he removed the plugs.

After he allowed two Chicago baserunners in the first inning but returned to the dugout untouched for a run, he removed all doubt.

“He came to me in the dugout after the first and told me that it was all over, that nothing the fans could do would affect him anymore,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said.

“That’s how I felt,” Show said. “I realized after that first inning, outside of the voodoo dolls, there was not much going on.”

The boos at first were like quiet groans, and later like yawns. It was as if, after having a year to think about it, Show wasn’t worth their effort.

The only thing close to bloodcurdling was the reaction to Berryhill’s line drive up the middle that just missed Show’s head for a fourth-inning single. The fans screamed as one screams in anticipation of an accident at an auto race, suddenly quieting upon realizing that everything was fine.

About the only real excitement occurred when Show faced Dawson. But Show retired him so quickly--with only one inside pitch during their three confrontations--that even that wasn’t much.

“It’s been put to rest a long time ago,” Dawson said afterward. “It was the media that kept it alive. He threw a good ballgame. He didn’t give me much to hit. I give him all the credit.”

In his last 30 innings, Show has allowed 6 runs on 26 hits for a 1.80 ERA. For the season, he has improved his ERA to 3.88. Indeed, after Thursday’s game, everyone wanted to give Show the credit.

“He came in here and proved to people he only cares about one thing--winning,” Whitson said. “To do what he did, now, that’s character.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard

SIXTH INNING

Cubs--With one out, Grace tripled to center. Dawson grounded to third. Palmeiro doubled to left, Grace scoring. Berryhill grounded to first. One run, two hits, one left.

EIGHTH INNING

Padres--Capel pitching. After two out, Mack singled up the middle. Santiago, pinch-hitting for Parent, doubled to left, Mack scoring. Abner grounded to shortstop. One run, two hits, one left.

TENTH INNING

Cubs--Davis pitching. After one out, Grace singled past third base. Dawson fouled out to third base. Palmeiro walked. Berryhill doubled to left, Grace scoring. One run, two hits.