Month of winning dissolves into June gloom

By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | Wednesday, June 1, 2005 11:50 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- The Padres had the Milwaukee Brewers right where they wanted them. If it were any other team in the home dugout, that would be a ludicrous statement, considering Milwaukee held a four-run lead in the ninth inning Wednesday night and had the imposing closer for the second-best pitching staff in the National League on the mound.

This was the Padres, however, a club that came from behind to win time after time in May, when they were as prosperous as any club in any month in three years.

"There wasn't a time in the dugout when they didn't think we were going to pull it out," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said.

That unshakable belief was nearly affirmed again. Geoff Blum's bid for a dramatic, game-winning grand slam fell agonizingly short as the Padres absorbed a rare defeat at Petco Park, 5-2 to Milwaukee before 27,692.

The Brewers snapped the Padres' home winning streak at a franchise-record 11 games and their overall streak at six. But they didn't do so without getting a serious scare.

Trailing 5-1 in the ninth inning, the Padres trimmed one run from the deficit when Miguel Ojeda ---- starting in left field for Ryan Klesko ---- singled to center to drive in Ramon Hernandez, who had led off with a double. Milwaukee closer Derrick Turnbow followed by walking pinch-hitters Mark Sweeney and Klesko to load the bases with one out and earn the hook from manager Ned Yost.

On came hard-throwing right-hander Julio Santana, who partly extinguished the fire by inducing a infield pop-up by Khalil Greene. That left the Padres' fate in the hands of Blum, who had hits in his three previous at-bats. He brought the crowd to its feet by putting a charge into a fastball, but it died in the glove of right fielder Geoff Jenkins on the warning track.

"I thought it had a pretty good chance," Blum said. "That's why you play nine innings as hard as you can. You never know."

The view from the Padres' bench was the same as the one from the batter's box.

"Blummer hit the (heck) out of that ball," first baseman Phil Nevin said. "I thought it was out."

Said Bochy, referring to where the ball struck Blum's bat: "It's a game of inches, and we were about a quarter-inch away."

Before their game effort in the ninth, the Padres looked like a pale imitation of the team that ran roughshod through the league in May, in which they were 22-6 to set a franchise record for wins in any month. The difference was evident by the top of the first inning, when the Petco boobirds returned from a long migration to express their displeasure with Padres starter Brian Lawrence allowing nine Milwaukee batters to come to bat and three of them to score.

"I guess they're getting a little spoiled," Bochy said of the fans.

Said Lawrence: "I was disappointed with the crowd. We're in first place. I've been here for a while and give my all. To get booed is disappointing, but I'm not going to speak negatively about it."

Lawrence was coming off a complete-game victory in San Francisco last weekend, but there was no carryover effect. He gave up singles to the first two hitters, Brady Clark and Bill Hall. After Jenkins drove in Clark with a sacrifice fly, Carlos Lee pulled a 2-1 pitch 372 feet into the left-field stands for a two-run homer. Two walks and a single by Damian Miller loaded the bases, but Lawrence avoided further damage by striking out pitcher Doug Davis.

Clark, a University of San Diego product, singled again to start the second inning and scored on Jenkins' double, and Jenkins increased the lead to 5-0 with a solo shot to right leading off the fourth.

Milwaukee flooded the basepaths in the game, finishing with 15 hits, but it stranded 14 runners. The Brewers left the bases loaded in the first, third and seventh innings.

Lawrence twice received mound visits from pitching coach Darren Balsley in the first four innings, although he wasn't removed until there were two outs in the sixth. The 12 hits he allowed tied a career high.

Davis, a left-hander, stifled a Padres lineup stacked with eight righties around No. 3 hitter Brian Giles. The Padres ended his streak of scoreless innings at 20 2/3 with a run in the fourth, but that was all Davis allowed in eight innings.

Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.