An Unnerving Day for the Padres, 4-3 : Giants Pull Out the Victory in Ninth

At about 11 p.m. Monday, Padre left fielder Jerry Davis rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, yawned and told Padre second baseman Mario Ramirez he was going to sleep. Ramirez said “Eh, me too,” and off went the lights.

Minutes later, Davis posed a probing question to Ramirez, who hadn’t come close to falling asleep.

“You ever started an Opening Day before?” Davis said. “This is my first one.”

“Eh, me too,” Ramirez said.

They fell asleep then, little baseballs dancing in their heads, certain they were the only people left who could get such a thrill out of something as measly as baseball’s Opening Day. But, when Tuesday’s game at Candlestick Park ended, when their butterflies had flown away only to return another day, they fully understood that Opening Day is unnerving to everyone, not just kids.

It had been unnerving to 35-year-old Giant pitcher Vida Blue, who beat the Padres, 4-3, Tuesday, even though he threw exactly two pitches. Blue had been in jail on cocaine charges until recent and sat out all of last season. When the Giants summoned him to pitch to Terry Kennedy with two outs in the top of the ninth, with the score tied, 3-3, with Tony Gwynn standing on third base, Blue sprinted 10 yards, walked 10 yards, then sprinted again, not sure how he wanted to approach this situation.

It had been unnerving to Giant third baseman Chris Brown, 23, who had been told he wasn’t much of a fielder. Brown didn’t make an error, and then, when he came to the plate against Padre relief pitcher Luis DeLeon in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second base, he hit the baseball safely into left field. The Giants had won.

It had been unnerving to LaMarr Hoyt, 30, the Padre starting pitcher for the first time. He had never pitched here, and he had never faced any of these Giant hitters. Before this game, he’d been asked which hitter he feared most, and he had said Johnnie LeMaster, a rangy kid who can’t hit a lick.

It had been unnerving to Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn, 24, a batting champion who swears now that such a title will hurt him this season. Gwynn was frustrated that Giant pitcher wouldn’t throw him anything over the plate, anything he could get his bat on. He said he learned something new on this day.

And, finally, it may or may not have been unnerving to Padre Manager Dick Williams, who wouldn’t quite say for sure. But Williams did admit before the game that he “still gets a tingle” for these opening games, and he must have been tingling later when two of the managerial decisions he made during the game didn’t work out the way they could have, or maybe should have.

The Padres had fallen behind 2-0, mainly because a long-haired blond kid named Dan Gladden had doubled twice off Hoyt, who fooled everyone early but Gladden with his slow curveball. In the seventh, the Padres tied the game, scoring two runs, mainly because Giant reliever Frank Williams botched a rundown by throwing the ball into center field.

So it was 2-2 entering the Giant half of the seventh, and the Padres made their first mistake. Bob Brenly had singled off Hoyt and been moved over to third on two ground balls. Pinch-hitter Scot Thompson, a lefty, was up next, and pitching coach Galen Cisco came out to talk to Hoyt. Since pitcher Mark Davis was due up after Thompson, they thought about walking Thompson, but Hoyt said he could “pitch Thompson tough” and would give him nothing good to hit.

Thompson then drilled the first pitch into a left field, and the Giants led 3-2.

“If I get it down, he doesn’t hit it,” Hoyt said.

Later, in the top of the ninth, the Padres tied the game when Kurt Bevacqua, pinch-hitting for Tim Flannery, singled; Gwynn singled (“The first good pitch I saw,” Gwynn said); and Garvey singled. The bases were loaded for Kevin McReynolds, who drove in a run although he grounded into a double play. This is when Blue came in to face Kennedy. Blue, on his second fastball, got Kennedy to fly to left, ending the inning.

Jeff Leonard opened the ninth with a single, and Brenly sacrificed him to second. David Green was walked intentionally so the Padres, with DeLeon on the mound, could pitch to the rookie, Brown. This was managerial decision No. 2.

“The pitch wasn’t quite where he wanted it,” Williams said of DeLeon’s third pitch, a slider that Brown sent to left field.

Jerry Davis, the only Padre rookie, charged the ball, thinking he had a chance to throw out Leonard at the plate. But in Candlestick Park, the grass is long, and the ball took much too much time to get to Davis’ glove. When Davis finally did get the baseball, he looked to have a decent chance of getting Leonard, but his throw hit the infield grass before bouncing to Kennedy, and that was enough to really slow the throw.

Giants win.

Now, Davis admitted he’d had a tough Opening Day, because on a previous play, he had tried to make a diving catch of one of Gladden’s liners in left, but failed. The famous Candlestick wind had fooled him, and Davis knew this would happen. He had begun to watch the Giant left fielder, Leonard, to see how he attacked the wind, but that did no good.

Said Davis: “That’s the worst outfield. Shoot, shoot, shoot. I checked the wind every pitch. . . . I want to get out here tomorrow early. . . . I hope I’m out here tomorrow. I’m just happy to be here.”

In the other locker room, Leonard was saying: “Today’s wind was tough, probably one of the toughest days Davis could get. It showed.”

Hoyt showed he can be the stopper the Padres envision, going seven innings, yielding just six hits and three runs.

“He’s got a nasty changeup,” Giant right fielder Chili Davis said of Hoyt. “But I know how to read him, hit it low between his legs.”

That’s how Hoyt gave up his first run, on a shot back to the mound from Davis, a shot he couldn’t get down quickly enough to get.

Still, the happiest face in either locker room belonged to Blue, who gets standing ovations here and who had a hoarse voice from exhorting his new teammates.

“Jim Brown used to say he’d see himself running the night before the game,” Blue said. “And we all visualize, fantasize. I did during the course of this game.”

So that’s the moral of the story: If Opening Day wasn’t so special, they’d have it more often.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard FOURTH INNING Giants--Dan Gladden doubled, went to third on Manny Trillo’s ground out to second and scored on Chili Davis’ single up the middle. Giants 1, Padres 0.

SIXTH INNING Giants--Gladden doubled and scored on Trillo’s single to center. Giants 2, Padres 0.

SEVENTH INNING

Padres--Davis singled, went to third on Ramirez’ ngle and scored on Frank Williams’ throwing error, while Bobby Brown, pinch running for Ramirez, went to third. Brown scored on Garvey’s single to center. Giants 2, Padres 2.

Giants--Brenly singled to center, went to second on David Green sacrifice bunt and to third on Chris Brown’s ground out to shortstop. Scot Thompson’s pinch hit single to left scored Brenly. Giants 3, Padres 2.

NINTH INNING

Padres--Kurt Bevacqua, Tony Gwynn and Steve Garvey each singled, loading the bases for Kevin McReynolds. He grounded into a double play, but scored Al Bumbry, who had pinch run for Bevacqua. Giants 3, Padres 3.

Giants--Leonard singled, went to second on Brenly’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Chris Brown’s single to left. Giants 4, Padres 3.