The Team That Ted Built : Padres Get Set to Meet Refurbished, Capable Challenger in Atlanta

First, he fetched baseball’s No. 1 relief pitcher, Bruce Sutter, for $10 million, give or take some petty cash.

Now, he reportedly has his eye on CBS television--an acquisition that would set him back several billion dollars.

Ted Turner’s ambition apparently knows no bounds.

The Atlanta Braves owner and well-heeled cable TV baron is not content with the state of things, either in his kingdom or in society at large.

His Braves, who finished a distant 12 games behind the Padres last year, last won the National League West in 1982. The Braves will take on the Padres here tonight in their home opener, with a sellout crowd of about 50,000 expected.

To reduce the number of excuses available to new Manager Eddie Haas, Turner went out and procured Sutter to save his customary 45 games and help repair the team’s image in the eyes of its national cable audience.

It was a similar regard for America’s video addicts that piqued Turner’s interest in acquiring a major network. He doesn’t think that much of what is aired by the three majors is fit to be viewed, and if he succeeds in picking off CBS, we could be in for a slew of old movies and “Leave It to Beaver” reruns--solid, morally uplifting fare.

Turner’s concern for morality is laudable as far as it goes, but the man and his lieutenants are not above what may be generously described as, uh, borrowing.

Case in point: To hype the Braves on WTBS this year, Turner’s marketing staff has “borrowed” an advertising campaign employed by the Padres a couple of seasons back.

Remember when the Padres were angry? Well, guess who’s angry now?

“The Braves are getting mad,” is the theme of the TV spots. Angelic Dale Murphy is shown breaking his bat, and plump Terry Forster is seen taking a bite out of a baseball.

Beyond the silliness, there is a note of reality here. Murphy got honest-to-goodness, red-in-the-face mad this spring. Twice, if you can believe it.

Once he pushed over a plastic water cooler with his foot. Another time he flipped a helmet over his shoulder.

This sort of stuff could be most damaging to his image if it continues. But Murphy--a pure-vanilla version of Steve Garvey--vows it won’t.

“Everybody has been asking about it,” he said.

“It was kind of a compliment that so much attention was paid to it. It wasn’t really a big thing. Everybody thought the water cooler was one of those big glass ones. Really, it was just a little one that held Gatorade. I just got mad. When something is bugging me, I get tense.”

As for the other incident, Murphy said he tossed a helmet over his head at first base and it made headlines.

“I know I have to keep things in perspective,” he said. “I can’t let the other team know when they’re getting to me.” Contrary to popular belief, it really doesn’t get to him when his buddy, Bob Horner, is out of the lineup. Murphy knows that he hits better when Horner is hurt as when he is following him in the batting order.

For the record, Murphy’s career average with Horner healthy is .269. When Horner is out of the lineup--and he has missed 305 of 913 games since 1978--Murphy hits .283.

Murphy supposedly had a bad year in 1984, when he was trying to win a third straight Most Valuable Player award. What he did was crush 36 homers, drive in 100 runs and bat .290. The Padres will be delirious if and when Kevin McReynolds has a similar “off” year.

Anyway, Murphy doesn’t think his hitting has much relationship to Horner’s health.

“I’m such a free swinger, I’m just too undisciplined,” Murphy said. “If they were trying to pitch around me last year, I should have walked 100 times, but I think I had only 79 walks.

“I just don’t take a lot of pitches. I’m not selective enough to not swing at a ball a couple of inches outside.

“Don’t get me wrong. I am in no way minimizing what Bob Horner means to this team. He’s a threat to break open any game. And it has been so frustrating for him.”

The Braves desperately need Horner. They were outhomered last year at home, in their own Launching Pad, 72-53. Murphy may the best player in the league, but he isn’t enough.

Horner is healthy at the moment, thanks to off-season surgery for the insertion of a stabilizing screw in his twice-fractured right wrist.

He broke it most recently last May 29 in a game in which he was 4 for 4.

Maybe the biggest if in baseball is Horner’s hand. If it stays strong, the Braves should, as well.

“It feels very good right now,” Horner said the other day in Philadelphia. “I’m swinging pretty well and getting real close on my timing.

“Of course, it’s going to be a year before my hand is completely healed. And the screw is going to stay in there.”

Horner, who has enjoyed three seasons of 30 or more homers, isn’t keen on statistics at this point.

“I just want to play,” he said, uttering a century-old cliche that seems fresh and fitting in the context of his career.

“My goal is just to stay out there for a full season. You might think I learned to cope with sitting out so long, but that’s not the case. I haven’t found any magic to make it easier.”

It would be foolish, Horner said, for the Braves to think of themselves as anything other than contenders in the West.

“This is by far the strongest team I have ever been part of,” Horner said, “if we do what I know we can.”

The addition of Sutter certainly augments Atlanta’s capabilities.

The peerless reliever has earned 260 saves in eight seasons. He is second on the all-time save list to Rollie Fingers, who has 324.

The Braves last year got a respectable 49 saves from their bullpen--four more than Sutter alone--but lost nine games in which they took a lead into the ninth inning.

Now the Braves have, quite simply, the finest bullpen in baseball. Beyond Sutter are Gene Garber, Forster and Steve Bedrosian, who also will do some starting.

Sutter said he feels as well as he ever has and is smarter, to boot.

“I’m throwing more fastballs,” he said. “I have to, in order to keep the hitters honest.

“They can’t just assume it’s going in the dirt (the notorious split-fingered fastball) because it might stay at the knees.”

Sutter had, perhaps, the best spring of his life, as was borne out the other day.

The Braves opened the season in Philadelphia, where they took advantage of six errors by the Phils to extract a 6-0 win in a game that began with the temperature in the mid-30s.

Although the Braves hardly had to be at their best in that game, they did benefit from a vintage appearance by Sutter.

“I was really impressed with him,” said Philadelphia’s Von Hayes.

“He had good stuff on his fastball, more life than I saw on it last year. And he was throwing his split-fingered pitch anywhere in the count.”

It was just an extension of his excellent spring. He pitched 16 scoreless innings in Florida, facing only 53 batters and allowing just five hits.

All this bodes ill for the Padres and perhaps the rest of the West.

Also of interest to history buffs, the Braves won 18 games this spring, tying the club record set in 1982. That same year, they won 13 in a row to begin the season, including a Rick Mahler shutout of the Padres in the opener.

It was Mahler who blanked the Phils opening night.

Mahler is viewed as one of the more stable members of the Braves’ starting rotation.

Potentially better, but rather less stable, is Pascual Perez, whose name should be somewhat familiar to Padre followers. He had a role, you may recall, in last summer’s ghastly Beanbrawl.

Perez has had other troubles of late. He missed a team bus to an exhibition game 10 days ago and was 45 minutes late for a workout Monday. Each incident resulted in a $500 fine.

Perez vowed Thursday to stop speaking to Atlanta writers, but he made an exception for The Times.

“I think it’s time for me to win 20 games,” he said, repeating a prediction he made in Florida.

He had asked to start tonight’s game against the Padres, but was pressed into duty Thursday night in Philadelphia.

Asked if he expects problems with the Padres, Perez said, “I think it’s over. I’m ready to play. Everybody got enough last year.”

Other Braves pretty much agreed. No one could completely rule out the possibility of another beanball episode, but no one voiced any strong feelings about the Padres, either.

“It was an ugly scene that never should be repeated,” Horner said. “Somebody could get hurt--and with my luck, it would be me.”

Murphy said he doesn’t anticipate trouble. “I hope it’s all over. I hope it’s in the past,” he said.

Forster, one of the more quotable Braves, declined to specify how much bad blood remains.

“I really don’t know what to expect,” he said. “I do know we’re all major leaguers and we’re all in this together to make money and entertain fans.

“I guess there could be repercussions, but we want to beat the Padres legitimately.”

Most baseball experts believe the Braves have a legitimate chance to unseat the defending league champions.

The quiet Haas has replaced Joe Torre, a high-profile manager who was criticized for having an inordinately high number of base stealers thrown out (a league-leading 85) and also for failing to develop young talent such as outfielder Brad Komminsk.

Haas is a fundamentalist who will bunt and steal less often and, it is hoped, get more from Komminsk, who batted just .203 last season.

The Braves believe he can be the equal of San Diego’s McReynolds.

The Atlanta defense should be a nice complement to the power hitting of Horner and Murphy and that awesome bullpen.

The Braves played 17 errorless games in spring training, a rather unusual feat, and made no errors in the cold of Opening Night in Philadelphia.

Haas, going his staff-crazy peers in pro football one better, brought in a personal instructor for each of his infielders in the spring. And each player was asked to stay after practice and field grounders for 20 minutes each day.

The dividends, thus far, are obvious.

The Braves, for good reason, are optimistic this spring. Name a team that isn’t.

Murphy defined their real challenge.

“The pennant shouldn’t be on our minds at this stage,” he said. “In this game the real battle is in your head.

“Going out there every day is the trial of this game. If you hit .300, you know you messed up seven times out of 10. That’s a terrible ratio, but you have to keep striving for perfection,” Murphy said.

“And you can’t spend too much time thinking of things to come.”