Padre Notebook : Wiggins Will Sit Out This Weekend

It’s almost certain now that injured Padre second baseman Alan Wiggins will make his season debut in the Padres’ home debut Monday.

He and Manager Dick Williams had a chat on the team flight from San Francisco to Atlanta on Wednesday, and sources say they basically concluded that patience is a virtue.

So Wiggins probably will sit out this weekend, just to make sure things aren’t rushed. He has had the itch to play, but the Padres think they’ll be the ones scratching their heads if he comes back too soon and re-injures his right knee.

The other injured Padre, outfielder Carmelo Martinez, continues to make good progress and should join Wiggins on debut day, Monday.

Kurt Bevacqua has had only one appearance at the plate this season, an important ninth-inning single Opening Day.

“I brought out my World Series bat, and it picked up where it left off,” said Bevacqua, whose three-run home run in Game 2 of the Series helped give San Diego its only victory.

Surprisingly, he hasn’t retired the bat.

“That would be like buying a new car and keeping it in the garage,” Bevacqua said.

Add Bevacqua: He has no pictures or tapes of his memorable home run, only a collage Sports Illustrated sent him. Steve Garvey, of course, is selling pictures of his playoff home run, and John “Doc” Mattei, the Padre traveling secretary, suggested to Bevacqua that he do the same.

“You could call it ‘Believe it or Not,’ ” Mattei said.

Kevin McReynolds broke up his first double play of the season during Wednesday’s Giants game. That’s significant only because he broke his wrist doing such a thing in last year’s playoffs.

“It (breaking up double plays) is not anything that bothers me now,” McReynolds said. “If I’m in that situation, I’ll do it.”

Still, McReynolds apparently had been struggling at the plate, the coaches think, because of that same injury. Then he went out and got three hits Wednesday, bringing his season average to .500.

“The only thing I haven’t been doing is hitting with power,” McReynolds said. “That’ll come in time. But with the injury, it’s just like getting used to something new -- You won’t do good with it right away. You’ve got to break it in. Shoot, I’ve only been out of the cast for two months. But, I’ll take the three hits. Actually, I’d have liked three homers.”

Add struggle: Terry Kennedy, who had hit the ball so hard all spring, is 0 for 8 and has failed three times with runners in scoring position. He has no comment.

The Padres have yet to use Goose Gossage this season, and Williams said: “I’ll use him in the last two innings of a ballgame if we’re leading. If it’s a back-and-forth type game, or if we’re fighting to come from behind like on Opening Day, it’s a different story.”

Padre Notes

The Padres were 0-1 coming into Wednesday’s game, the first time they’d been under .500 since Sept. 29, 1983. . . . When Eric Show nearly hit Giant third baseman Chris Brown with an inside pitch, the organist in San Francisco played “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” . . . The Padres unveiled new pullover warmup shirts Wednesday, brown mesh shirts that go nicely with their pinstripe pants.