Garvey Helps Padres to Set the Tone Early : San Diego Successfully Solves Sutter Situation, Never Has to Face Him

The Padres found the perfect antidote to Bruce Sutter here Friday night. Unfortunately, it probably won’t work again.

Two home runs by Steve Garvey, plus a run-scoring single by Andy Hawkins, helped the Padres to a big lead and a 7-3 win over the Atlanta Braves.

After getting comfortably ahead early in the game, the Padres never had to worry about facing Sutter, the Braves’ relief ace, who has been virtually unhittable this spring.

Sutter only works when the Braves have a good chance to win in the last couple of innings.

After the fifth inning of their home opener, the Braves never really challenged Hawkins or the Padres’ own relief king, Goose Gossage, who pitched the last two innings.

But the Padres can’t count on using this script again.

Garvey, you see, hits two homers in a game about as often as he says something stronger than “Gosh.”

You have to go back to April 24, 1981, when Garvey was in the employ of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to uncover his last multiple homer game. Until Friday night’s, that is.

“I guess you guys are basically speechless,” Garvey said following the game.

Clustered around his locker was the customary throng of TV cameramen and guys thrusting tape recorders under his nose. It was a scene not unlike that at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium last October after his homer that beat the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the National League playoffs.

A few feet away, teammate Kurt Bevacqua climbed atop a table and stood waving his fist and yelling loud enough to be heard on TV, “Way to go, roomie. I’m proud of you. If we hadn’t gone out last night and got wasted, you couldn’t have done it.”

Bevacqua, needless to say, was being facetious.

This game, of course, was no where near as important as the occasion of Garvey’s last home run. But it had meaning beyond what you might ascribe to it.

Garvey offered some perspective.

“It’s never too early in the season to establish yourself physically or psychologically,” he said. “You want to set the tone. You want to let the opposition know (how good you are).”

If the message didn’t get through to the Braves, they just weren’t paying attention.

The Padres had arrived in Atlanta two days ago and had a chance to watch some TV as the Braves completed a two-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Sutter already had two saves and hadn’t allowed a hit, and Dale Murphy was off to a torrid beginning as the Braves flew to Atlanta for their home opener.

A near-capacity crowd of 45,389 soon discovered, however, that the Padres were not going to meekly surrender what they achieved last season.

Setting the tone was what this evening was all about for San Diego.

The Padres went about their endeavor with a barrage of doubles that complemented Garvey’s homers.

The Garv’s first homer came in the fourth inning when he ripped an inside fastball from Rick Camp down the left-field foul line. The ball struck the foul pole, at least 30 feet above the ground.

Garvey got another fastball to his liking from reliever Gene Garber in the eighth, and crushed it for the second of his two homers.

Garvey now has struck 15 career homers in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

“I guess I’m ahead of my pace for last year,” he said. He had only eight homers in all of 1984.

The beneficiary of Garvey’s slugging was Hawkins, the starting pitcher who went seven innings and allowed just three hits.

Two of them were extra-base blows by Murphy. One was a double, the other a home run.

After pitching four perfect innings, Hawkins got in a jam in the fifth, when the Braves scored once and had the bases loaded with two out.

Hawkins was one man away from a shower. He had to get Claudell Washington, or else forfeit his chance to get a win.

The crowd booed vigorously when pitching coach Galen Cisco visited the mound. The fans must have confused him with Manager Dick Williams, who is something less than a hero hereabouts.

Cisco instructed Hawkins to quit relying exclusively on his fastball, to consider each pitch and to try to keep the ball down.

Hawkins appreciated the advice, but what helped him more was a mental flashback to the playoffs and the World Series, when he elevated his pitching two or three levels.

“I tried to picture myself coming in from the bullpen last fall,” Hawkins said. “I wanted to recapture the feeling of confidence I had then.”

It worked.

Hawkins slowed down his rhythm and concentrated on Washington. His goal was to set him up for a fastball inside, which resulted in a rally-killing two-hopper to second baseman Tim Flannery.

“If Claudell had walked or hit a gapper, I was gone,” Hawkins said. “I knew Dick wouldn’t have much patience. He wasn’t going to leave me out there and let me lose the game.”

Hawkins said he thought it was important to stop the Braves in their tracks lest they get away to a big early lead, as they did three years ago.

“If they had come home and swept us, they would be 5-0 and have a lot of momentum,” Hawkins said.