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Gossage Returns to Form, Earns Save as Padres Beat Giants

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Times Staff Writer

Out he walked from the dugout, and out came the habitual cheers here.

“Goooose,” they screamed. But skeptics noted then that “Goooose” rhymes with “boooo,” and so maybe, just maybe, Goose Gossage had to earn his cheers again.

He did by returning to his fastball, returning to his form.

Gossage earned his first save of the season Tuesday night, retiring six batters and getting one double play in a 2-1 Padres victory over the San Francisco Giants, retiring the talk that maybe Goose wasn’t Goose anymore.

He was splendid this night, and he knew it. He smiled as he stood in the clubhouse, remembering how it had ended. He had begun the ninth by giving up a single, and the worriers began to worry. But he threw fastball, fastball, fastball, getting Jeff Leonard to ground into a double play and then Bob Brenly to ground into a game-ending play.

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He started toward the dugout then, but Terry Kennedy wouldn’t let him go. Kennedy shook his hand twice. Then Garry Templeton hit Gossage on the rear. Then Jerry Royster hit him on the rear. Then Tim Flannery hit him on the rear. Everyone hit him on the rear.

Inside the clubhouse, pitching coach Galen Cisco, who is winning more and more praise here daily, leaned back in his seat and said: “He (Gossage) needed that. He needed to get that under his belt. That was good for him. It doesn’t make any difference how long you’ve played. The first one is the toughest, especially when you come in with the game on the line.”

The game got to the line on a line-drive home run to left in the seventh inning by Giants catcher Bob Brenly. This homer came off of starter and winner Andy Hawkins, who said he thinks he pitched one good inning, that being the first (he retired three batters in six pitches in the first).

So in that seventh inning, after Brenly’s homer, Manager Dick Williams brought in reliever Craig Lefferts. Lefferts, who has pitched 0.0 innings this season, sprinted from the bullpen. It is a ritual for him, a ritual that he says gets his blood going and makes him concentrate better. Besides, he says he’s anxious to pitch.

And Lefferts got pinch-hitter Joel Youngblood to pop out to Terry Kennedy, ending the inning.

So on came Gossage. He had a 7.36 ERA in 3.2 innings before he entered, but the fans may have forgotten it now, now after this.

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“I just threw fastballs tonight,” Gossage said. “With a one-run lead, if I am ahead in the count, maybe I throw a breaking ball. But my fastball got me to where I am. It’s my bread and butter pitch. If I lose, I lose. At least I can sleep.”

As far as Cisco is concerned, it’s fine that Gossage has learned to throw a slider, though. This makes him more of a complete pitcher, one who does not have to rely on one pitch.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Cisco said. “And he actually came to me and asked for my opinion. If a guy doesn’t want to be helped, it’s hard to help him. Maybe the guy realizes ‘Hey, maybe I can gain something.’

“You’ve got to give him credit for that.”

And give Cisco credit, for his pitchers love him already, even though he’s been coaching them for only a couple months or so. Hawkins raved about how Cisco helps with mechanics, how he can communicate.

“He knows what a pitcher goes through,” said Hawkins, who gave up seven hits in 6 innings. “He’s been a pitcher. He knows how to pitch. He’s great.”

And just like that, Alan Wiggins looks great, too. He’s had an impact on the team already, mainly because he gets from one base to another, just like that. In the very first inning of Tuesday night’s game, he lined a single to center, his first base hit of this season. Then Tony Gwynn, who tends to think Wiggins is the key to the Padres, singled to center.

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Now, the most important thing to notice was whether Wiggins could get from first to third without problem, because normally he would in that situation. And he did.

“Wiggy didn’t get on (in Monday’s home opener), but when he does, watch what happens,” Gwynn had said earlier. “ . . . There’s people moving around, the pitcher, the second baseman . . . We’ve got a good team. We can do a lot of things. And I think you’ll see it when Wiggy is healthy.”

So, just like that, the Padres scored. Kevin McReynolds’ sacrifice fly brought Wiggins in.

Naturally, the Giants challenged Wiggins in the field, as they should. In the fourth inning, Chili Davis tried breaking up a double play and Wiggins’ leg and succeeded at neither.

And now that Wiggins is here, the Padre infield appears much stronger defensively. They turned two double plays on Tuesday, and, individually, Garry Templeton played well. He’s had just one error this season.

And teammate Jerry Royster is a quick, slick fielder. Plus, there’s Wiggins and first baseman Steve Garvey, who made his first error in 193 games Monday night, who vows to start a new streak.

Incidentally, Garvey had another disappointment on Tuesday as a ball he hit quite well to left field, a ball that appeared to be going over the fence, was caught by Jeff Leonard. And the play should make many highlight films this year because it was pretty. Earlier in the evening, Padre fans looked open-mouthed at the new color scoreboard here that showed bloopers--plays that were botched by various major leaguers. Still, there were no bloopers on the field Tuesday.

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In the second inning, the Padres had added their second run, making the score 2-0. Carmelo Martinez, who tugs at his shirt sleeves before every pitch, tugged four times and saw four balls. He walked. Then Royster singled, and then Templeton singled, scoring Martinez.

It was 2-0 and in pitcher Andy Hawkins’ hands. Then, it was 2-1 and in Gossage’s hands.

He held on.

Padre Notes

These Padre notes come from New York’s Yankee Stadium, an unlikely place for such things--In the White Sox-Yankees game, former Padre Tim Lollar started for the Sox, and former Padre Ed Whitson started for the Yanks. Neither got a decision, but another former Padre, Dan Spillner, did get the loss, yielding a home run to Don Baylor in the ninth. Naturally, former Padre outfielder Dave Winfield hit a home run, too. . . . Pitcher Eric Show suffered a chip fracture of the distal phalanx in his right big toe during Monday’s game, a complicated way to say he has a minor toe injury. He is expected to take his next pitching turn. . . . Alan Wiggins says his knee is healthy, but it probably isn’t 100% healed. Still, he wants to play. Teammate Tony Gwynn said: “He may think he’s 100%, but he’s 85% probably. He just wanted to play, and the same with me (when Gwynn hurt his ribs). I didn’t feel 100% at the time, but I felt I could get the job done” . . . Donny Marsh, age 14, has a terminal disease called cystic fibrosis. Still, he was wide-eyed Tuesday night when he got to meet the Padres and sit in their dugout before the game. The “Make A Wish” Foundation was responsible for this, and Marsh’s wish was to sit on the bench with his favorite team. His dream came true.

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