Padres Survive a Wacky One, 8-2

The weekend’s most popular topic has been relief pitching, and the consensus is that relievers are wacko, that they are impossible to figure out.

An example: San Diego leads the Montreal Expos, 3-2, Saturday, and the Padres are batting in the top of the ninth. They are facing reliever Ed Glynn, who walks Kevin McReynolds and gets behind 2-and-0 to Carmelo Martinez. Expo Manager Buck Rodgers signals for Bert Roberge, who runs in from the bullpen with an 0.96 ERA. He practices his forkball, his best pitch.

But Roberge walks Martinez on a forkball. Graig Nettles singles in a run on a forkball. Bruce Bochy singles in another run on a forkball. Tim Flannery triples in two runs on a forkball. Tony Gwynn doubles in a run on a forkball. The Padres win, 8-2, and Roberge should be looking for a fork, just so he can stab himself.

But later in the clubhouse, he is serene. He winks at people who ask him how he failed. He says: “You’ve just got to forget about it. Tomorrow’s a new day. That’s all you can say to yourself.”

Strangely, Padre reliever Tim Stoddard had similar sentiments the night before when he had failed in the 10th inning against the Expos. He had said that hitters are paid to hit, that pitchers are paid to pitch, that somebody wins, that somebody loses.

“What do you want me to do? Jump in front of a subway?” he had asked.

Of course, baseball is a wacky game in general. More examples came Saturday:

The home run that everybody watched, but few (including the umpire) saw--In the fourth inning, Kevin McReynolds hit a Joe Hesketh pitch down the left field line. He hit it hard, too. So, he just stood and watched it, watched it. He didn’t run. He wasn’t sure if it was fair.

Third-base umpire Joe West may have been the only one who was sure. He leaped up and signaled a home run. Only then did McReynolds round the bases.

“When I saw that (West’s signal), I took off, hoping he wouldn’t change his mind,” McReynolds said.

Meanwhile, Rodgers stood up in the Expo bullpen and almost started to argue. But catcher Sal Butera shrugged his shoulder. He wasn’t sure, either, so how could they argue? Rodgers sat down.

The batting cage lesson--Bochy began the game with an .077 batting average (1 for 13). Consequently, he thought it was best that he listen to Deacon Jones, the batting coach, who was disturbed that Bochy wasn’t waiting long enough at the plate, trying to pull everything.

Jones told Bochy during batting practice to try to hit to center field, which would force him to wait on pitches. Boom. Boom. Boom. Bochy kept lining balls to center field.

The game began, and Bochy (starting for the injured Terry Kennedy) struck out badly in his first at-bat. Jones screamed at him.

“What had I been telling you?” Jones said.

So, Bochy singled up the middle in the fifth and then scored on Garry Templeton’s double. Later, he lined an RBI single off Roberge’s forkball.

Jones was in a great mood.

The suicide squeeze is no longer dead--Templeton had just scored Bochy on his double, and he had gone to third on Andre Dawson’s error in the outfield. With Jerry Royster at the plate, Williams called for a squeeze play, something the Padres have had difficulty executing. Still, Williams had to call it because his team has had trouble scoring runs.

And, for the first time this season, it worked. Royster, who says a batter needs a good low pitch to bunt expertly, got a good low pitch. Templeton, who had taken a good lead at third, stepped on home plate before the bunt was fielded.

Royster: “When I came back to the dugout, he (Williams) said: ‘We finally got it done.’ ”

That made the score 3-0.

Pitching ugly, but effectively--Dave Dravecky, the Padre starter, did not throw first pitch strikes to 20 of the first 21 hitters. He also walked the leadoff man three times. Still, he went 7, yielding only three hits and two runs. Goose Gossage came in to end it.

But Dravecky had done his job, though he’d gone about it in a strange way. After the game, as he was about to eat his post-game pasta, he said grace, which figures because he had had a little luck out there.

“Fortunately, when there were guys on base, I made the right pitch,” said Dravecky, a religious person. “All and all, it was very fun.”

Still, all and all, relief pitchers are the wackiest. Afterward, Stoddard was standing around, wondering why there were no reporters talking to him this time.

“You guys only want me when I blow a game,” he said.

And then Gossage, wearing dark sunglasses as he stood inside the clubhouse, told Stoddard it was time to go. What a pair. Where would we be without them? Bored.

Padre Notes Catcher Terry Kennedy was examined by an Expo physician, and they came to the following conclusion--He does not have a rotator cuff injury, nor a tendinitis injury. It is simply bursitis in his right shoulder, and Kennedy’s status is day-to-day. He could have played in an emergency on Saturday, but he said: “I couldn’t have thrown.” . . . Thus, Bruce Bochy has started three straight games, and jokingly said to team publicist Mike Swanson: “I’m an Iron Man.” Swanson, thinking brilliantly, gave out a new statistic to the media, one that said Bochy was “only 2,127 games shy of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak.” . . . Kevin McReynolds has hit in 12 straight games, the longest streak of his major league career. Said McReynolds: “Looking back over the 12-game span, I’ve had like one hit a day. I don’t consider it a real bona fide streak.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard FOURTH INNING Padres--With one out, McReynolds homered down the left-field line. Martinez grounded to shortstop. Nettles struck out. One run, one hit, none left.

FIFTH INNING

Padres--Bochy singled up the middle. Templeton doubled off the wall in left, taking third on Dawson’s error, Bochy scoring. Dravecky flew to right. Royster’s sacrifice bunt scored Templeton, Royster out at first. Gwynn walked. Gwynn was caught stealing. Two runs, two hits, none left.

EIGHTH INNING

Expos--With one out, Law doubled down the line in left. Dawson singled to left, Law scoring. Gossage took the mound. Brooks flew to right. Dawson stole second. Driessen singled to center, Dawson scoring. Dilone pinch ran for Driessen. Wallach flew to center. Two runs, three hits, one left.

NINTH INNING

Padres--Glynn took the mound. McReynolds walked. After two balls out of the strike zone, Roberge took the mound. Martinez walked. Roberge balked, the runners taking second and third. Nettles hit a bloop single to center, McReynolds scoring, Martinez taking third. Bochy singled to left, Martinez scoring, Nettles taking second. Templeton forced Bochy, Nettles taking third. Gossage popped to second. Templeton went to second on a passed ball. Flannery, hitting for Royster, tripled to right, Nettles and Templeton scoring. Gwynn doubled down the line in left, Flannery scoring. Garvey grounded to third. Five runs, four hits, one left.