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Padres Win 7th Straight on Road, 7-2

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<i> Times Staff Writer</i>

Deacon Jones, Padre hitting coach, says he’s positively, absolutely not superstitious. Yet, until the Padres lose, he says Al Bumbry will keep throwing batting practice.

“Why break up a good thing?” Jones said.

So, in this baseball world, where people always say one thing and mean another, the Padres apparently are cold (of course, that means they’re hot). They’ve won seven straight, all on the road. On Sunday, Phillie stars Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt were booed during a 7-2 San Diego victory, although it’s unclear whether the fans were serious.

Anyway, the further the baseball season carries on, the stranger the Padres get. Still, they win. And that’s enough.

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Our first strange tale is about catcher Bruce Bochy, who usually catches Goose Gossage in the Padre bullpen. On Sunday, however, he caught a Carlton fastball in the fifth inning and sent it over the left-field fence for San Diego’s first run. And, suddenly, Carlton came undone.

First, Schmidt made a throwing error on a ground ball hit by Garry Templeton (Boos, naturally). Winning pitcher LaMarr Hoyt sacrificed and Jerry Royster doubled to right to drive in Templeton. Then Tony Gwynn singled to move Royster to third. Steve Garvey’s sacrifice fly scored Royster, and Kevin McReynolds’ single scored Gwynn. It was 4-1, Padres.

But Bochy had started it. He had found out just a couple days earlier that regular catcher Terry Kennedy would be resting on Sunday, and he prepared himself mentally for this game.

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“I have little things I go through,” he said. “Everyone’s superstitious. I mean, I run sprints the day before. I won’t overdo it and lift weights, but it’s nice to get a little notice.”

Now, Bochy is noticed. In the eighth inning, Manager Dick Williams had brought in Gossage to replace Hoyt, who’d walked the leadoff batter, Glenn Wilson (Hoyt almost hit Wilson in the head in the process). And after Gossage struck out Ozzie Virgil, Juan Samuel hit one off the wall in left-center.

McReynolds fielded the ball, threw it to Templeton, who made a perfect relay to Bochy at the plate. Bochy blocked the plate with his left foot (actually spiking Wilson as he did it), and Wilson was out.

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“It should make our instructional film,” Williams said of the play.

Now, the Kurt Bevacqua story. He had started the game at third base, since Williams thought Sunday was a fine day to rest Graig Nettles. He woke up early, psyched to play, and told someone he was ordering pancakes for breakfast because Garvey always eats pancakes on game days.

And just for perspective sake, it should be known that Bevacqua routinely flubs grounders every day in infield practice, which meant putting him at third could have been a liability. But he has fun out there anyway, and he had recently gone out and bought a mini-mitt so he could play second base and bug Tim Flannery during infield practice.

But this wasn’t practice. Bevacqua used a new, bigger glove on Sunday, one that obviously wasn’t broken in because he kept spitting in it.

“He’s the only man I know who can go out with a brand new glove and start a game,” Garvey said.

And it didn’t take long for the Phillies to test him. In the bottom of the second, Wilson hit a grounder to Bevacqua, who fielded it cleanly. But he turned and threw the ball far over Garvey’s head. Fortunately, this was baseball glove day here, so the fans had mini-mitts to protect themselves.

“My mitt was all right,” Bevacqua said. “My arm just felt weak, that’s all. On the first throw, I wanted to make a strong throw, and I guess my arm was better than it felt.”

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Over in the Padre dugout, they’d expected this, but they didn’t laugh about it at the time, only because it cost them a run.

Later, when Bevacqua came out, he said to Williams: “I did what you guys thought I’d do, right?”

Said first base coach Jack Krol: “Yep.”

Later, Krol said: “We knew they (the Phillies) would find him.”

Actually, Bevacqua bounced back, going 3 for 3 on his remaining ground balls. Once, he even threw out the speedy Samuel.

Williams, though, making his smartest move of the day, took out Bevacqua after six innings.

“Kurt didn’t like coming out, but we can’t worry about that,” Williams said.

Said Bevacqua: “If I’m manager, I’m not taking myself out of the game. If I’m Pete Rose, I’m in there . . . Besides, if the first baseman was a little taller, I’d have had no problem.”

That got Garvey going.

“At this moment, that ball (that Bevacqua overthrew) is traveling around the earth every 12 hours or so. NASA has a beep on it so they can track it . . . Really, Kurt is America’s hope for the decathlon in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He’s versatile. It’s just that none of us were prepared for his launch.”

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Back to more serious matters, Hoyt gained the victory and is 4-4. He also singled, which means his first two major league hits have come off Dwight Gooden and Carlton.

“I’m hot,” Hoyt said. “I’m seeing the ball, swinging better. I bet I get 10 hits. That’s Deacon’s goal for me.”

So the power-hitting Hoyt had more hits than strikeouts Sunday. He went seven innings without a strike out, but said: “It gives me a good feeling to know I can win when I don’t throw well.”

After Philadelphia had made the score 4-2, the Padres scored three in the ninth on McReynolds’ homer to left off reliever Rocky Childress.

Those great Philly fans booed then.

And the Padres carried on. Bumbry, the reserve outfielder, had begun throwing batting practice to the No. 4, 5 and 6 hitters in the batting order seven games ago in Montreal, and San Diego has won every one of those games. So maybe that explains it.

And Jones finally did relent, saying he sort of is superstitious, since he wears a “Grambling Baseball” T-shirt under his jersey every day.

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“I wore it every day last season,” Jones said. “We went to the World Series . . . Why break up a good thing?”

Padre Notes

Goose Gossage gave up two singles, but he picked up his 13th save in as many opportunities. He leads the National League. . . . In this series, the Phillies have left 27 runners on base, 16 in scoring position. They are 0 for their last 25 with runners in scoring position. . . . Philadelphia has scored just 16 runs in Steve Carlton’s nine starts and have been shut out three times. Carlton has a 2.15 ERA, but his record is 1-4. . . . Kevin McReynolds on Carlton: “I heard about him when I was growing up as a kid. Not taking anything away from him now, he must have been a better pitcher before. His breaking ball just doesn’t have the snap to it . . . I’ve seen better stuff from other pitchers.” . . . Dick Williams, with Sunday’s victory, tied former Baltimore Manager Earl Weaver for 18th place on the all-time victory list. Said Williams: “I’ve been around a lot longer than Earl . . . It just means you’re older.” . . . The Padres are 8-1 on the trip, their best road mark since 1982 when they went 6-2 from July 5th to July 11th (in Montreal, Philly and New York, too).

PADRES AT A GLANCE Scorecard SECOND INNING Phillies--Wilson reached on Bevacqua’s throwing error. Virgil forced Wilson. Samuel singled to center, Virgil taking third on McReynolds’ throwing error, Samuel taking second. Aguayo was hit by pitch, loading the bases. Carlton flied to center, Virgil scoring. Gross flied to center. One run (unearned), one hit, two left.

FIFTH INNING Padres--Bochy homered to left, his first. Templeton reached on Schmidt’s throwing error. Hoyt sacrificed. Royster doubled down the right-field line, Templeton scoring. Gwynn singled to center, Royster stopping at third and Gwynn taking second on Hayes’ throw to the plate. Garvey flied to left, Royster scoring. McReynolds singled to center, Gwynn scoring. Bevacqua forced McReynolds. Four runs (three unearned), four hits, one left.

SEVENTH INNING Phillies--Stone, batting for Anderson, reached on an infield single. Gross flied to left. Corcoran flied to left. Schmidt doubled to left, Stone scoring. Hayes flied to center. One run, two hits, one left.

NINTH INNING Padres--With Childress pitching, Gossage walked. Royster sacrificed. Gwynn was walked intentionally. Garvey popped to first. McReynolds homered to left, his sixth. Flannery grounded to first. Three runs, one hit, none left.

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