The Compassionate Phillies End Padre Win Streak, 10-9

Baseball, a sport as ironic as they come, gave us a new thrill Monday. It’s almost too impossible to believe, so follow carefully.

First, Mike Schmidt, the Phillie third baseman of the past and present, has been in such a slump recently that the Phillie Powers That Be got together and decided he should be a first baseman. They told him this before Monday’s game against the Padres, telling him he’d get to play one last game at third.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old John Russell, who had undergone a tiring transition from outfield to first base, had also been told of this news before the game and then learned he was being sent to the minors. Showing compassion, the Phillies said he’d get to suit up for one more game.

So what happened? Russell and Schmidt each hit three-run homers, and the Phillies went on to defeat the Padres 10-9, ending San Diego’s seven-game winning streak.

And naturally, the Phillie clubhouse was packed with people, all wanting to talk to Schmidt about this move, which some think was made because Schmidt is getting old and slow. Obviously, he denied such a thing, saying instead:

“It might free up my mind. At first base, you can’t sit there and think about your last at-bat. The pitcher throws over there . . . it’s demanding. Maybe it’ll help (my hitting), maybe it won’t. We’ll see.”

And at the very next locker, with all this going on, sat Russell, his bats and bags already packed, his head already down.

“I wasn’t trying to hit a homer,” Russell said of his pinch-hit blast into the upper deck in left. “I wasn’t trying to prove anything or show them up. Honest.”

It’s more ludicrous than ironic.

Anyway, it just goes to show how lucky the Padres are, for their existence in this baseball world is much more calm. They left for home following this game, having won 8 of 10 road games, the second-best road trip in franchise history. They are in first place and in a first-class frame of mind. Following this loss, a game that had to be blamed on their pitchers, they seemed hardly demoralized.

Actually, the best reaction came from infielder Jerry Royster, who has been with the team for just a few months and is amazed at their cockiness.

“That’s got to be a pretty impressive loss right there,” said Royster, who had a single, a double and a triple Monday. “After winning seven in a row and being down (they trailed 9-6 Monday), if there’s any time to say ‘Oh, they beat us,’ this was it. But these guys always think they’re capable of coming back . . . It’s amazing.”

But the Phillies had come back, too. San Diego led 4-0 in the second inning when Terry Kennedy hit a two-run single, Garry Templeton drove in Kennedy with a double off the wall in right and Royster doubled in Templeton. All of this came off of starter Shane Rawley.

But Steve Jeltz had an RBI single for the Phillies in the bottom of the second, then Russell hit his homer off starter Mark Thurmond. It was certainly a strange way for Russell to leave the major leagues.

With the score 5-5 in the fifth, Schmidt then hit his home run with two men on, a shot to left off reliever Tim Stoddard, who certainly has picked a strange way to begin his career with the Padres.

Stoddard, acquired as a free agent last winter, was the loser in the San Diego’s only other defeat on this trip (in Montreal), and has mostly had miserable moments since he’s been a Padre.

Padre Manager Dick Williams, when asked what he would do with Stoddard, said: “I don’t know. That’s a good question, a good question. I can’t answer that right now.”

Williams would say that he plans to talk to General Manager Jack McKeon when he returns home, mainly to chat about what they should do with their bullpen, which has been mediocre outside of Goose Gossage.

The positive thing is that they hit Monday. They had 17 hits, tying their season high. After Schmidt made it 8-5, Kevin McReynolds had an RBI single. After the Phillies made it 9-6, Kennedy had an RBI single and Royster added a two-run triple. It was 9-9.

Still, they lost it in the eighth. Garry Maddox singled off Craig Lefferts to begin the inning, and Ozzie Virgil followed with a double that actually hit third base and popped into the outfield. With runners on second and third, Tim Corcoran hit a soft liner to left-center.

Both McReynolds, the center fielder, and Martinez, the left fielder, got under the ball, but McReynolds waved Martinez off, since he has a superior throwing arm. Maddox tagged at third, and McReynolds’ throw beat him home, but it bounced a couple of feet in front of Kennedy, the catcher, who couldn’t handle it cleanly. Maddox was safe.

Kent Tekulve shut down the Padres in the ninth.

Padre Notes

Jerry Davis, who grew up in nearby Trenton, N.J., started for Tony Gwynn in right field Sunday. Again, this was another case of Dick Williams wanting to rest people at the end of a long trip. Said Gwynn: “He asked me before the game if I needed a day off, and I said: ‘No.’ But he said it was an opportunity for Jerry to play and for me to rest, and I said ‘What the heck?’ It’s a long season. I learned last year that it’s hard to play all 162. So I took the day off, and wouldn’t you know it? I’m the last out.” Gwynn pinch-hit in the ninth and bounced out on a ball that almost got over the first baseman’s head. Instead, the game was over. Meanwhile, Davis had more than 50 of his fans in the stands. “I was kind of depressed (before he found out he was playing). I hadn’t had any at-bats on the trip. It was the longest stretch I’d ever gone without playing. I needed this.” . . . Since Alan Wiggins left the Padres on April 25, San Diego’s record is 17-9. . . . Terry Kennedy has hit in 11 straight games. . . . Bobby Brown, who’d gone 0 for 16 this season, had his first hit Monday, a double to left-center. Said Brown: “You’ve got to be lucky in this game. I didn’t have any (luck). But it has its way of evening out over the year.” . . . The only Padre winning streaks longer than this one: An 8-game streak from July 26 to Aug. 3, 1980, a 10-game streak from July 25 to Aug. 4, 1978 and an 11-game streak April 14 to April 27, 1982. . . . The Padre 8-2 trip is second only to a 7-1 mark from Aug. 15 to Aug. 23 in 1969, their expansion year.