Martinez’s Home Run Caps a Very Strange Day for the Padres, 3-2

These are going to be strange days, indeed, for the Padres.

The telling sign was when Manager Dick Williams held a team meeting before Thursday’s game against Pittsburgh. It had been so long since Williams held a team meeting that he couldn’t remember the last one.

The Padres proceeded to go out and do something that has been strange to them lately--win. Carmelo Martinez homered off a somewhat strange John Candelaria pitch with two outs in the eighth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Padres a 3-2 victory over the Pirates.

There were a couple of other unusual happenings for the Padres:

--Power-hitters Steve Garvey and Martinez had bunt singles. Garvey’s hit began a two-run rally in the fourth.

--Garvey and Graig Nettles, who sometimes need ground-rule doubles to score from second, ran while Martinez was batting with one out in the fourth. Had they not been running, Martinez would have grounded into an inning-ending double play before the Padres scored their first two runs.

The deciding run came in the eighth when Martinez deposited a one-and-one pitch by Candelaria over the left-field wall.

“We were all surprised at the pitch,” Williams said. “Luckily, Carmelo wasn’t. It was out over the plate where he could drive the ball, and he took advantage of it.”

Strangely enough, Martinez was looking for the pitch.

“I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “Candelaria was successful with me in Pittsburgh with that pitch. He struck me out twice with that slider.”

Pirate Manager Chuck Tanner figured he would let the bad pitch slide.

“I think he just tried to come in the back door,” Tanner said. “It started off on the outside of the plate, which he has done a lot of times. He just didn’t get it where he wanted it.”

When Martinez batted in the sixth, all he wanted was any kind of hit. He was in a 1-for-18 slump, he admitted, because he was trying to “overdo it.”

So when third base coach Ozzie Virgil suggested that Martinez bunt, Martinez took the hint. He successfully laid one down in front of third baseman Bill Madlock for a single.

Garvey began the fourth inning by bunting on his own.

Garvey sometimes attempts to shake up his teammates with bunt hits. Perhaps his most memorable bunt single in San Diego came as a Dodger in 1977 when he ruined a perfect game by Bob Owchinko in the eighth inning.

This time, Garvey was not trying to break up a Rick Reuschel no-hitter. Instead, he was attempting to wake up a Padre team that had lost two straight games and five of six and was losing at the time, 2-0.

“You can’t do that too often,” Garvey said. “It’s more or less the element of surprise. The situation dictates when you do it.”

The timing was perfect. Eventually, the bunt single led to a two-out, two-run double to right by Kevin McReynolds that tied the game.

If not for another element of surprise, McReynolds never would have been in position to tie the game. When Martinez was batting with a full count in the fourth, Garvey was on second and Nettles on first with one out. Williams startled many of the Pirates by starting his runners.

As it turned out, Martinez hit a grounder to Reuschel that would have been a double play. However, since Garvey and Nettles were running, they took third and second. McReynolds followed with his double.

Williams had told his players beforehand that every game would be played like the last game of the playoffs with the possibility of a strike looming. He proved his point by running Garvey and Nettles.

“We’re doing this because we have 17 games left before Aug. 6 and have to be in first place then,” Williams said. “We may be doing a few things that look a little funny to you.”

The strategy certainly seemed a little strange to Madlock.

“It surprised me,” he said. “They had two slow guys on base. You can’t manage scared. Dick Williams has never been known as a scared manager.”

Padre Notes Padre president Ballard Smith and owner Joan Kroc will address the players and staff before tonight’s game with the Pirates, and catcher Terry Kennedy, the Padre player representative, hinted it would concern negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. “Hopefully she (Kroc) studied up on things and we can have a good conversation. These fellows will tell her what they think. they won’t hold back.” . . . Andy Hawkins (11-2) will pitch against Pittsburgh’s Jose DeLeon (2-13) at 7:05 tonight. Hawkins, who missed his last start with a cut right index finger, has not pitched since July 6. . . . The Padres will be featured on regional television Saturday against Pittsburgh and Monday against the Chicago Cubs. Saturday’s game will be televised at 1 p.m. by Channel 39 and Monday’s game will be televised at 5 p.m. by Channel 10. . . . Tony Gwynn went 0-for-4 Thursday, causing his average to drop below .300. Gwynn will have a bone scan today on his sore left wrist. . . . Garry Templeton was intentionally walked twice in three trips to the plate. The Pirates had intentionally walked Templeton four times on July 5, setting a National League record and tying a major league record. Templeton had batted in four runs against the Pirates on July 4. . . . Tim Flannery helped save the Padres with outstanding catches on back-to-back line drives by Johnny Ray and Bill Madlock leading off the sixth inning. . . . George Hendrick was a late scratch from Pittsburgh’s lineup with a pulled right thigh muscle. He was replaced by Sixto Lezcano, who hit a solo homer in the fourth. . . . Bill Almon of Pittsburgh had to leave in the fourth with a twisted back. . . . From the How They Have Fallen Dept.: In the middle of the sixth, the stadium’s Diamond Vision screen ran an advertisement for Charger season tickets. Many of the 20,740 fans booed.

Scorecard FIRST INNING

Pirates--Almon doubled to left. Ray bunted a single, Almon taking third. Madlock grounded into a double play, Almon scoring. Lezcano flied to center. One run, two hits.

FOURTH INNING

Pirates--With one out, Lezcano homered to left, his third. Thompson flied to left. Pena grounded to short. One run, one hit.

Padres--Garvey bunted a single. Nettles walked. Kennedy popped to short. Martinez grounded to the pitcher, Garvey taking third and Nettles taking second. McReynolds doubled to right, Garvey and Nettles scoring. Templeton was walked intentionally. Dravecky struck out. Two runs, two hits, two left.

EIGHTH INNING

Padres--Candelaria on the mound. With two out, Martinez homered to left, his 12th. McReynolds flied to left. One run, one hit.