Hawkins Puts His Finger on a Victory

The fickle finger of Andy Hawkins is almost healed now, and it’s almost even the right color. Buoyed by this great news, Hawkins, who hadn’t won a baseball game in 40 days and 40 nights, pitched seven shutout innings Friday night, helping the Padres to a 6-0 victory over Pittsburgh.

The big hitters were Terry Kennedy and Graig Nettles. Kennedy hit a three-run home run in the fourth, and Nettles walked with the bases loaded in the fifth and homered to right in the eighth. Tim Stoddard finished to keep the Padres within a half-game of the division-leading Dodgers.

Remember when Hawkins was 11-0? That was back on June 9. After losing two, he finally won No. 12 on Friday night.

Hawkins’ right index finger had hampered him for the last six weeks, even though nobody knew it. He had refused to tell anyone, afraid he’d have sounded cocky walking around with an undefeated record and complaining about pain.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense when you’re 11-0 to complain about being hurt,” he said Friday night.

And so no one knew. It began as a circulatory problem, caused partly by throwing so many fastballs and partly from drinking coffee and chewing tobacco. The nicotine and the caffeine were hazardous to his finger, not to mention his health.

Remember when he struggled for his 10th and 11th wins? Remember when everyone said he was lucky? But he couldn’t throw much of a breaking ball back then. He couldn’t throw his cut fastball that well either.

“It turned blue and, in effect, numb,” Hawkins said. “I thought I was getting out there on top of it (his breaking ball), but I couldn’t tell.”

But he told no one.

And then he cut the finger on June 30, in a game here against Cincinnati. Suddenly, the finger was black, blue and red. He finally told the media. He missed a start in St. Louis and the All-Star Game.

“Think I wouldn’t have minded rubbing elbows with Sandy Koufax and Pete Rose?” he said. “I was disappointed as hell, but it doesn’t make a difference. I got a chance to heal. I don’t regret my decision (not to go).”

It is sort of healed. It doesn’t look pretty, but it works. It looks as if it was bitten by a dog. But there’s skin there, and that, apparently, is saying something. Now, it’s just color.

How did it heal? That’s where the caffeine and nicotine comes in. Hawkins had to stop drinking coffee and chewing tobacco. If that didn’t heal it, he’d have to go on heavy medication, and would have maybe missed three starts.

Now, cutting out on the coffee wasn’t bad.

“I don’t drink any more than the regular person,” he said.

But he’s been chewing tobacco for six years.

“Maybe I’ll go back (to tobacco) in moderation,” he said. “It was a hell to give up. I don’t know if I can do it in moderation. But I’m drinking decaffeinated coffee, now. That’s no problem.”

Of course, other significant news came out of this game. Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth was in town just to watch baseball. He said he is on a good will tour and visited the clubhouse and the umpires.

“I’ve been doing it for two months,” he said on his way to see the umpires after leaving the Padre clubhouse. “Whenever I go to the ballpark, I stop in and talk.”

Kennedy, the Padre spokesman on these matters, said of Ueberroth’s chat: “He said if any of us are having problems, we can talk to him. If somebody’s getting hassled, he said the door’s always open. What he means is if some person needs help with security at a ballpark, stuff like that. Mr. Rogers stuff. Really, I have a lot of respect for the man.”

Kennedy showed little respect for Pirate starter and loser Jose DeLeon, who dropped to 2-14. In the fourth inning, after Steve Garvey had driven in Tim Flannery with a single, Kennedy hit his three-run homer, his first home run since June 20. Little does anyone know, but Kennedy, before this game, was hitting .320 for the month of July.

“Really,” he said, “Nobody knows it.”

Also, Tony Gwynn didn’t know it, but his left wrist is healthy. It hurts, but a bone scan on Friday showed there was nothing broken. Gwynn says now that he’ll proceed as if nothing’s wrong.

“Sooner or later, the ball will fall in,” he said before Friday’s game. “And I’ll be the happiest man in the world. I’ll be smiling again. I just need some hits.”

Still, entering the fifth inning, his average was down to .297, and he was mired in an 0-for-14 streak. But, finally, he rolled a single to center.

“I wanted to jump this high,” he said, pointing a foot over his head. “But I kept it in.”

And Hawkins had kept this all to himself.

“For a while, I wouldn’t show it (the finger) to anybody,” he said. “I’m proud of it now. At least it’s the right color.”

Padre Notes

Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth gave a mini-press conference during Friday night’s game and reiterated his view that there probably won’t be a settlement before the Aug. 6 strike date set by the players. “I think a strike is a failure,” he said. “ . . . As to if there will or will not be a strike, it’s still a very iffy situation.” As to what a strike would do to the fans, he said: “Some fans will find something else to do. But . . . baseball is a part of the fabric of society. They look forward to it like the Fourth of July. It’s part of their life. The amount of people that read box scores and batting averages are many, many times more than the number who go to ballgames. The baseball fan enjoys baseball, and they’re showing up in record numbers, and why disappoint them?” On if there are contingency plans in case of a strike, he said: “I don’t want to get that kind of thinking in my head. I want both sides to find common ground.” . . . Padre owner Joan Kroc and team president Ballard Smith were supposed to talk about the potential strike with the Padre players and coaches on Friday, but Kroc missed the meeting, leaving Smith to do the talking. Terry Kennedy, the Padre player representative, said, “It was nothing noteworthy. We just reiterated our feelings that both sides didn’t want a strike. We just rehashed everything that we’ve talked about, all the negotiations to date. He (Smith) gave us his opinion, and we gave him ours. The good thing about it is that we have communication with our front office that is good. He (Smith) doesn’t hate me because I’m player rep. I definitely don’t have animosity toward Ballard or Mrs. Kroc. I’m honest with him, and he’s honest with me” . . . In case nobody’s noticed, the players’ strike date is Aug. 6, which also happens to be the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. “What an apropos day for a strike,” Kennedy said. . . . Today’s game begins at 1:05 p.m. for television purposes. It’s being televised regionally on NBC and can be seen locally on Channel 39. . . . Bill Madlock has resigned as captain of the Pirates, saying the rigors of being player representative are enough of a chore already. . . . Bernadette Thompson is expecting a baby, which is why Pirate first baseman Jason Thompson missed Friday’s game, having flown home Friday morning to be with his wife.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

FOURTH INNING Padres--Flannery singled to left. Gwynn flied to left. Flannery took second on a wild pitch. Garvey singled to center, Flannery scoring. Nettles singled to right, Garvey stopping at second. Kennedy homered to right, his eighth. Martinez flied to left. McReynolds struck out. Four runs, four hits, none left.

FIFTH INNING Padres--Winn took the mound. With two outs, Flannery singled to right. Gwynn singled to center, Flannery taking third. Garvey walked, loading the bases. Nettles walked, Flannery scoring. McWilliams replaced Winn. Kennedy grounded to second. One run, two hits, three left.

EIGHTH INNING Padres--Holland took the mound. Nettles homered to right, his ninth. Kennedy flied to right. Martinez walked. McReynolds struck out. Templeton lined to second. One run, one hit, one left.