One by One, Padres Receive News

By the time Terry Kennedy called Tony Gwynn, it was old news.

Gwynn: “Yeah, Terry, I heard. Bobby Brown called me.”

Kennedy: “OK. See you tomorrow.”

But where was all the excitement? Well, like Gwynn said, he’d already spoken to Brown, who broke the news to Gwynn like this:

“Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhh! We’re playing!”

And one scream was enough.

So, one by one by one, the Padres come back today to play again. The strike, which they possibly thought would last through New Year’s Day, has been averted. Next, starting tonight at 7:05 against the Houston Astros, they will try to avert a four-game losing streak.

General Manager Jack McKeon, a spokesman for management, put it this way: “We can get back to playing baseball with no excuses. Guys were saying the strike was hanging over their heads . . . We were five games ahead of the Dodgers a month ago. We know how fast we lost it. So we also know we’re not out of it, either. Let’s go at it with a little enthusiasm and go get it.”

So, suddenly, the home stretch is upon us. Kennedy, the Padre player representative who now can mainly be the Padre catcher, called his 24 teammates Wednesday to say the settlement was official. At 2 p.m., after they heard the news, Kevin McReynolds, Garry Templeton and Roy Lee Jackson went to play golf.

Gwynn, whose wife will deliver their second child today, bought cigars.

Some comments:

Gwynn: “After they broke off (negotiations), I didn’t think it’d be settled this quick. But I’m glad. It gives us a chance to play baseball without a crash course of workouts like the last time (the 50-day strike of 1981). Will it revitalize us? Hopefully, the way we’ve been playing. Hopefully, it’ll shape us up. There are still 60 games left. We’re struggling home, but at least we’re coming home.

“Really, I’d resigned myself to the fact we’d have a long strike. I told (his wife) Alicia ‘Let’s start conserving.’ I thought it’d be a while.”

Steve Garvey: “I’d been relatively optimistic all along, and felt if we struck, it’d be a short one. There were too many pluses in favor of settling it. But I knew if they kept the salary cap, it would be prolonged . . . Unfortunately, it couldn’t be worked out before a strike. That puzzles me--the idea that we had to strike. They knew we were solid, that we would go out. You’d think history would educate people.

“But I’m extremely happy. If it’s a five-year agreement, that means we won’t be subject to this form of agony for a while.

“Now, we’re coming around the third turn (in the season). By September, it’ll be the home stretch. We have to play consistently.”

Manager Dick Williams: “First of all, LaMarr Hoyt is pitching the first game. But we heard (about the settlement) right before we left Cincy (Wednesday morning). I’m very thrilled that it’s settled . . . The players’ minds have to be at ease now.”

But what about those players? Before the strike, Williams said if a strike was averted, he might make some changes. He flew home with McKeon on Wednesday, and they talked, but no changes are imminent for tonight’s game.

“We’ll discuss that in the next few days,” Williams said.

Still, the Padres have to replace Goose Gossage, who will be sidelined for at least another two weeks with a right knee injury. McKeon has confirmed that he had talked to some teams about trading for another reliever, but this was before the strike.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” McKeon said when asked about the trade possibilities. “Everything was dropped pending outcome of the strike. We’ll see tomorrow.”

McKeon also confirmed reports that he’d talked to the Phillies about acquiring catcher Bo Diaz. Then, Wednesday, Diaz was traded to Cincinnati.

“We’d been talking to them (Philly) for a year about Diaz,” McKeon said.

He promised he’d be on the phone to somebody else today.

And the trade rumors will be back.

So is baseball.