Rose Manages a Day Off as Reds Beat Padres, 2-1

Once the big day finally had come, Pete Rose didn’t want it to end. At about 1 a.m. Thursday morning, four hours after he’d said adios to Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record, Rose was doing an interview with former teammate Joe Morgan. It was a good one, too. At one point, Morgan became overwhelmed with emotion and burst into tears.

Eventually, at about 1:30 a.m., Rose left Riverfront Stadium. Already on the streets were first editions of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the headlines screaming: “4,192!” Inside the paper was a list of each of those hits, naming the date and the pitcher. It took up three full pages. Rose picked up a copy and went to eat a couple of steaks.

Sleep eventually came, but “not too much,” Rose said, “maybe a couple hours.” At 7 a.m., he was on ABC. And CBS, too. Phil Donahue was flying in to tape a show.

Consequently, even though he’d eaten his Wheaties, Rose was not in the lineup for Thursday night’s game with the Padres. Alas, he still managed to manage the Reds to a 2-1 victory in front of 13,418.

“I just took a day off,” Rose said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

And the Padres, more or less, played their typical game on this road trip, losing even though starter Andy Hawkins (17-6) went the distance.

In four games here, Padre pitchers have given up eight runs (two each night).

In four games here, the Padres have scored five runs.

In four games here, they have lost three.

The opportunities, as usual, were there. In the fourth with two outs and runners on first and second, Kevin McReynolds flied to center. In the sixth with no outs and runners on first and third, Carmelo Martinez popped out to the catcher and McReynolds hit into an inning-ending double play. In the eighth with no outs, Tony Gwynn was on first when Steve Garvey hit into a double play.

And in the ninth with one out, Miguel Dilone stood on second, representing the tying run. But McReynolds struck out. Then, Tim Flannery hit a long fly to left that seemingly would sail over outfielder Eric Davis’ head. It didn’t, but Davis banged his head into the wall as he made the game-ending catch.

He lay there.

Rose ran out to left field, and Davis eventually stood up. Rose joked with him. “See that hole in the wall? You did that.”

Once inside Rose’s office, you could see the goodies. The No. 4,192 was printed on stained glass, for instance. “Isn’t that nice?” he said. Then, he began talking about the Donahue show, which he’d filmed earlier that day.

Donahue apparently asked him to whom he’d given the game ball from Wednesday night.

Rose: “My son, Petey.”

Donahue: “Yeah?”

Rose: “Yeah, that should pay for his college education. On second thought, he can buy his own college.”

Padre Notes

Bob Cluck has been ousted as manager of the Padres’ Triple-A farm club in Las Vegas after refusing to accept a demotion, Padre officials said Thursday. Cluck, manager of the Las Vegas Stars for the past two years, was offered the managerial job with the Padres’ Class-A affiliate in Reno but declined. The Stars concluded their season Sept. 1 with a third-place finish in the Pacific Coast League. The Stars, who play a split season, finished with an overall record of 65-79.