GONE POWER MAD : Suddenly, San Diego Is Hitting Homers on Record Pace

It might be a livelier ball. It might be the shape of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. It might be the way Steve Garvey is making pitchers pay for any slight mistake. Whatever the cause, the fact is that the Padres are hitting more home runs this season.

Led by Garvey, who already has 12 homers, the Padres are second in the National League with 58 home runs.

“I’m basically a low-ball hitter, and I haven’t been missing many of the balls I drive well,” Garvey said. “I’ve been getting under the ball, which gives it topspin and makes it carry 15 or 20 feet further. That’s the difference in my having 12 homers instead of just five or six at this time.”

If Garvey maintains his pace, he would set some personal records. If the Padres maintain the pace they have set through the first third of the season, they would:

- Break the team record of 172 homers, set in 1970.

- Surpass last year’s total of 109 around the first of August.

- Challenge the Montreal Expos for the National League’s home-run title. The Expos, with 66, are No. 1 at the moment.

Several Padres besides Garvey also would achieve personal highs, including Kevin McReynolds and even Tony Gwynn.

Of course, the Padres are no threat to the National League record of 221 homers, shared by the 1947 Giants and 1956 Reds. The record for most homers by two players, 93, set by Chicago’s Hack Wilson (56) and Gabby Hartnett (37) in 1930, also is safe.

Garvey’s target is 20-plus homers. “Maybe that’s conservative,” he said. “I could hit 35.”

McReynolds, who once hit 32 homers in the Pacific Coast League, also is a threat to surpass 30. But he says he is just as interested in attaining a .300 batting average and a lofty RBI total as he is in slugging 30 homers.

“Home runs won’t make or break this team,” McReynolds said. “I’ve hit some, when the pitcher was trying to throw a strike and didn’t get the ball in the right place, but I’m nottrying for homers.”

Gwynn, who already has matched his career best of six homers, hasn’t started going to the plate thinking long ball, either.

“I won’t deviate from what I do best,” Gwynn said. “The worst thing I could do would be to try to pull the ball all the time.”

Gwynn said he didn’t even realize the Padres were second in the league in homers. “I do know we’re fourth in the standings, and that’s more important,” he said.

As a singles hitter, Gwynn may be overlooking the correlation between power and pennants.

“A team that hits a lot of homers will usually win a lot of games,” said veteran Graig Nettles, who holds the American League career record for home runs by a third baseman.

Nettles believes he could still hit 30 if he were playing every day, but since he’s platooning with Jerry Royster, it’s out of the question that he would approach his career high of 37.

A couple of other hitters with power, Carmelo Martinez and Terry Kennedy, also are unlikely to approach their personal bests. They have only nine homers between them.

Predicting records is asking for trouble, according to hitting coach Deacon Jones.

“Home runs hitters are a funny lot,” he said. “You’re dealing with the mind, which is a fragile thing. You’re also dealing with adrenaline and pressure. A good hitter can corral all of ‘em.”

Jones, however, isn’t surprised to find the Padres second in the league in home runs. The surprise was last year’s total of just 109 homers, ninth in the league.

“I was disappointed in what we did last season,” he said. “We should hit a lot of homers. There’s not much letup in our lineup.”

Among the starters or those who platoon on a regular basis, only Tim Flannery, Bip Roberts and Royster lack the power to hit 10 or more homers.

Even Gwynn, who doesn’t think of himself as a power hitter, has the ability to hit 12 or 15 homers this year without sacrificing his average, Jones said.

If Gwynn continues to improve, he could hit 18 or 20 homers and still be capable of leading the league in hitting in a future season, according to Jones.

Gwynn may be Jones’ favorite pupil because he studiously follows instructions. “Don’t try to muscle it,” Jones preaches. “Be patient. Don’t get yourself out.”

Tips from Jones may have less to do with the Padres’ show of power than this year’s baseball, which some players believe is livelier.

Pitcher Dave Dravecky is convinced that the ball is juiced up and carries farther.

He saw Montreal’s Hubie Brooks hit a well-thrown pitch, about four inches below the hitter’s knees, into the seats.

“I’m not taking anything away from Hubie, because he’s strong and has tremendous bat speed, but the way the ball jumped out of here, I’m convinced it’s livelier,” Dravecky said.

Third base coach Jack Krol, who has witnessed several homers that carried longer than he expected, shares Dravecky’s view on the peppier ball.

“There was a ball Nettles hit to the opposite field, and a broken bat homer by Gwynn,” Krol said.

Jones was stunned by a homer by Pittsburgh’s Jim Morrison.

“I thought it was going to be an easy out to end the inning,” Jones said. “For a moment, I was asking myself who our leadoff batter would be. Then I looked up and saw the ball go over Tony’s head and over the fence.”

Not everyone buys the argument that the ball is going farther this year. Nettles, for one, can’t tell any difference in balls he hits.

Neither can McReynolds, not that it makes much difference to him what kind of ball they use. “The pitcher can still jam you with it and put a crook in it,” McReynolds said.

One factor that has made San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium a more inviting target for sluggers was the installation in 1982 of an inner wall half the height of the 17-foot cement wall that surrounds the field.

From 1982 through 1985, the inner wall was responsible for 41% of the homers at the stadium. The Padres hit 101 of their 210 homers over the shorter wall, while opposing teams hit 108 of 294 over the inner fence.

There have been no studies to verify it, but Krol believes the construction of permanent bleachers in right field in 1984 has made the ball carry better by reducing wind currents.

“The ball still don’t jump out of here, but it’s a fair park,” McReynolds said. “It gives you what you hit.”

Garvey recalls the days when the park was not so fair. He was a Dodger then, and he didn’t like that imposing 17-foot green wall.

Of course, more than the dimensions of the stadium have changed. Garvey has changed, too. As he ages, some of his strength ebbs, requiring him to lift weights to maintain his condition.

“You buy youth with conditioning,” Garvey said.

What he can’t buy is a consistent run of fastballs from pitchers. A low fastball he can drive is nearly as important to Garvey as a smile or an autograph.

“I certainly don’t see as many fastballs anymore,” Garvey said. “They test you every year.”

Garvey has been using the same model bat--34 inches, 34 ounces--since 1973. He likes the balanced feel and the slightly larger “sweet spot” the model affords.

He figures he has been equally adept at hitting pitchers’ mistakes and choice pitches this year. When a pitcher makes a mistake, Garvey is likely to jump on it. Half of his 12 home runs this year have resulted from pitchers’ mistakes. In the category of good pitches that he hit into the seats were a changeup down and in from Sid Fernandez and a tailing sinker from Ricky Horton.

Garvey’s average is .260 and climbing. If it continues, he believes the home runs will mount, and the Padre offense will benefit.

PLAYING LONGBALL

Player Now Possible Best 1985 Steve Garvey 12 36 33 17 Kevin McReynolds 11 33 20 15 Graig Nettles 8 24 37 15 Tony Gwynn 6 18 6 6 Carmelo Martinez 5 15 21 21 Terry Kennedy 4 12 21 10 Team 58 174 172 109