Padres Go in Search of Their Future, as Giants Prevail, 4-1

You know the season’s over when guys forget to shave. And the beards are back. John Kruk showed up Tuesday night with grubby growth on his cheeks, and Kevin McReynolds is attempting that mustache of his again.

“Yeah, that’s when you know you’re not in a pennant race--when guys start growing beards for the duck hunting season,” Padre Manager Steve Boros said.

But, suddenly, out from nowhere came all these baby faces--Gary Green, Randy Asadoor, Tim Pyznarski, Benito Santiago. Around the batting cage, they posed for pictures. They turned down interview requests, nervous they might miss something important--like infield practice.

“Have a meeting to go to,” Asadoor said to a reporter.

“I really am late for infield practice,” Santiago said to another.

But, uh, you also know the season’s over when these baby-faced guys get to run onto the field for the national anthem. And they get to stay out there and play, too?

They lost to the Giants, 4-1. Santiago, who the Padres think is going to be a great catcher, committed his first major league passed ball. And Asadoor, a third baseman, booted his first major league grounder and then elected to let a bunt roll foul with a man on third--and it stayed fair, the runner scoring.

And Pyznarski, a first baseman, just plain dropped a ball for his first major league error. Green did better--no errors and he turned two double plays.

It wasn’t all that bad, really. Asadoor picked up his first major league hit--a ground ball to shortstop that Jose Uribe couldn’t handle. It was ruled a hit, and Asadoor received somewhat nice applause from the 8,446 people at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Santiago had a hit, too--his second in two games. Jack McKeon, Padre general manager, really adores Santiago. Before Tuesday’s game, McKeon said he had noticed that Houston baserunners didn’t dare try to steal on Santiago. Apparently, they’d heard about Santiago’s rocket arm.

When McKeon then saw Santiago walking around during batting practice, he said: “There he is, the White Knight! Que pasa, Benito.”

Meanwhile, Ed Wojna--one of the Padre veterans now that he has pitched in four games--gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits and got his first loss of the year (he’s 2-1). The key blow was Harry Spilman’s pinch-hit, bases-loaded double in the sixth.

The only real Padre rally came when Boros put his veterans in for the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Marvell Wynne doubled off Mike Krukow (17-8) and pinch-hitter Terry Kennedy scored Wynne with another double. But Mark Davis relieved Krukow and forced pinch-hitter Jerry Royster to ground out, pinch-hitter Steve Garvey to strike out and pinch-hitter Bruce Bochy to fly out.

So Krukow earned the victory, and he has a chance to be the first Giant pitcher to win 20 games since Ron Bryant did it 13 years ago.

Perhaps it isn’t fair that all those Padre rookies have had to face Houston’s Mike Scott (16 victories) and Krukow in their first two games. Padre veterans have been nice enough to offer advice, unsolicited.

“But even if we face a four-game winner, he’ll be tough,” Asadoor said. “Still, the thing I like right now is that it’s such a challenge to get a hit here. I’ve got everything to gain. Basically, I’m going against the odds. It’s real exciting to step in there, and everyone has been so receptive. They give advice, and I don’t even have to ask them.”

The weird part for Asadoor is that he wasn’t even playing regularly for the Las Vegas Stars when he was called up.

“Basically, I think I might be the only player in history to be called up who wasn’t even playing (in the minors),” Asadoor said. “I hadn’t played the last two weeks in Las Vegas. So now I’m called up and thrown into the first game. . . . I think I’d have more confidence going into these games if I’d been playing down there. I realize I’ll probably struggle offensively. It’ll take a while to get my timing back, like anything else. I just hope I can sneak in a couple hits so they’ll have patience with me until I get my timing and my stroke down.”

Patience? Of course. The season’s over, isn’t it?

Padre Notes Goose Gossage’s agent, Jerry Kapstein, has continued his negotiations with Padre President Ballard Smith and said Tuesday he is “cautiously optimistic that Ballard, Goose and I can reach a positive resolution of the situation before we go to arbitration.” Gossage was suspended Aug. 29 for criticizing the Padre front office, and the case is supposed to be heard by an arbitrator Friday in Houston. “We’re no closer to a resolution tonight (Tuesday) than we were this morning,” Kapstein said, “but what was always a good atmosphere has even improved.” Smith could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, pitcher Andy Hawkins, one of Gossage’s closest friends--expects to be a witness at Gossage’s upcoming arbitration hearing--if it comes up. “I’d just like a little notice, just so no one comes up to me Friday (the day of the hearing) and says, ‘You’re in there to testify.’ But I’d like to help him out because I think he’s right . . . It’s killing him to be away from the game,” said Hawkins, who chats with Gossage about three days a week. “Ballard has hurt him the way you can really hurt him--by taking the game away from him. Take all the money you want from him, but not the game. He misses us bad. It kills him that he’s not able to play ball. What’s he doing at home? A lot of things--washing the car, dragging the kids around, fixing what the kids tear up, taking care of the housework. I’m telling you, Ballard has made his point. Why not back off and get this settled and start this organization in the right direction again. It’s a mess.” . . . Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt--7-10; 5.27 ERA--is temporarily being moved to the bullpen now that all the young pitchers are up from Las Vegas. ‘It’s just one of those years, it seems like,” Hoyt said. “Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t have a spring training (he was in a rehabilitation center). It’s hard to put a finger on it. But I feel strong, I feel healthy. That’s all I care about. If they want to give me the opportunity and give me the ball, that’s fine. If they want to give the other kids the ball and give them the opportunity, that’s fine also. I don’t run the team; I’m just a player. I’m not going to make any irrational statements and be fined or suspended.” . . . Manager Steve Boros said rookies Jimmy Jones and Ray Hayward could both get their first major league starts this weekend in Houston. But it depends if Cincinnati has cut into the Astros’ lead in the National League West. If the games are important to the pennant race, Dave LaPoint and Ed Wojna would start instead--to be fair to the Reds. . . . Some telling Padre statistics: (1) Craig Lefferts, a relief pitcher, is tied with Dave Dravecky, Hawkins and Eric Show for the team lead in victories (nine). (2) When the Padres have scored three or more runs, their record is 55-44. “So that’s a lot of ballgames we didn’t score three runs, “ Boros said. “All year long, our problem has been an inability to score runs.” (3) The Padres have left 972 men on base, the third fewest in the National League. “But that’s more of an indication that we’ve had nobody on base, period,” Boros said. “Take the difference between our team batting average and our team on-base percentage. There isn’t much of a difference. That’s because we don’t have patient hitters. We don’t draw walks. Only the Dodgers have fewer walks than we do.”