Whitson Gets Win for Padres; Assist Goes to Templeton

Two straight wins, and here’s what someone wrote on their lunchroom door:

“Break Up the Padres.”

And don’t break out in laughter or anything, because it’s true. The Padres did win their second straight game Wednesday night--6-3 over the Cincinnati Reds--behind the bat of Kevin Mitchell, the arm of Ed Whitson and the glove of Garry Templeton.

On the same night that Kevin McReynolds hit a home run for the New York Mets in Pittsburgh, Mitchell--acquired for McReynolds over the winter--also hit one. He hit a two-run shot to left-center in the sixth inning, and he had earlier hit a two-run double in the third inning. That’s four RBIs in one game, a career high.

The Padres scored three runs in the third. That has happened only twice before this season. Also, the six runs equaled their season high. Back on April 13, the Padres scored six runs against the San Francisco Giants, but lost by seven.

On this night, though, they got decent pitching.

It came from Whitson, now 2-1. He was 1-7 last year for the Padres, so he has already been an improvement. On Wednesday, he lasted six innings and gave up three runs on five hits.

Of course, two of the five hits off Whitson were home runs. He has given up 18 hits this year, 10 of which have been home runs. He blames it on a livelier ball.

But Bowa said: “He (Whitson) is so hyper out there. He’s got to back off and say, ‘Think down. . . . Think down.’ ”

Templeton got down in the eighth inning to rob the Reds of a potential rally. Red third baseman Buddy Bell was on first base with one out when reliever Craig Lefferts got Dave Concepcion to hit a grounder up the middle.

Templeton had been playing Concepcion to pull, and he had to dive to his left to stop the ball. He snared it with his glove.

Templeton was lying on his side and had no time to jump to his feet. So he flipped the ball out of his glove to second baseman Joey Cora, who turned the inning-ending double play.

Templeton ran off to a large ovation, whereupon Tim Flannery told him that was probably the best defensive play he’d ever made.

“Yeah, that was real good,” Templeton said.

So the Padres improved to 3-12. The Reds are 10-5. Actually, the Reds hadn’t lost two straight since last Sept. 19, and the Padres hadn’t won two straight since last Oct. 1.

So this was a real role reversal.

“Yeah, but we’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” Bowa said.

Red Manager Pete Rose--one of Bowa’s better buddies--had said of Bowa the day before: “What’s that little sucker gonna do? Win every game against me? I want him to win and do well, but not against me.”

In the third, Cora drew a walk with one out (he walked three times Wednesday) and went to second on James Steels’ ground out. Tony Gwynn drove in Cora with a triple to right-center.

Then, John Kruk walked, and Mitchell followed with his two-run double to left-center, putting the Padres ahead, 4-2.

At the time, the Red pitcher was Bill Landrum, who had been a relief pitcher. Landrum wasn’t supposed to do much for the Reds this year, because Rose was higher on young pitchers Norm Charlton and Pat Pacillo. But Landrum won a spot on the roster, even though he said one day this spring: “I have no idea what my role is here. I guess it’s making the big leagues.”

Wednesday, he wasn’t making a very good impression (Mitchell’s hit came on an 0-2 count). In only his second start, Landrum gave up four runs and three hits in three innings and was replaced by Frank Williams.

Williams gave up the two-run homer to Mitchell in the sixth, making it 6-3.

“You know,” Mitchell said. “I’d never gotten a hit off Williams before, not even in the minors.”

Usually, the Reds hit all the home runs. Leadoff man Kal Daniels hit a towering blast to left-center off Whitson in the fifth inning, and catcher Sal Butera had hit one, too--in the second inning with a man on. This was the seventh straight game that at least one Red had hit a home run. Daniels is tied for the league lead in homers with six (along with the Dodgers’ Franklin Stubbs).

The Reds’ Eric Davis, who has a .469 batting average, didn’t hit a home run Wednesday, and--even more remarkably--was caught stealing by catcher Benito Santiago. Davis, who stole 80 bases last year, had been caught only once before this season (by Houston’s Mark Bailey on a pitchout), and he has been thrown out only 18 times in his career (114 for 132). Santiago has thrown out six of the eight runners that have tried stealing on him this year. Right fielder Dave Parker also went without a home run Wednesday, but he came awfully close in the seventh. He hit a ball to deep right that just curled foul. Then he struck out--slamming his helmet to the ground.

Rose says you can always tell if Parker’s mad after a strikeout. If he walks back to the dugout with his helmet hung on his bat, he’s not too mad. But if he slams his helmet and throws his batting gloves to the dugout floor, he’s pretty upset.

Padre Notes

Tom Romenesko, the Padre minor league director, recently watched the Padres’ Double-A team in Wichita, Kan., and was raving Wednesday about shortstop Roberto Alomar and pitcher Candy Sierra. Alomar--son of Padre first-base coach Sandy Alomar--was just named Texas League player-of-the-week after going 13 for 26 with 8 runs scored, 4 doubles, 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. Roberto has always been a second baseman, but he’s playing shortstop now and probably is the heir apparent to Garry Templeton. Sandy--who played 15 seasons with the Mets, White Sox, Angels and Yankees--says Roberto will be much better than he ever was. “He’s got the bigger body,” Sandy said. As for Sierra--a right-hander--his record thus far is 3-0 with a 1.93 earned-run average. . . . Class-A second baseman Carlos Baerga was the South Atlantic player of the week when he hit .400 last week. . . . Manager Larry Bowa--a former Cub and Phillie--holds the National League record for most games played at shortstop in a career (2,222). Dave Concepcion of the Reds needs only 60 games at shortstop to break it, but he probably won’t because Red Manager Pete Rose has been playing him at first base. Concepcion jokingly told Rose: “You won’t play me at short because you’re Larry’s friend.” Actually, it’s because the Reds have two better shortstops--Barry Larkin and Kurt Stillwell. . . . First baseman Steve Garvey was 7 for 43 before Wednesday’s game (.163), but Bowa said it’s too early to bench him. Bowa thinks Garvey should get at least 100 at-bats before changes are considered. . . . Bowa has become a fan of Tracy Jones, a 26-year-old Red outfielder who loves head-first slides. Rose, introducing Jones to Bowa Wednesday, said with a smile: “Larry would like to have you on his team.” Jones said: “If I’m on your team, it’ll be a winner.” . . . Former Padre Kurt Bevacqua was hanging around the batting cage Wednesday, and he told Bowa: “I’m coming back.” Bowa answered: “I’m not that desperate.” And Bevacqua snapped: “The hell you ain’t.” Everybody laughed.