A Giant Improvement as Padres Win Again

Not that anyone’s counting, but the Padres on Sunday happened to get their third straight victory. And not that anyone’s counting, but they hadn’t done that since last August.

Beer and wine coolers flowed in the clubhouse after Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the red-faced San Francisco Giants, though this party hardly matched the one Sunday in the Forum. But parties are parties, and the Padres were as bouncy as basketballs Sunday.

Funny, but three days ago, Manager Larry Bowa said he was counting the days until next season. But, Bowa ought to count this:

--Pitcher Dave Dravecky hurled a five-hitter and went the distance for the first time in more than a year. Padre pitchers have only four complete games this season, but two of them have come in the last three days.

--The Padres scored in the first inning each of the last three days, and Bowa thinks this has helped the pitchers relax and throw well.

--The Giants had 36 hits and 25 runs in their three games in Cincinnati last week. Against the Padres, they scored four runs in four days and did not have a home run against Padre pitchers, who have given up the most homers this season in the major leagues.

--The bulk of the Giant offense-- outfielders Jeffrey Leonard, Chili Davis and Candy Maldonado--were 3 for 37 this weekend.

--Bowa’s new No. 3 hitter--second baseman Randy Ready--has a nine-game hitting streak, a career-high. And after getting a home run and double Sunday, first baseman Carmelo Martinez has impressed his manager. In his last two games, Martinez is 4 for 7 with five RBIs, and the Padres don’t seem upset that regular first baseman John Kruk might go on the disabled list.

Not that anyone in the National League West is counting, but the Padres finished 6-7 on this trip. They have won 18 games and also are within 18 games of the first-place Reds.

Bowa thinks a team meeting two weeks ago in Montreal might have helped. Padre players secretly taped the meeting--thinking Bowa was going to hit the new Olympic Stadium roof--but Bowa plainly told them that the five or six players with attitude problems needed to play better.

One of them was Martinez, who was going so bad three days ago that he tried throwing his sweaty T-shirt into the clubhouse hamper and accidentally dumped it into a plate of chicken. But Kruk has a very sore right knee (and will be X-rayed today), so Martinez--benched in Montreal with an 0-for-28 slump--got to play in San Francisco.

His first-inning double on Sunday scored Stan Jefferson from third, giving the Padres a 1-0 lead. And his third-inning home run to left--his fifth of the season--made it 4-0.

“I was 0 for 28, and I didn’t even know it until yesterday (Saturday),” Martinez said. “I knew I hadn’t had a hit in a while, but when someone said 0 for 28, I said, ‘What?’ What I’m saying is I wasn’t worrying about it.”

Dravecky hadn’t pitched a complete game since May 26, 1986 at Montreal. But he’s on a semi-roll. In Houston last week, he threw a two-hitter through six innings--relying mostly on a sinker ball.

He threw a slider Sunday because it was more effective than his sinker.

Also, Dravecky had the gall to try to steal second in the fourth inning. Neither Bowa nor any Padre coach flashed the steal sign, but Dravecky went anyway. He was out, and he cut his chin on a headfirst slide.

“I got a little carried away,” Dravecky admitted. “I thought I’d be Tim Flannery, but it didn’t work out too well. I just figured if I got to second, it’d give us another chance to score a run.”

So in a matter of three days, the Padres have wiped out many ill and bitter feelings. On Friday, for instance, Bowa made these harsh statements to a Sacramento reporter:

“For the first time since I’ve played baseball, I’m counting the days until the end of the season. I never thought I would feel like this. . . . My little girl is 3 years old and if she went out on the mound and pitched, she could stymie us. Managers of the other teams are giving their guys rest when they play us. They are treating it as if it were a ‘B’ game. And they are getting away with it.”

But Sunday, three games later, Bowa couldn’t wait for Tuesday, when his now-beloved Padres go for No. 4.

Padre Notes

He wouldn’t name names, but Manager Larry Bowa said Sunday that some Padres would be better off elsewhere. “Four or five guys, I think we’ve got to get out of here,” Bowa said before Sunday’s game. “Put it this way: They need a change of scenery because they’re getting stagnant here.” . . . As expected, the Padres placed outfielder Marvell Wynne on the 15-day disabled list because of his bad back. Stan Jefferson was activated. Wynne was the ninth Padre to go on the DL this year, and first baseman John Kruk (right knee) might be next. “Maybe,” Bowa said of Kruk’s DL chances. “(Trainer) Dick Dent says it’s really tender.” Kruk, who will be examined by team doctors today, said he can’t run. “But I couldn’t run before, either,” Kruk said. . . . Right fielder Tony Gwynn (left hamstring) sat out his second straight game Sunday, but Gwynn says he plans to be in the lineup Tuesday against the Dodgers. “Even if I have to pitch,” Gwynn said. But Bowa said he might keep Gwynn--the league’s leading hitter with a .359 average--on the bench. “I’d like to (play him),” Bowa said. “But I’d rather have him sit out four days or so. Imagine where we’d be without him. What if he tears it (the hamstring)? He keeps us competitive.”