Padre Notebook : Exhibition Game or Not, Pitcher Nolte Already in a Real Tizzy

Spring training? Eric Nolte?

Nah.

He pumped his fist after strikeouts, he stormed off the mound after innings. He would have high-fived everyone in the dugout, only it was just March 5, and he’s 6-feet 3-inches tall, and some of his Padre teammates can’t hoist their arms that far yet.

Nolte, an unaffected 23-year-old, whose insistence on pitching in a tizzy held the fans’ imagination hostage last year, made his spring debut against the Angels Saturday as if saying, “OK, now where were we?”

“Yeah, I guess I was pumped,” said Nolte, whose starting performance was the only good Padre memory in a 7-3 defeat, their 10th consecutive big-league exhibition loss over two seasons.

Nolte pitched three innings that were remarkable not because they were scoreless and hitless, but because he acted as if nobody told him they didn’t count.

After he walked Mark McLemore to start the game, he repeatedly pounded his fist into his glove between pitches until he retired the next three hitters.

After he struck out Jack Howell on a curveball to end the second, Nolte sprinted off the mound as if intending to topple the free-standing Desert Sun Stadium dugout. And after he struck out pitcher Kirk McCaskill in the third, coming back from a 3-and-0 count, he quickly cocked his arm as if firing a shotgun.

“That move was more out of anger,” Nolte said. “How can I go 3 and 0 on an American League hockey player?”

A more considered question would be, how can he act like this in spring training?

“I don’t think I can control it,” he said. “Maybe I should try harder to control it, but then, it’s just me.”

It was just that personality that made the end of last season palatable for Padre fans. Recalled Aug. 1 from Class AA Wichita, skipping Class AAA entirely, he represented the kind of gamble that only a last-place team could take.

He quickly made the bet a memorable one, beginning with his debut in Houston, where he threw seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts in a 6-0 victory over the Astros. At the end of the month, he threw a four-hitter against Philadelphia. For August, he was the Padres’ pitcher of the month, going 2-2 with a 1.72 ERA in six starts.

He struggled a bit in September--having never before pitched on a team whose season extended that long--and he wound up 2-6 with a 3.21 ERA.

Throughout it all he took ribbing from teammates for being so wide-eyed and childish and innocent. Most thought that when he returned for his first big-league spring in a tangle for a starting spot, all of that would end.

It hasn’t.

Said Nolte: “The great thing about being with the big league team this spring is, the hotel has air-conditioning.”

All of this is fine with Manager Larry Bowa, who probably will have to choose between Nolte and Andy Hawkins for the fifth and final starter’s spot. If Nolte wins, Hawkins could move to the bullpen as a middle reliever. But if Hawkins wins, chances are Nolte will have to live at a Triple-A address after all.

Saturday, Nolte’s part of the battle began. Hawkins will make his spring debut today with a start against the Angels.

“Yeah, I feel the pressure,” Nolte said. “Last year things happened at the right time for me. This spring, I haven’t been sure where I’m at.”

He said he’s finally adjusting.

“I’m just starting to going back to being myself,” he said. “The only way I’m going to make this team is to be me, and not worry about anything else.”

Good thing, because Bowa likes him like that.

“He likes to play. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Bowa said.

In front of 5,517 fans, the Padres blew a 3-1 lead in the ninth by allowing the Angels to score six runs on seven hits and two walks.

Bowa was calm afterward, mainly because those runs came at the expense of minor-league pitcher Ed Vosberg, a long shot to make the team. Vosberg was left in the game throughout the barrage to receive a test under pressure.

“Obviously, if this is the end of March, I’m bringing in Lance McCullers or Mark Davis there,” said Bowa. “I’m going to play the last two weeks of spring training like they were the regular season.

“But now, I’ve got to find out about some people. This is one game where a lot of questions are answered.”

The Padres’ low point was not the ninth inning, but the sixth, when catcher Benito Santiago was hit on the leg by a Greg Minton pitch. He hobbled down to first and was immediately replaced by Sandy Alomar Jr.

“He’s fine,” Bowa said afterward. “We’re lucky it didn’t hit him on the knee.”

The Padres avoided contract renewal with stopper Lance McCullers by settling on a two-year deal at the expected compromise of $650,000 per year.

They weren’t so lucky with pitchers Mark Grant and Dave Leiper. Their contracts were renewed as the club deadline expired.

Grant was renewed at $90,000, considerably less than his $120,000 asking price. Leiper was renewed at $75,100; he was asking for $90,000.

“I’ve very disappointed,” said Leiper, a reliever who came to the Padres late last season in a trade from Oakland. Overall he was 3-1 with a 3.95 ERA, but for the Padres was just 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

“I thought what I did all year, combined, would be worth something, but I guess it wasn’t,” he said. “It seems ridiculous. It was like the American League didn’t matter. They said they haven’t seen me enough to evaluate me.”