Padre Notebook : Surgery Goes Well, but Bowa Must Find a No-Gwynn Lineup

The Padres were pushing their way through the autograph beggars late Friday afternoon, trying to reach a bus and a sandwich and safety from a ninth-inning loss to the Cleveland Indians, when a cry came from the back:

“Tony, Tony Gwynn, which one is Tony Gwynn?”

A woman turned to her daughter, who shrugged.

“I don’t know,” the girl said. “He’s got to be here somewhere.”

The Padres Without Their Best Player, Day 1: The shock has set in.

Tony Gwynn was back in San Diego Friday, ending his day at Scripps Clinic with successful surgery on his left index finger. The hand specialist who performed the one-hour operation said it could return Gwynn to the team sooner than expected.

“The operation went very well,” Dr. Merlin Hamer said. “He won’t be swinging a bat for a few weeks, but I see him back in the lineup, on the outside, in four to six weeks. But it could be sooner than that.”

Gwynn will have the stitches removed in a week to 10 days, Hamer said.

Back with the team, it was as if the Padres weren’t quite ready to believe it had happened, or believe what might happen now.

“Tony is doing what? “ asked third baseman Chris Brown shortly after Gwynn’s decision. “Tony is going in for what? I heard something about it but don’t know anything.”

Admitted pitcher Lance McCullers: “We’re a lot different team if we don’t have him. So we aren’t thinking anything real serious. We’re all just kind of thinking he’s coming back soon.”

If he doesn’t, if he misses even one game of the regular season, Manager Larry Bowa has some decisions to make. He must fill Gwynn’s right-field spot. And fill his No. 2 batting spot. And fill his spot on the roster.

The first decision essentially has been made. Immediately after Gwynn left the team Thursday, Bowa gave his preliminary blessing to moving Keith Moreland to right field and inserting Carmelo Martinez in left.

Said Martinez: “Tony is the big man, he’s been the big man for many years, but now we have to go with what we got.”

The second decision has not been made, though if spring games featuring regulars are any indication, the new No. 2 hitter would be Randy Ready. He will bat second behind Stanley Jefferson, and in front of Moreland, in today’s game with San Francisco. Martinez would take Ready’s preliminary place at the No. 6 or 7 slot.

As for the last decision, well, don’t ask. Friday afternoon, after the Padres fell to 3-5 this spring with a 4-3 loss to Cleveland, Bowa’s answer about the Opening Day roster question was short.

“I can’t say now. Too early,” said Bowa, staring at his watch. “Look here, it’s only March 11. We have a whole month left.”

Mathematics aside--the season starts April 5 in Houston--it appears that Bowa would have two choices:

1) Add another outfielder, the simple solution. In this case, the favorites would be Shawn Abner or Randell Byers.

2) Carry only five outfielders and use the opportunity to add an extra infielder. This would allow Bowa to keep all three leaders in the utility infield race--Tim Flannery, Dickie Thon and Mike Brumley.

Either way, Bowa is not saying, and some of the interested parties don’t want to think about it, either.

“King Kong can’t replace Tony Gwynn,” said Abner, who--with a .300 average--is the club’s third-leading spring hitter with at least 10 at-bats. “And nobody wants to replace somebody just because they got hurt. I don’t know what they are thinking, but I’m not going to worry about it.”

Abner, 21, captured attention on the opening day of camp by showing up with a combination punk-military haircut. It was a switch from last season, when he arrived in San Diego from Class AAA Las Vegas in September with a Brian Bosworth-style haircut, complete with a tiny ponytail.

But once he hit .277, with a pair of homers and seven RBIs in 16 games, talk about the hair stopped. And even this spring, club officials have ignored another unusual thing about him--poor fielding. He has bobbled several balls in right field and is one of only two Padre outfielders to commit an error.

“He’ll be fine out there,” Bowa said. “We know he can catch the ball.”

Said Abner: “I’m not worried about my fielding. I just have to get used to playing in the sun.”

The other candidate, Byers, tied Friday’s game with a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth. He leads the club in pinch-hitting this spring (3 for 5 with two RBIs). Last fall for the Padres, he hit .313 in 10 games. His value to this club would be as a bat off the bench.

“He can swing the bat; he knows what he’s doing,” Bowa said.

“I can’t think about anything,” the quiet Byers said. “I can’t change what I’m doing because of something that has happened. I can only do my best and not think about it.”

Byers is one of the few things about Friday’s loss that Bowa would like to think about.

Starter Ed Whitson struggled for his second consecutive outing, allowing three runs in five innings, including two walks that lead directly to runs. And stopper Lance McCullers gave up the winning run in the ninth on a lead-off triple by minor leaguer Scott Jordan and a sacrifice fly by minor leaguer Eddie Williams.

With Whitson’s outing, all six starting pitching candidates have pitched twice. Andy Hawkins and Whitson have fared worst.

Hawkins has an 11.81 ERA for 5 innings, having allowed 11 hits. Whitson has allowed 5 runs and 11 hits in eight innings for a 5.62 ERA.

The hottest pitcher has been Eric Nolte, who has a 3.00 ERA for six innings.