Reuschel, Giants Top Padres, 8-3

Not counting the seven errors, or 50-degree temperatures, or 45,000 empty seats, or the fact that the beast took three hours to finish, Friday night’s game was a game for the ages.

The Padres’ two featured pitchers had a combined age of 45, with combined experience of two seasons.

The Giants’ featured pitcher was 38 years old, with the experience of 15 seasons.

Guess who walked six batters and gave up seven runs in seven innings.

Guess who didn’t.

Bitten by an immaturity that can improve with time, the Padres were defeated, 8-3, in front of 16,464 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Mark Grant, the older Padre pitcher who should know better, allowed three runs in five innings. thanks in part to four unintentional walks. Candy Sierra, the 21-year-old kid, threw a perfect, two-strikeout inning--and then allowed six of the next seven batters to reach base.

The Giants countered with Rick Reuschel. Unless you stopped following baseball during the Nixon era, you’ve heard of him. He needed about six pitches to get through his six innings. He allowed four hits and one run.

“He knows how to pitch,” Tony Gwynn said, shaking his head. “He puts it where he wants to put it, and then when it’s there, it ain’t straight.”

Neither were the Padres, who have gone from a team that had won three out of four to just another 3-7 club.

“The worst we’ve played this year,” Manager Larry Bowa said with a resigned look. “This will happen now and then.

“They had a guy out there who knows exactly what he is doing, who never gives in.”

And of his starting pitcher, Grant?

“You got five walks in five innings, 105 pitches, always pitching behind,” Bowa said. “It’s tough to be effective when you pitch behind.”

How much was pitching worth on Friday? The Padres committed five errors, one shy of the team record and nearly double the total they committed in the previous nine games combined . . . and it didn’t matter. They still would have lost by two runs.

“Five errors, so what?” Tony Gwynn said. “It wasn’t errors that cost us this game.

How about Reuschel, of whom the sometimes headstrong and impatient Padres are no match. In two starts against them this year--his only two starts--he has allowed 2 runs and 8 hits in 14 innings for a 1.26 earned-run average.

One could make the argument that both Grant and Sierra would fit inside the lopsided-looking pitcher. Others would say Reuschel doesn’t care.

A 6-foot 3-inch, 245-pounder who finished third in last year’s Cy Young balloting, Reuschel doesn’t overpower batters. He bores them to death. Hitting off Reuschel is like hitting off a tee, only Reuschel brings the tee, and sets it up depending on his mood.

Sometimes he likes to be funny. In the second inning, three straight batters hit three straight pitches directly to, where else, third base. Three outs.

Other times, he prefers frustrating. In the fourth, four straight batters hit the ball to left field. One of the hitters was Randy Ready, and the ball was a homer, his second of the year, but Reuschel knew what he was doing. Two of the other three balls were flyouts, and Reuschel then struck out Benito Santiago to end the inning.

Reuschel, who was probably never anybody’s Most Likely To Succeed, loves to pitch against those who are.

In the first inning, Reuschel faced the Padres’ hottest hitter with two out and a runner on first. Now John Kruk can’t hit a grand slam every time, but a weak grounder to second base?

In the fifth inning, Reuschel faced the baseball’s defending batting champion with two out and runners on first and second. Now Tony Gwynn is struggling and all, but a weak grounder to second base?

“He won’t ever give in,” Keith Moreland said. “Nothing ever in the middle of the plate. “

Moreland, who entered as the big league’s only player with a hit in each of his team’s games thus far (nine), hit two shots, one to the left-field wall, the other toward first base. Both were caught. Only a ninth-inning single kept his streak alive.

Now for Grant, who led the team’s regular starters last year with 4.5 walks per 9 innings. He walked four unintentionally in just five innings, with two of those walks leading to runs. At least two men reached base in each of his five innings, and the only time it wasn’t his fault was the second inning, when the Padres committed back-to-back errors (Chris Brown, John Kruk), unusual for a team that had no errors in its first five games.

Grant worked out of three of those tight spots, including the inning with the muffs, but from the start it was obvious; he wasn’t going to be lucky or good.

The man who allowed 11 first-inning runs in 25 starts last year found trouble as quickly and easily as the sparse crowd found their seats. The game’s second hitter, Kevin Mitchell, was walked on five pitches. Will Clark’s slow grounder forced Mitchell at second base, with Clark safe and first and ready for Candy Maldonado. Three pitches later there was this bang five rows up in the empty left field seats. It was Maldonado’s first homer this season, and doubled his season RBI total.

Two innings later Grant hurt himself with another one-out walk, this one to Clark, who promptly stole second and went to third when catcher Benito Santiago bounced the ball into center field. Santiago really didn’t need to try that hard, Clark only stole five bases last year.

But no matter, from third, it was easy for Clark to score one out later on Jeffrey Leonard’s single up the middle giving the Giants a 3-0 lead. It was a full-count single--after Grant had him down 1-and-2.

Sierra finished things off by allowing four runs on five hits in the seventh inning, finalized by a two-out, two-strike, two-run single by Bob Melvin. This same Bob Melvin who has a career average of .172 against right-handers. Candy Sierra is a right-hander.

“He’ll be fine, he was just rusty,” Bowa said of Sierra. “He hasn’t pitched in a week, you can’t expect a young guy like that to come out strong right away.”

Padre Notes

Those who don’t believe that Tony Gwynn is still not happy with his batting stroke--even though he entered Friday’s game on a 4-for-7 spurt--should have been at early batting practice. Wishing to videotape his swing from an angle unavailable to regular game cameras, Gwynn set up his own video camera outside the cage. Using a timer, he taped his batting practice himself and then sat down afterward, looked into another hole in the camera and watched his swing play back. “I know nobody thinks I’m scuffling. That’s why I’m glad I’m me and nobody else,” said Gwynn, who entered Friday’s game hitting .235. “If I listened to everybody else, I’d hit about .250. I know how I feel, I don’t care how many hits I get, and right now it doesn’t feel good.” . . . The Dave Leiper rehabilitation saga should end today when the reliever will throw three innings of a simulated game, facing the Padres’ extra men before regular batting practice. If he feels well on Sunday, said Manager Larry Bowa, he will be activated. “I can’t wait,” said Leiper, who felt “great” after he threw Wednesday afternoon. Even though Leiper has been on the disabled list since the start of the season and theoretically could have watched the games from home, he has suited up and spent every game in the bullpen. “I guess I just feel more comfortable there,” he said. “Tell you what, it’s better than being in the dugout.” Leiper’s return could mean the minor leagues for the Padres’ other left-handed middle reliever, Eric Nolte, who hasn’t pitched since April 7. Nolte admittedly feels more comfortable as a starter, a role he filled well for the Padres late last season. He could start at triple-A Las Vegas until there is an opening here. . . . Bullpen coach Denny Sommers, 47, was running around the clubhouse like a little boy Friday, shaking his head and fairly glowing. Receiving a World Series ring will do that to you. Sommers, who spent the past two seasons as the advance scout for the world champion Minnesota Twins, received the ring in the mail Friday morning. Nearly twice the size of the Padres’ 1984 National League championship rings, Sommers’ new piece of jewelry contains 15 diamonds. ‘Imagine that, 15 diamonds,” Sommers said while showing the ring to everyone who breathed. “Thirty-three years in baseball, and look what I’ve finally got. I never thought it could happen.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

FIRST INNING

Giants--With one out, Mitchell walked. Clark grounded to short, forcing Mitchell. Maldonado homered to left, his first. Leonard doubled to right. Thompson grounded to short. Two runs, two hits, one left.

THIRD INNING

Giants--With one out, Clark walked. Clark stole second and moved to third on Santiago’s throwing error. Maldonado fouled out to first. Leonard singled to center, Clark scoring. Thompson walked. Uribe flied to right. One run, two hits, two left.

FOURTH INNING

Padres--With one out, Ready homered to left, his second. Kruk singled to left. Moreland flied to left. Santiago struck out. One run, two hits, one left.

SEVENTH INNING

Giants--Sierra pitching. Clark singled to left. Maldonado singled to left, Clark to third. Leonard singled to right, scoring Clark and Maldonado to third. Thompson struck out. Maldonado caught stealing on suicide squeeze attempt, Leonard taking second. Uribe intentionally walked. Melvin doubled to left, Leonard and Uribe scoring. Aldrete, pinch-hitting for Reuschel, doubled to left, Melvin scoring. Butler struck out. Four runs, five hits, one left.

NINTH INNING

Giants--Thompson reached first on shortstop Templeton’s error. Uribe singled to center, Thompson taking second. Melvin grounded to second, forcing Uribe. Thompson scored on throwing error by second baseman Ready, Melvin safe at first. Aldrete grounded into double play. One run, one hit, one left.

Padres--Moreland singled to left. Santiago singled to center, Moreland stopping at third. Brown struck out. Templeton singled to right, Moreland scoring and Templeton taking third on Maldonado’s error. Abner flied to left, Santiago scoring. Jefferson grounded to second. Two runs, three hits, one left.