Padre Notebook : Day by Day, Abner Is Hoping to Stump His Hitting Slump

When the New York Mets visit San Diego Monday for the first time this season, some of them may be wondering about the fortunes of a certain former No. 1 Met draft pick.

If only they could have been in St. Louis in the fifth inning last Tuesday. On the Busch Stadium scoreboard next to Shawn Abner’s name ran this batting average:

.17!

The exclamation point punctuating outfielder Shawn Abner’s struggles to hit major league pitching has been matched only by the question mark of his immediate future here.

Abner, 21, who came to San Diego from the Mets as part of the celebrated 1986 trade that cost the Padres Kevin McReynolds, is being given his first big-league chance this month. He is not taking advantage of it.

Abner was given a full-time, make-or-break outfield job on May 4. In his next 24 at-bats, he had three hits. Abner, a right-handed hitter, was struggling against both right-handers and curveballs. He was struggling so much, he probably would have been demoted to triple-A Las Vegas by last Friday’s home-stand opener, changing places with Shane Mack, except that Mack was called up Monday because of Tony Gwynn’s thumb injury. Now both Mack and Abner are needed in the outfield at the same time.

Abner has struggled so much that he has even considered abandoning his one-patch-of-hair-on-top punk haircut.

“Next thing you know, I may be going to the bald look,” he said.

Gwynn is due back from the disabled list on May 29 at the earliest. Until then, barring trades, the ball remains in Abner’s court.

“Yeah, I’m hitting about .150 and trying just to see the ball. What else do you want to know?” a frustrated Abner said recently. “I’m thinking about it all the time. I think, I think.

“I’m not thinking about getting sent down, I’m just thinking about getting a hit. I think I’m making it worse than it is. Once I get a couple of hits, I’ll be all right.”

Padre Manager Larry Bowa agrees. He only hopes that playing every day finally will provide Abner with a cure.

“Hopefully, he will be seeing enough pitches to make the adjustment soon,” Bowa said. “The only thing good about our injuries is, he will keep playing and seeing those pitches.

“Everybody says he can’t hit the breaking ball. When Mike Schmidt came up with Philly, he couldn’t hit it, either. But he played every day until he did.”

College graduate of the week: Although third base coach Sandy Alomar fairly bursts when talking about the baseball accomplishments of sons Roberto and Sandy Jr., lately his biggest smiles have been directed toward the achievements of his “other” child. On June 8, daughter Sandia will become this first Alomar to graduate from college.

“It’s something nobody has done,” Sandy said. “It makes us very proud of her.”

Roberto and Sandy Jr. both finished high school at the insistence of their father but then immediately signed pro contracts. Sandy Sr. was signed to a pro baseball contract at age 16 and never finished his senior year.

Souvenir of the week: When Randy Ready broke up Doug Drabek’s no-hitter with a leadoff single in the ninth inning last Sunday in Pittsburgh, he thought that was the end of that.

But after he scored on Marvell Wynne’s ensuing homer, Ready was stopped by home plate umpire Doug Harvey. The umpire told him he had thrown the ball Ready had hit into the dugout so Ready could keep it as a souvenir.

“I was kind of surprised,” Ready said. “I told him thanks, it was a nice thought . . . but I’m not so sure I wanted it. When I got my hit, I was just trying to keep us from getting embarrassed.”

Life in the Big Leagues Dept.: Backup catcher Mark Parent is adjusting well in his first major league season.

He has decided that the best thing about going on the road is that you don’t have to shave.

“Maybe once a trip,” Parent said last Thursday, sporting an unseemly scruff of facial hair. “I hate shaving, and because nobody sees me out here, I don’t have to shave.”

That one shave is always in the clubhouse after the last game of a trip. After all, he has someone waiting for him at home.

“I’m not so sure my wife would love seeing me like this,” Parent said of his wife, Wendy. “In this game, you have to do the little things.”

Time for a stat that you thought might be terrible, but it isn’t that bad.

Since Garry Templeton was traded to the Padres from St. Louis for Ozzie Smith in February of 1982, here’s what the two shortstops have done:

Templeton--.253, 24 homers, 286 RBIs.

Smith--.269, 12 homers, 320 RBIs.

Smith is certainly a wizard, but let’s not forget the achievements of Templeton, who probably is in his last year here. Before he arrived, the Padres were over .500 once in the franchise’s 13 previous seasons. In his first four years, they were over .500 each time, and they played in their first World Series.

“I feel like I am a Padre, and I want to end my career as a Padre,” said Templeton, an 11-year veteran at age 32.

With Mike Brumley continuing to do well at triple-A Las Vegas, and more than one team (Phillies, Yankees) willing to give up a kid or two for a veteran shortstop, the chances of Templeton finishing the last year of his contract here are growing slimmer.

Player of the week: Pitcher Eric Show. This choice is as obvious and glaring as a silent Wrigley Field.

Not only did he turn his celebrated Chicago start Thursday into two hours of forgive and forget, holding the Cubs to one run on six hits in six safe-and-sound innings, but five days earlier, he allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates just two runs in a complete-game five-hitter.

Besides placing the Andre Dawson incident of last July 7 to rest, he revived ideas that he is pointed toward his best season yet. In his last 30 innings, Show has allowed 6 runs on 26 hits for a 1.80 ERA. For the season, he has improved his ERA to 3.88 despite a 2-4 record.

More important, he has learned to deal with the frustration of remaining the unluckiest pitcher on the team. His teammates have scored just 10 runs in his seven starts.

“None of that matters anymore,” Show said. “I have learned not to care about what others do or think. It wasn’t always like that, but I’ve learned. Now everything is positive. I only think positive.”

This kind of thinking led to the move of the week: Show removing his earplugs just before the Chicago start, his first in Wrigley since he was run out of town for beaning Dawson.

“I finally decided, if they say anything cruel, it’s only words,” Show said. “I am paid to get in there and pitch.”

Quote of the week: Hitting coach Amos Otis, when asked about the seemingly bottomless Padre hitting slump, said, “Ah, when it gets real hot, and school gets out, and the kids get in the stands, this team will be hitting.”

Brace yourself. A quick check of schools in National League cities around the country has revealed that, on the average, school doesn’t get out till mid-June.