Davis Saves Padres Despite Giving Them a Good Scare

They won’t make the official selections for another month, but let’s rush through the paper work. After witnessing an eighth and ninth inning Monday night at Candlestick Park, let’s do it now.

Make reliever Mark Davis the Padres’ representative to the All-Star game. Before he drives his teammates crazy.

Davis was both fabulous and bloody frightening as he rescued the Padres from a fourth consecutive defeat, or at least respiratory failure, in a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in front of 12,925.

In gaining his 12th save--third best in the league--Davis first bailed out starter Andy Hawkins in the eighth with back-to-back strikeouts of Will Clark and Candy Maldonado with runners on second and third and the Padres leading, 2-0.

But then, just to show us how really good he can be, he first had to show us how bad. He allowed a run in the ninth inning and finished the game needing a strikeout of Ernest Riles with the bases loaded to remain perfect in 12 save opportunities.

When it was through, Davis punched the cool night air with his fist, when perhaps he should have been punching himself. Of course, considering he did this against the team that traded him to the Padres last July, he would never want them to see him sweat.

“Pitching against them is a Catch-22 situation,” Davis said, returning to his usual calm demeanor afterward. “I know them, but they know me. And there’s nine of them and only one of me.”

He nearly had to pitch to each of those nine in the ninth, which began with a leadoff single by pinch-hitter Joel Younglood. He then walked Bob Brenly and a sacrifice bunt by Chris Speier later, allowed an RBI infield single to Jose Uribe. Up stepped Kevin Mitchell, a right-handed hitting pinch-hitter. With right-hander Lance McCullers still out with back spasms, lefty Davis stayed in. Padre Manager Jack McKeon said Davis would have stayed in anyway.

“It just goes to show you, we have very, very much confidence in Davis,” McKeon said of his pitcher, who has a 2.48 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 47 innings. “We aren’t afraid to go to him and stick with him in those situations. We’ve done that all year long.”

Good thing, because Davis knew what he was doing wrong.

“I overthrew the ball. I tried to throw the breaking ball too hard and the fastball too hard and everything was low,” he said. “I haven’t done that for a while, and I don’t want to do that for a while. I was trying to make perfect pitches.

“I was concentrating on the wrong things. I was trying to muscle the ball.”

He lightened up and struck out Mitchell on four pitches. After unintentionally walking Brett Butler to load the bases, which was probably not a lousy idea anyway since his run didn’t matter, he faced Riles.

Riles lasted five pitches, striking out on a 1-and-2 curveball.

So anyway, for the first time in three years, somebody other than Tony Gwynn should be the Padres’ All-Star game representative, as that somebody proved once again Monday night.

Only two other Padre relievers have made the All-Star team, and as a possible Hall of Fame candidates go, they’re not a bad group--Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage.

“The All-Star game is nice, but I can’t think about it,” Davis said in an earlier interview. “I can’t let anything hurt my concentration on what is going on right now.”

Such as what was going on Monday night in the eighth. With one out in the inning and after allowing five hits in seven innings worth of a shutout, the air suddenly was let out of Hawkins. He walked Butler and allowed a shot up the middle by Riles. When center fielder Marvell Wynne’s throw to third bounced off Butler’s back for an error, Butler was safe at third and Riles at second.

No big deal. The next two batters were the Giants’ two best, Clark and Maldonado.

No big deal. In came Davis.

Clark, 3 for 6 in his career against Davis, swung at the first pitch and missed. He took the next pitch for a ball, but swung at the next two pitches, fouling both off. Then he swung again and missed. Two outs.

Maldonado, 6 for 23 with 2 home runs in his career against Davis, swung at the first pitch and missed. He looked at the next pitch for strike 2. He took two low pitches for balls. Then he swung again and missed. End of inning.

“They are dangerous hitters, and they can hit the ball out of the park any time,” Davis said.

It was enough to make the one inning in which the Padres scored stand up. They accumulated all three of their hits in a two-run third. In fact, they went down 1-2-3 in every other inning against Giant starter Mike LaCoss and reliever Craig Lefferts.

The Padres started the third with one-time power-hitter Benito Santiago, who last year hit 18 homers but this year only has 3, and hasn’t hit one since May 5. As if he suddenly decided to quit mindlessly swinging in hopes of regaining that power, he carefully chopped a grounder to shortstop. It worked. The ball short-hopped Riles, skipping around his cleats and into left field for a single. It soon turned out to be as good as a home run.

A couple of pitches later, Santiago took off on a hit-and-run and Garry Templeton took care of the hit part, slapping another grounder, this time just to the left of second baseman Speier. Runners on first and third, none out.

Hawkins stepped up and, instead of the usual strikeout or failed bunt, he also chopped the ball on the ground. By the time Riles picked it up, Santiago had scored and Templeton had found second.

Now it was time for Templeton and Wynne to pull the same thing. Wynne rolled the ball past Speier and into right field and Templeton scored the second run.

Padre Notes

The Padres signed national No. 1 draft pick Andy Benes Monday in Evansville, Ill., awarding him the richest contract ever given an amateur player. His bonus of around $230,000 surpasses the $210,000 the New York Mets gave Darryl Strawberry in 1980. Benes will pitch for the U.S. Olympic team as planned, not showing up in a Padre uniform until he appears at next year’s spring training. While he officially signed a contract with the Padres’ double-A affiliate in Wichita, it was only because Padre minor leaguers must have an affiliate listed on their contract. The Padres won’t decide where he will play until next spring. Interestingly, the Padres treated Monday’s signing almost as a second thought, making no formal announcement, including it only as a paragraph on their daily notes to the media. Nonetheless, from his hotel room in Evansville, where he had arrived Sunday night, Padre farm director Tom Romenesko was ecstatic. “I am so proud. This young man is really something special,” said Romenesko, who closed the deal at about 3:30 p.m. CDT in the living room of the home of Benes’ in-laws. “Before we signed anything, Andy and I went to another room and talked. He told me he didn’t want to be treated different than anyone else. He told me, ‘Next year, if I don’t make the double-A team, I will go to rookie ball.’ He wants to do whatever it takes.” Benes was also thrilled. “The Padres have been just super the whole time. I’m really glad to be going there,” he said. “All I wanted was what was fair, nothing more, and that’s what they gave me. I feel great.” The large sum of money Benes received, around $70,000 more than the Seattle Mariners paid the national No. 1 pick last year (Ken Griffey Jr.), was made available by orders of Padre President Chub Feeney. True to his promise of building the club from within, he told Romenesko to spend whatever it took. Because Benes was just a college junior--at Evansville University--he did not have to sign and could have re-entered the draft next year. “I told Tom to get him, and he got him,” Feeney said. “You cannot let your No. 1 draft pick fall through the cracks. We could have waited until Dec. 31 or something, and maybe done it for less, but I wanted it done now.”