Loose, Happy Hawkins Three-Hits Cardinals

It would be hard to find a player on the Padres more grateful than Andy Hawkins for the team’s midseason change in managers.

Uncomfortable and edgy under Larry Bowa, Hawkins has become confident and relaxed under Jack McKeon.

The change for the better showed again Friday night as Hawkins held the St. Louis Cardinals to three hits in a 5-1 victory in front of 19,879 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“It’s great to have the luxury of a manager that I respect and I like personally,” Hawkins said. “That’s the first time I’ve had that in my career.”

Hawkins has responded by pitching some of his best baseball since he won 18 games in 1985.

The victory was Hawkins’ third in a row and his first against the Cardinals since July 27, 1985. He allowed only three singles, and St. Louis scored its only run in the third when two walks led to an RBI single by Ozzie Smith.

Hawkins was not overpowering; he walked four and struck out only two. But he kept the Cardinals off balance by mixing his pitches and keeping the hitters guessing.

“The first couple of innings, he wasn’t throwing that hard,” said Cardinal first baseman Mike Fitzgerald, who had a six-game hitting streak stopped. “From the fourth or fifth, his fastball was up 3 or 4 m.p.h. It was probably up to 86 or 88 m.p.h. He had a good slider and changeup, too, and his location was good. He got stronger every inning.”

After scoring their lone run, the Cardinals did not advance a runner past second base in the final six innings. They made their only threat after a single by Vince Coleman and a two-out walk to Willie McGee in the eighth, but Hawkins got Tom Brunansky to fly out to center.

Hawkins was so effective, McKeon hardly even had to use the phone. He made just one call to the bullpen in the eighth.

“We just had them throw a couple of pitches just in case,” McKeon said. “I wasn’t worried.”

The victory raised Hawkins’ record to 8-6 and lowered his ERA to 3.12. In his past three starts, Hawkins has pitched 23 innings, allowing only 2 runs, 14 hits and 7 walks and striking out 10.

Hawkins is on pace to have his best season since 1985, when he finished 18-8 with a 3.15 ERA.

Quite a turnaround from last season, when shoulder trouble contributed to his worst season as Padre--3-10 with 5.05 ERA. He started the season by losing his first five decisions, and his last victory was on June 13. He missed almost two months because of tendinitis in his right shoulder, and when he returned in September, he made only five relief appearances.

He came to spring training unsure whether he had a spot on the roster. Never a favorite of Bowa, Hawkins had an unspectacular spring, but he earned a spot in the starting rotation with the support of McKeon.

“I’ve always been one of his biggest boosters,” McKeon said. “I don’t worry about spring training. A veteran uses spring training to get in shape.”

Hawkins said he has had no ill effects from his shoulder problem of last season.

“Actually, my shoulder is as strong as it’s ever been,” Hawkins said. “I feel great.”

Hawkins credits the managerial change and a recent improvement in his cut fastball for the improvement.

“That was my best pitch in ‘85,” Hawkins said. “I lost it for some reason in ‘86, and in ‘87, I couldn’t throw it because of my arm.

“But now it has come back again. I don’t know why; it just has. It comes and it goes, and I never know why.”

Hawkins is just glad it’s back. It contributed to his third complete game of the season and his first since he won at Philadelphia, 4-0, on May 31.

It was a great way for the Padres to come home after a season-long 15-game trip. Last night’s game started a nine-game home stand that will carry them to the All-Star break.

The Padres started quickly off Cardinal starter Jose DeLeon, making the most of a two-out opportunity in the first inning that began with a walk to Tony Gwynn.

Gwynn stole second before John Kruk picked up his 42nd walk of the season and his 14th in his past 18 games. Keith Moreland, who had only two hits in his previous 13 at-bats, banged a double off the left-field wall. The ball hit the 327-foot mark and missed clearing the wall by about 2 1/2 feet.

Gwynn scored, and Kruk stopped at third. But Benito Santiago, who entered the game in a 1-for-17 slump, struck out to end the inning.

The Cardinals tied the game, 1-1, two innings later when Smith singled home second baseman Luis Alicea with two out in the third. Alicea had walked and advanced to second on DeLeon’s sacrifice bunt.

The Padres got the run back in the bottom of the inning, but they might have had more had Fitzgerald not made a diving stop on Gwynn’s ground ball, which appeared to be on its way down the right-field line for extra bases.

Gwynn’s groundout followed a single and stolen base by second baseman Roberto Alomar with one out. Alomar advanced to third on Gwynn’s out and scored on Kruk’s single to center. Moreland ended the inning by forcing Kruk at second.

The Padres added three more runs in the seventh. Santiago started the inning by singling to left. He advanced to second on DeLeon’s wild pitch and scored when Chris Brown singled to right. The hit was Brown’s eighth in his past 18 at-bats.

It also was a bit of a personal triumph for Brown, coming after DeLeon had knocked him down with an inside fastball. Teams have been pitching Brown inside since the Cardinals’ Danny Cox hit him in May, 1987, breaking his left jaw.

“It was important that I got up and got a hit,” Brown said. “This is the team that broke my jaw, and they had been coming inside to me all night. They weren’t trying to hit me, but they wanted to see if I would handle those inside pitches.”

Garry Templeton singled to left to put runners on first and second. Hawkins then hit a ground ball to Smith that appeared to be an easy double play. But after tagging second to get Templeton, Smith threw wide to first, pulling Fitzgerald off the bag, permitting Hawkins to reach safely and chasing DeLeon.

“They didn’t hit me real well the first couple of innings,” DeLeon said. “But then I threw more fastballs, and they started looking for fastballs.

“In the seventh, they just came up there hacking. It was like they knew what I was going to throw.”

Marvell Wynne then dropped a sacrifice bunt that allowed a hard-charging Brown to score from third and almost went for a hit. Reliever Steve Peters fielded made a strong throw that just nipped Wynne at first.

Alomar drove in the final run of the inning when he singled to center, scoring Hawkins to give the Padres a 5-1 lead.

The extra runs only made Hawkins’ job easier. “Jack has a lot of confidence in me now,” Hawkins said. “Knowing that makes going out there a lot easier. I just pitch and not worry. If I get into trouble, he’ll let me pitch out of it. That’s how I won a lot of games in ‘85, and that’s what I’m doing now.”

Padre Notes

Jack McKeon says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his name was pronounced Mc-Cue-en. But when he reported for his first minor league assignment, everyone started pronouncing his name Mc-Kee-en. McKeon said that rather than continually correct them, he allowed the mispronunciation to continue, and it has stuck to this day. McKeon was reminded of the change before Friday’s game when a fan leaned over the dugout to ask for his autograph and pronounced his name Mc-Cue-en. “You must be from New Jersey,” McKeon said. The fan was. He was visiting from the central New Jersey town Woodbridge, not far from where McKeon grew up in South Amboy.