Ready Finishes Off Astros in 12th : His RBI Single Officially Eliminates Houston in NL West

SAN DIEGO — This hasn’t been the happiest of seasons for Randy Ready, but he gained a measure of pleasure Friday night.

Batting for only the second time in the game after entering in a reserve role, Ready lined a single to right field with one out in the 12th inning to give the Padres a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The loss officially eliminated the Astros from the NL West race.

Ready’s hit scored Stan Jefferson, who was running for Rob Nelson after Nelson had led off the inning against Danny Darwin with a walk and moved to second on Garry Templeton’s sacrifice bunt. It gave Dave Leiper his second victory without a defeat and made the long wait worthwhile for what remained of the paid crowd of 9,929.

Ready batted .308 in a utility role last season. His second game-winning RBI of the year left him at .260, and he had to admit he expected better. He began the season as the regular second baseman but was beaten out by rookie sensation Roberto Alomar.

“Offensively, I didn’t do the things I wanted to do,” Ready said. “I hit too many fly balls. I was uppercutting too much. But I went into the heat of the fire and played well at second, third and left field, and I feel good about that. I’m signed through next season and I’d like a shot at the third base job.”

The victory gave the Padres a 60-47 record since McKeon succeeded Larry Bowa as manager May 28. Bowa’s temper tantrums and postgame lows have been well documented, and McKeon made no bones about blaming them for Bowa’s failure.

“After a defeat, Larry would come into the clubhouse with his head down the next day,” McKeon said. “With all those players around, what were they going to think? They had to figure, ‘This guy’s beaten already.’

“Players can read you like a book. When they see you’re down, it affects their confidence, too. You don’t have to be a rah-rah guy to keep a ballclub up. I’m not a rah-rah guy. But there are 162 games in a season, and you can’t act like one game is killing you.”

Bowa used to call clubhouse meetings with frequency, and McKeon has called only three in his four months as manager.

“My first meeting was when I took over,” McKeon said. “The second was on the first trip to Atlanta, when we were getting a little sloppy. The third one was in L.A. Wednesday.

“I said, ‘We’ve got to put a halt to this garbage.’ To me, that’s more effective than throwing things around. I might give them hell, but before I get through, I tell them something positive.”

The Padres’ Andy Hawkins dueled evenly with Mike Scott despite serving up home runs to Glenn Davis and Kevin Bass. Scott himself yielded a home run to Alomar. All three homers were hit in the first three innings, after which both pitchers settled down. The only subsequent run in regulation, which made extra innings necessary, stemmed from Templeton’s leadoff triple off Scott in the fifth.

Scott has been accused on a regular basis of scuffing the baseball, but none of the Padres would make any such charges on this occasion.

Templeton, for example, said, “I don’t even worry about it anymore. If he does it, he does it in a situation where he needs an out badly. Plus everybody is watching his every move and worry about it. That gives him psychological advantage.”

Flannery, who went hitless against Scott, said, “I don’t know what he does. I’m not going to answer yes or no. Whatever he’s doing, it’s working.”

Scott pitched five-hit ball through eight innings and struck out eight Padres. Hawkins allowed eight hits in seven innings and didn’t have a strikeout.

The early flurry of home runs began with two out in the top of the first inning. After Bass worked Hawkins for a walk, Davis hit homer No. 30, which left him just one shy of his career high, set two years ago.

Alomar retrieved one of the two runs for the Padres in the first. He led off with a single, stole second and went the rest of the way on infield outs by Tony Gwynn and Carmelo Martinez.

Bass made it 3-1 in the third with his 14th home run, and Alomar promptly struck back again by hitting his ninth. The Padres pulled even in the fifth on Templeton’s triple and Hawkins’ sacrifice fly. An inning later, they had a great chance to go ahead when Martinez singled and Marvell Wynne doubled with one out. But after walking Benito Santiago intentionally, Scott struck out both Nelson and Templeton with the bases loaded.

After that, there was nothing but zeroes for 6 1/2 innings until Ready broke up the game.

Padre Notes

The season apparently is over for the Padres’ John Kruk. The knee injury Kruk suffered in Thursday night’s game in Los Angeles is so severe that a splint has been applied to prevent Kruk from opening the wound while walking. The outfielder-first baseman was hurt in a collision with Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia. He wound up with a half-inch laceration on the kneecap, and stitches were required. Kruk went out with a .241 average, compared with .313 last year. Manager Jack McKeon said of Kruk, “If he does play anymore this year, it probably will be as a pinch hitter. But his chances don’t look good.” . . . Another Padre with a knee problem, rookie catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., wants to get in some game action before the season ends Oct. 2. He has recovered from arthroscopic surgery to repair damage done in a game for the Padres’ Las Vegas farm club. McKeon said, however, “What am I going to prove by letting him catch? I’d like to see him come back, too, but I won’t let him catch. I’ve seen too many guys say they were ready when they weren’t. Maybe I’ll let him pinch hit in a game or two. That way, he’ll at least get a taste of it.” . . . Greg Booker’s good performance Wednesday night in his first start in four years probably earned him another start in the final days of the season. Said McKeon, his father-in-law: “Maybe we’ve found something. I saw a quote from him in the paper where he said it was nice to get the opportunity to pitch out of a jam. He’s been mostly a mop-up guy. When you look at some of these guys who have blown games, maybe we should have used him more.” With Lance McCullers possible trade bait, Booker could become a closer next year. On this count, McKeon said, “That’s something I want to find out. Maybe I should have done it six weeks ago.”