Whitson’s 7th Keeper: Padres, 2-1

Ed Whitson reeled in another one Thursday afternoon. He worked up a couple of hours worth of good sweat against the New York Mets, walked off the field to a 30-second standing ovation, tipped his cap three times, then threw it off and put on the one that read Abu Garcia Pro Fishing.

Later, after Mark Davis had saved a 2-1 Padre victory that was Whitson’s seventh in 10 starts, Whitson put a leg up on a chair and did some conjuring.

“This one here,” Whitson drawled, “has to be like a 20-pounder.”

So far, it has been a whopper of a season for the Padres’ oldest (34) and most unaffected player (his heroes have always been bait shop owners). Whitson fought Thursday’s game for 7 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and one run. He then gave it to Davis, who flopped around but managed his 15th save by leaving the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth.

All of which gave Whitson a 7-2 record with a 2.26 ERA and a couple of head starts--toward the All-Star Game and Lake Hodges.

“I really like these day games because, if you do it right, you can get a win and get right out there on the lake when the bass start hitting,” Whitson said. “And what’s good about today is, you get out there on the lake and you don’t care if you catch anything or not.”

In a game that gave the Padres two victories in a three-game series with the East Division favorites, evening the season series at two-all, Whitson was nearly ready to go jump in a lake during another typical frantic Padre ending.

After surviving for most of eight innings, Whitson left for Davis with a runner on first, two outs in the eighth and Darryl Strawberry coming up. Strawberry had scored the only run off Whitson with a second-inning homer, his 11th. And left-handed hitting Strawberry was three for 24 in his career off left-handed reliever Davis.

“So it was fine, I can’t say anything about one of the best relievers in the game coming in,” Whitson said, who left to a huge ovation from the San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium crowd of 28,102. “And that’s the second loudest ovation I’ve ever gotten, second to the 1984 playoffs. It’s a great feeling when people acknowledge how hard you work.”

Whitson had no complaints when Davis struck out Strawberry on three consecutive curveballs. But in the ninth, Davis allowed a leadoff infield single to Kevin McReynolds. Five pitches later, while pinch hitter Mark Carreon was in the process of striking out, McReynolds stole second.

Then, inexplicably, McReynolds tried to steal third, even though he could have just as easily scored from second. Even though he was the tying run. He was thrown out by Mark Parent in what Davis called “the play of the game.”

And in the clubhouse, Whitson breathed easier, but only for a moment. Davis walked pinch-hitter Tim Teufel. Whitson, watching on the television in the team’s training room, walked out. Davis allowed a single to Barry Lyons, moving Teufel to second.

But after falling behind three and one to Kevin Elster, Davis fooled him on two fastballs, one of which Elster watched for strike two, and the other at which he swung and missed for strike three to end the game.

“Tell you what, I was glad to hear that,” said Whitson, who by then was listening on the radio. “I was pacing around the clubhouse like caged animal.”

Davis, who took over the league lead in saves with his 15th, gave as much credit to McReynolds as anyone. “Yeah, I was surprised he was going, I thought he might give two guys a chance to drive him in with a base hit,” he said. “But then, he wasn’t stealing off the catcher, he was stealing off me, and he already had one steal off me. So maybe I don’t blame him.”

McReynolds said he was indeed stealing off Davis, but Davis threw the wrong pitch, threw it so it got to the plate quickly and where Parent could grab it and make a good throw.

“I thought he would throw a curveball--I make it if he throws a curveball,” McReynolds said. “He happened to throw a fastball at just the right place.”

And so Whitson, who was given all the runs he needed thanks to Marvell Wynne’s third homer and an RBI double by Tony Gwynn (six for 10 in this series), now feels he is in just the right place.

He loves playing with the Padres--this year marks the first time in his 12-year career that he has spent more than two consecutive seasons with one team. He loves pitching in San Diego, as evidenced by his 5-1 record and 2.28 ERA in six starts here this year.

And although he’ll be a free agent at the end of this season, he wants to stay here, as evidenced by ongoing talks between agent Tom Reich and the Padres.

“I understand there have been discussions, they are definitely working on it, and that’s good, I’d like to get signed and get it under my belt and go on about my business,” said Whitson, who already has left San Diego as a free agent once, joining the New York Yankees in 1985. Anyone with a memory for disasters knows what happened after that.

“I’ve got to do what’s best for my family, and we all like it here very much,” Whitson said. “I want to stay, and I hope something can be worked out.”

Said Tony Siegle, the Padre player personnel boss: “We’d like to sign all of them early, but it takes time. We have had preliminary talks with Whitson’s people, but that’s all.”

In any contract, maybe they could give Whitson a bonus for not allowing the fans to become bored. Once again Thursday, his strength was in challenging the hitters such that they never seemed to catch their breath. The game, which took just 2:23, gave the Padres an average playing time of 2:24 during nine of Whitson’s 10 starts, not counting a 12-inning game in New York in which he was relieved after five innings.

“That’s the thing about Whit, he catches and throws, catches and throws, he doesn’t give anybody a break,” Davis marveled. “Some guys rub the ball, walk around the mound, look all worried. Whitson just challenges you, brings it right to you.”

As in Thursday’s second inning, with bases loaded and two out. He retired Lenny Dykstra on a second-pitch flyout to center field. Or as in the seventh inning, with Mackey Sasser on second and one out. Up came two left-handed-hitting pinch-hitters, Lee Mazzilli and Mookie Wilson. But down they went minutes later, on a strikeout and a lineout.

“Sure, I like to work fast, keep things going, get it over with,” Whitson said before turning the subject again to fishing. “But I don’t do it to get out on the lake quicker. I don’t make the lake after the game, I’ll just make it out there the next morning.

“And once I get out on the lake, I don’t go so fast. I fish slow. Sometimes I don’t fish. Sometimes it’s good for just daydreaming.”

These days he daydreams about things such as appearing on his second All-Star team. His first was with the San Francisco Giants in 1980, when he made it but didn’t play. Usually he goes fishing during the All-Star break.

“But that’s OK,” Whitson said. “I don’t mind driving up to Anaheim for a couple of days. The fishing can wait.”

Padre Notes

Bip Roberts, who hasn’t played in nine days, finally made an appearance Thursday--as a catcher for the ceremonial opening pitch from a local businessman. “Hey, I’ll do anything to be here,” said Roberts, who at 5-feet-7 was dwarfed by the catcher’s mitt. . . . Lost in Thursday’s excitement was the fact that the Padres defeated David Cone for the first time, after Cone had won four consecutive games over the past two seasons and allowed just five runs in 38 1/3 innings (1.17 ERA). The Padres reached Cone for two runs in six innings. . . . Jack Clark, in the midst of a zero-for-11 slump, was rested Thursday after playing in 11 consecutive games. “He has a bit of a sore shoulder from playing right field, but this was mainly just to give him a break,” Manager Jack McKeon said.