Clark Leads Padres Past Astros, 10-2

With one powerful swing of the bat, Jack Clark not only sent a ball over the Astrodome fence Monday night, he began to openly cleanse himself of the confusion and frustration that has stalked him through the worst start of his 13-year career.

The two-run homer was only part of a 10-2 Padre victory that ended the Houston Astros’ club-record 10-game winning streak and broke a three-game Padre losing streak.

But after the game, Clark didn’t want to talk so much about the home run, his first since May 16, as his he did about what has gone through his mind the past few months.

His off-season trade to the Padres from the New York Yankees was supposed to be a new start, instead it began as the worst time in his baseball life. Not because of San Diego, not because of the Padres, not because of the fans, but because of what was swirling in his mind.

“Coming over here was a breath of fresh air, but it doesn’t last forever,” Clark said. “They expect you to hit. Where are the results? I felt bad for Jack (McKeon) and for the fans. I felt bad for San Diego.

“I probably was not enjoying baseball as much as ever.”

On the field, Clark was struggling. A .273-career hitter, his average stood at .193 on May 24. That was before he started a 10-game hitting streak (15 for 37) that has raised his average to .240, his highest of the season.

“I don’t consider myself a .300 hitter,” Clark said. “But I knew I’m better than a .190 hitter. If that is the best I can generate, I don’t deserve to be playing. But what do they do? Sit down a guy making all that money? But they figure they have to play me. They have to get their money’s worth.”

Clark said the streak has coincided with a change in how he views his role with the Padres. He decided to just get hits, any hits. Forget about home runs, just get on base.

He took it slowly. Until his home run and a double in the fifth, 12 of the previous 13 hits in his streak were singles. The only exception was one double.

McKeon had talked to Clark a few days ago on just that topic.

“I told him forget about the home runs,” McKeon said. “I told him the Jack Clark I remember in St. Louis was hitting balls in the gaps, singles, doubles. If he does that, the home runs will come.”

But recent events began to make Clark think. He watched Mike Schmidt break down in tears while announcing his retirement from the Philadelphia Phillies. And he was moved.

“You hear a Mike Schmidt say that the edge isn’t there like it used to be,” Clark said. “I sort of lost that, too, maybe. If it is not fun anymore then maybe I shouldn’t be trying to play. You wonder how long you want to continue? That hit real close to home with me.”

He saw the pictures of the protesting students in Beijing dying in the cause of freedom. And he was moved.

“I make an error like last night and everybody is down,” Clark said. “Then I look at the world situation in China and that puts it in perspective. I realize baseball is not that big a deal.”

Yet Clark said he had put too much pressure on himself--because of baseball.

“I wanted to do well there (in New York) because people in St. Louis would have said, ‘See he failed anyhow and with all that money--2 million bucks.’ Even in San Diego people expect to get $2 million of hits out of Jack Clark. But money doesn’t buy the hits. If it did, I would spend most of it to get them.”

What 18,238 in the Astrodome saw Monday was the Padres’ biggest offensive performance in 239 games. Not since a 10-2 victory over Houston on Sept. 12, 1987, had they scored in double digits, the longest such drought in the majors.

Their 17 hits were a season high, topping the 14 against Philadelphia May 30.

They saw Ed Whitson’s seventh consecutive victory. And a four-for-five night from Tony Gwynn to raise his average to .344.

The Padres wasted no time picking on a Houston pitching staff that had been stretched to the limit after two extra-inning, weekend victories over the Dodgers that totaled 35 innings.

They scored four times in the first three innings off starter Mark Portugal to give Whitson a 4-0 lead.

Portugal, who was acquired in the off-season from Minnesota, was called up Monday from the Astros’ triple-A team in Tucson. The Astros needed him because the scheduled starter, Jim Clancy, pitched the final six innings of a 5-4, 22-inning victory over the Dodgers in a game that took seven hours and 14 minutes to play and lasted until 2:50 a.m. CDT Sunday.

Right fielder Bip Roberts started the game with a single, the sixth consecutive game as leadoff batter he started the Padres with a hit. After Roberto Alomar struck out, Roberts stole second. He scored when Gwynn singled to left. It was the fourth time in those six games that Gwynn drove in Roberts after he opened with a hit.

The Padres stretched their 1-0 lead to 4-0 in the third.

The Padres, who hit only two home runs in a weekend three-game series in Cincinnati, hit two in the third inning off Portugal. Both to right field.

Alomar broke out a zero-for-14 streak with a one-out, solo homer, his second and first since May 7 in Pittsburgh. And after Gwynn singled, Clark homered into the screen above the left-field wall.

The two homers in the same inning were the first time the Padres had done so since April 18 against Rick Reuschel in San Francisco.

The Astros cut the lead in half to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by center fielder Gerald Young and a run-scoring single by second baseman Bill Doran.