Bip Gets Lip and Adds Zip to Padres, 5-2 : Chewed Out by Templeton, Roberts Gets Winning Attitude

It was five days ago in the Padre clubhouse in Los Angeles when the confrontation occurred. Oh, no punches were thrown, or even any pushes, but there was plenty of shouting laced with a few choice words.

It was precipitated merely by a glance at the lineup card. Third baseman/outfielder Bip Roberts was not in the lineup and veteran shortstop Garry Templeton wanted to know why.

Well, Roberts proceeded to explain, he’s got this sore left heel. Don’t you remember, Gary? He jammed it the previous night while playing the infield and had to leave the game Tuesday during the Padres’ 17-inning victory over the Dodgers.

Templeton’s eyes grew big. He looked at Roberts, glared at him to make sure he wasn’t kidding and then launched his attack.

It was a beaut. Poor little Bip, all he could do was sit there and listen while Templeton ranted and raved. Roberts’ eyes grew misty and, for a moment, he thought he was going to cry.

“Get off your butt and play,” Templeton told him. “I know it hurts, but that’s just too damn bad. I don’t want to see you again until you’re out there on the field.

“Look, I go out there with a bad knee and it hurts all the damn time. Do you see me complaining? Do you see me lying in the trainer’s room? Do you see me asking out of the lineup?”

Sunday afternoon, following the Padres’ 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Templeton recollected the scene, saying:

“I know I hurt his feelings, and more than anything, I shocked him. I know he was teed off at me. He wouldn’t even talk to me for a day. But what I did was for his benefit.

“He understands that now.”

That’s why Roberts could be found pulling Templeton aside after Sunday’s game and thanking him for the counsel.

And, oh, how the advice was heeded.

Roberts, playing the finest baseball of his brief 1 1/2-year big league career, had a series that he says he’ll forever treasure--one which he hopes will finally end his days of obscurity. Roberts, the Padres’ leadoff hitter in all three games, batted .545 in the series while reaching base 10 of 14 times. He hit two triples, one double, stole two bases and scored seven of the Padres’ 11 runs.

Roberts, who scored two runs and had one hit Sunday, also tied Tony Gwynn’s two-week-old club record of reaching base nine consecutive times, raising his batting average to .307. Afterward, Cardinal outfielder Vince Coleman simply shook his head and told Roberts, “See ya later, Babe Ruth.”

Although Marvell Wynne had the Padres’ big hit with a three-run triple in the third inning and Bruce Hurst pitched his fourth complete game of the season, Roberts was the catalyst behind the victory.

“Bip’s the guy who did it for us today,” Hurst said. “The guy’s a little spark plug. He’s contributed in a lot of ways for us this year and has shown a lot of enthusiasm.

“And that stuff’s real contagious.”

Crazy stuff considering that, just two years ago, Roberts was about 30 feet away from quitting baseball.

Roberts, who spent all of 1986 in the big leagues after being drafted by the Padres off the Pittsburgh Pirates’ unprotected roster, was sent down the following spring to the Padres’ triple-A team in Las Vegas.

He was fuming. He already had lived two years in Las Vegas as a college student and, frankly, was hoping he’d never have to see the place again. You can spend only so much time in casinos before they get a little tiresome.

Roberts’ attitude was deteriorating by the day and may have bottomed out one afternoon in Phoenix. Roberts had just hit a pop-up during the game and didn’t bother running it out. Manager Jerry Krol immediately yanked him out of the game and fined him $50.

Well, Roberts said, that $50 was going to have to come out of his last paycheck, because he was quitting. Roberts stomped up the tunnel, slammed open the door to the clubhouse, ripped off his uniform and was about 30 feet from walking out the door when Rob Picciolo, a coach, grabbed him.

“I was gone,” Roberts said. “I headed toward the door, and once I walked out, I knew I wasn’t coming back.”

Roberts was coerced by Picciolo to stay. He went on to hit .306 that year while learning to play virtually every position on the diamond but catcher. Roberts was a natural second baseman but the Padres had plenty of those on the horizon in Roberto Alomar and Joey Cora. Krol instilled in him the value of being versatile in an era of 24-man rosters.

“It still wasn’t easy,” Roberts said. “At night, I cried like a baby. And during the day, I was miserable. My dream of making it to the big leagues turned into a nightmare.”

That’s when Stage II of the Bip Roberts saga unfolded.

One night, clear out of the blue, he received a telephone call from his aunt in Oakland.

“She’s a real religious lady,” he said. “She said if you get on your knees every day, you’ll find inspiration. I’ve done that, and now I thank the man upstairs for helping me.”

Padre Manager Jack McKeon, whose team (40-42) has now won five of its past seven games, can also give thanks for finding a leadoff hitter. Roberts is the ninth leadoff hitter employed by McKeon this season and he has responded by hitting .310 in 19 starts in the leadoff spot.

“It’s been there for anyone to take,” McKeon said, “and maybe we’ve found our guy.”

McKeon might like to see Hurst (7-5) impart some of his wisdom on the Padre pitching staff. Hurst now has pitched at least nine innings in each of his past four starts, yielding just four earned runs for a 0.97 earned-run average.

After giving up his second run in the fourth inning on a one-out single by Tony Pena, Hurst retired 17 of the final 19 batters he faced. The only difficulty he encountered was in the seventh inning. Coleman, who stole two more bases, running his record streak to 43 without being caught, laid down a bunt in front of the mound. Hurst picked up the ball, spun, and threw to second to get the lead runner, Denny Walling.

When he made the off-balance throw, Hurst felt a sudden twinge in his right groin. McKeon, feeling a sudden pain at the thought of losing Hurst, rushed to the mound.

Hurst told him he was OK, but McKeon told him to throw a couple of pitches so he could see for himself. After the second pitch, McKeon nodded his approval, patted Hurst on the behind, and was on his way.

Hurst retired Jose Oquendo on a fly ball to left to end the inning and came back to complete a perfect eighth inning.

Again, McKeon asked how he felt, and Hurst told him, “I feel fine, but if you want to send MD (Mark Davis) out there, go ahead.”

Catcher Mark Parent, listening to the conversation, turned to Hurst and said, “Shut up and go out there.” Hurst followed orders and ended the game by striking out Tom Pagnozzi for his 100th strikeout of the season.

“He’s probably the easiest guy I’ve ever caught,” Parent said. “It’s funny to watch the hitters getting so teed off at him. They never know what’s coming.

“He struck out Pedro (Guerrero) on a 3-2 changeup, and you could hear him still yelling from the dugout when the inning was over.

“Hitters feel they should hit the ball off him because he doesn’t have great zip, but he just keeps striking them all out, making them look silly.”

That, of course, was Templeton’s objective in his talk to Roberts. And, and as this weekend will attest, it proved quite instrumental.

“It’s kind of strange,” Roberts said. “I don’t think my heel is any better. In fact, it’s probably worse from playing on the artificial turf. But when you’re playing like this, you can’t feel a thing.”