Everything Looks Good for Whitson : He Pitches 5-Hit Shutout After Padres Get Pep Talk

The Padres have listened all season to their manager rant and rave about their dismal play. They’ve read the damning reports in the newspapers. They’ve listened to the talk shows and watched the sportscasts.

Tired of letting everyone else hog the fun, the Padres decided Saturday night it was time to criticize themselves.

Padre captain Garry Templeton shooed reporters and the coaching staff out of the clubhouse 30 minutes before batting practice, barricaded the doors and let veteran Tim Flannery speak his piece.

Then, with Flannery’s advice in mind, the Padres went out and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0, on Ed Whitson’s five-hit shutout.

“The meeting was more for me than anyone else,” Flannery said, “I had to get some things off my chest.

“Basically I told them that success is not numbers. Success is not how many games you win. It’s whether you’ve done your very best every day. If you do that, and you respect yourself, you’re a winner.

“I don’t expect anything to happen right away, but maybe the guys will do some soul-searching during the (All-Star) break. The last few days have not been fun going to the ballpark. I don’t think anybody was having fun or enjoying themselves.

“I just said, ‘Hey look, you can’t play up to somebody else’s expectations. You’ve got to do your very best, and once you do that, enjoy yourself. If you don’t, life will pass you by.’ ”

The Padres’ response to all this left the 25,852 in attendance at Three Rivers Stadium wondering if this was the same team that had lost their past four games and six of their previous seven.

“We’re a team that has to be aggressive to win,” second baseman Roberto Alomar said, “and that’s what we did tonight. We stole three bases. We made things happen. We played good defense. We had great pitching. And we just got the timely hits.

“Tonight was the first time in a while we had fun, at least I know I had fun.”

If Alomar (one for four) had fun, you can just imagine the enjoyment that Chris James and Whitson experienced.

James, who has been fighting the biggest slump of his baseball career, hit his first home run since joining the Padres on June 3. Whitson, overlooked by Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda for the All-Star team, won his 11th game of the season, which happens to be more victories than six of the nine pitchers on Lasorda’s staff.

“I thought I had a chance at the All-Star team, but that’s in the past now,” said Whitson, whose shutout was his first since Sept. 24, 1988, against Houston. “There were a lot of guys that were overlooked who should have been there. What can you do about it?”

What Whitson chose to do Saturday was to show the world that just maybe the National League isn’t represented by the nine best pitchers. Never this season has he been more dominant, and once he got out a fifth-inning jam, he pitched as effortlessly as if it were a spring training “B” game.

Whitson retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced, and none of the last seven batters managed to hit the ball even out of the infield.

“From the third pitch in the bullpen to the last one I threw in the game, I felt great,” said Whitson, who struck out three without issuing a walk. “I didn’t go out there to shut them out. I just wanted to go out there and get a win and get it done as fast as possible.

“You know you hear about these guys that want to go out there and strike out everybody that come up, but me, I just want to throw one pitch and get a ground ball.”

The only time Whitson found himself in trouble was in the fifth. Mike LaValliere hit a bloop double that bounced just inside the left-field line and over the retainer fence. Rey Quinones followed with a bloop single to right, and Whitson had runners at first and third with a precarious, 1-0 lead.

Pirates Manager Jim Leyland called on left-handed hitter Benny Distefano. Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson, sensing trouble, walked to the mound to survey the situation.

Before Dobson could even get there, catcher Mark Parent yelled, ‘Hey, Dobber, you’ve got a piece of gum on your hat.’ ”

Dobson, victimized by pitcher Bruce Hurst’s latest prank, picked off the gum and threw it to the ground in mock disgust. Before he had a chance to offer any advice, the three of them were laughing so hard that plate umpire Gary Darling came to the mound to break it up.

“The guys later asked me what Dobber said out there,” Parent said, “and I told them, ‘I have no idea. I was thinking about the gum.’ ”

Fortunately for the Padres, Whitson happened to be listening, and he heard Dobson tell him that he wanted a slider thrown down and away to Distefano.

Just like the boss ordered, Whitson threw a slider down and away, and Distefano hit a soft fly ball to medium-depth in center field. LaValliere, who just came back from knee surgery Tuesday, tagged up and bluffed an attempt to run. No matter. Wynne’s throw was a perfect strike to home, and LaValliere would have easily been out.

Barry Bonds put a scare into the Padres when he drove the ball to deep center field, but Wynne was there for the catch. The Pirates’ threat was thwarted, and four innings later, Whitson was throwing his right fist into the air, signifying the end of the Padres’ losing streak.

But while Whitson was slapping high-fives with everyone in sight, James must have felt like doing somersaults off the field.

Here’s a guy who came into the game hitting .188 since being traded to the Padres. He had no homers and just two extra-base hits and wondered aloud if he could even play this game any longer.

“I was trying to tell my wife the other day, ‘You just don’t know what I’m going through,’ ” he said. “I mean I I’m so low I can’t even seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

“They were saying to have fun today, but I hated to say, ‘Hey, how can anyone have any fun when you’re going through what I’m going through?’ ”

Still, Flannery’s pep-talk inspired James. This would be a new beginning, he said to himself. When he stepped to the plate in the second inning with two outs and Alomar on second, he was determined to drive him in. Oops, strike three.

“I still had such a good frame of mind that I said, ‘Fine, it was a terrible swing, but let’s forget about it. Don’t let that one get you down.’ ”