Padres Close Gap on Giants : Hurst Blanks Astros, Moving San Diego Within Five of First

It was a peculiar, if not the zaniest, moment of the Padres’ wacky season Tuesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The crowd of 16,509 stayed in its seats long after the Padres’ 9-0 rout over the Houston Astros was complete.

Saving their loudest ovation of the night in the eighth inning when the scoreboard revealed that the Atlanta Braves had overcome a four-run deficit to take a 6-5 lead over the division-leading San Francisco Giants, the fans kept right on cheering as the Padres walked off the field, into the clubhouse and even into the parking lot.

The reason was simple. The huge video screen on the scoreboard immediately picked up the satellite feed from the Giants’ game.

You had to be there to believe it.

The fans were cheering harder for the Braves than they had all night for the Padres. The fans were booing the Giants longer and louder than they had all night against the Astros. Even Jack Gerard, the Padre organist got into the act, playing music to incite the crowd every time the Braves opened a rally.

By the end of the night, with the fans--and yes, Padre owner Joan Kroc--standing and chanting, ‘Let’s go Braves,’ it finally became official:

Atlanta 6, San Francisco 5.

The Padres had climbed within five games of the Giants, with six of their remaining 17 games still to be played against them.

“I don’t think watching the Giants means anything,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “We still have to win. There’s still a long ways to go, and we have to keep pecking away. It ain’t going to be easy. I’ll tell you that I don’t even want to focus on the Giants.”

Uh, skip, then why are you watching the Giants’ game on your TV set as you talk to reporters?

“Well, Tony turned it on,” McKeon said, unable to contain the smile spreading across his face.

It was unclear which Tony he was talking about, General Manager Tony Siegle or outfielder Tony Gwynn. What did it matter? Each was watching the game, anyway, with Siegle in McKeon’s office and Gwynn in the video room.

The Padres, winners of 16 of their past 19 games, raised their record to 78-67, the first time they’ve been 11 games over .500 since Aug. 24, 1985.

For the first time in their franchise history, even including 1984 when they ran away with the division championship, the Padres are in a pennant race.

It was a game, the Padres believed, that they had to win. It was imperative, they said, to knock Houston aside once and for all, giving them the confidence that they can beat any pitcher they face.

Oh, Jim Clancy (7-12) hardly can be considered one of the premier pitchers in this game, but as the Padres can tell you, and the numbers reveal, there was no one they feared more.

In a classic Jekyll-and-Hyde act, Clancy was 4-0 with a 1.74 ERA against the Padres this season, and 3-11 with a 5.74 ERA against everyone else.

The Padres had been outscored 24-8 the four times Clancy has pitched against them this season, batting just .181.

“He just had our number,” Padre second baseman Roberto Alomar said, “and it seemed like there was nothing we could do about it.”

Well, that all changed Tuesday afternoon when McKeon, who has stayed with virtual set lineups for the past two weeks, decided there would be changes.

Oh sure, when your team is on a 15-3 roll, the urge is to stick with your usual right-handed hitting lineup, and let the outcome be dictated by the individual performances.

But with each game so critical for the Padres, knowing that any loss could be devastating to their playoff hopes, McKeon gambled. He had to do something, he said, and he’d be damned if he’d just sit back watching Act V of the Clancy Picture Show.

So he started Bip Roberts at third base against a right-handed pitcher for the first time this season, benching left-handed hitter Mike Pagliarulo. He kept Darrin Jackson in center field, instead of his usual place on the bench against right-handers. And, perhaps the biggest gamble of them all, he started catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. in a major league game for the first time in his career.

“I’ve been successful all of my life taking chances,” McKeon said, “why stop now?”

And just like everything else that’s been happening these past three weeks to the Padres, McKeon’s plan went according to design.

The Padres unleashed 11 hits and 21 baserunners, sending Clancy to the showers in the fifth inning. They broke open the game in the fifth inning with three runs for a 5-0 lead, then added four more in the sixth, before McKeon called in the reserves.

Roberto Alomar extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games, going two for four and driving in four runs.

Roberts went three for five, reaching base four times and scoring three runs.

And, of course, there was starter Bruce Hurst, who not only scored two runs, but pitched a two-hit shutout, the Padres’ first complete game since July 8.

Not bad considering that there was so much concern in the clubhouse afterwards that Sandy Alomar was making his first start in the middle of a pennant race.

“I told you guys he’d do all right, and look what happened,” McKeon said.

McKeon started Alomar in the first place, he said, because Benito Santiago needed a rest after starting the past 15 games. Besides, Santiago had never gotten a hit off Clancy in his career, going zero-for-13.

Alomarresponded with a run-scoring single in the sixth inning, and called what Hurst described as a brilliant game.

“I was surprised I started,” Alomar said, “but in baseball, that’s the way it is. You have to take chances sometimes.”

And once again for the Padres, it paid off.

Padre Notes

Padre infielder Tim Flannery on his pending retirement Sept. 29: “It’s like what (teammate) Shawn Abner said, ‘My retirement’s in escrow.’ The closing date is scheduled for Sept. 29, but who knows. I’m not retiring if those last two games (Sept. 29 and 30 against the Giants) mean something, that’s for sure.” . . . Flannery, on his roast last Saturday: “They didn’t get me too bad. Really, it was just like being in the clubhouse.” . . . Manager Jack McKeon appeared Tuesday on ESPN’s “Sportslook,” which was filmed Monday in Los Angeles. McKeon said that an interview with Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder was filmed before his interview, and one with Yankee Manager Bucky Dent followed his. . . . Eric Anthony, who attended Mt. Carmel High School in Rancho Penasquitos, has emerged this season as the Astros’ No. 1 prospect. Leading the minor leagues in homers each of the first two full seasons, Anthony, 21 and drafted in the 34th round by Houston in 1986, was called up to the majors after just 11 games at triple-A Tucson this year. “He reminds me of a young Bo Jackson, only he’s further along,” Astro Coach Ed Napoleon said.