Padres Don’t Leave Their Hope Behind

To say dawn ever broke over the Bay Area Sunday would be misleading in that it would suggest there was a time when the sun arrived for more than cameo appearances.

This was definitely not a sun day.

However, what it was for the Padres was perhaps the most critical regular-season day in the 21-year history of the franchise. Saturday’s rainout created the need for a Sunday double-header, the result of which could elevate them as close as three games from the first-place San Francisco Giants or leave them as far as seven games back and dismiss them from the pennant race.

Never before had the Padres experienced a September day when success or failure could dictate survival or extinction in a pennant race.

Early in the day, it appeared the weather would be the only winner, as San Francisco continued to be hit by the first storm of the year. It was drizzling at best and pouring at worst.

The Padre players lounged around the clubhouse in varying degrees of dress, watching Washington-Philadelphia on one television and the Raiders-Kansas City on the other. Pitcher Ed Whitson’s chili recipe for Coach Greg Riddoch included a cricket, which had made the mistake of straying into his locker . . . and chirping.

Indeed, no one seemed concerned with the consequences of what this day would bring because no one seriously considered that a game would come to be played. The Padres, in fact, were prepared to check back into their hotel and play a double-header today instead.

Manager Jack McKeon excused himself for a chapel service, but apparently made the mistake of failing to pray that the rain continue.

Ninety minutes late, the double-header would start.

The sun peeked through the clouds on only a couple of occasions during Game 1, but it would outshine the Padres. Their biggest problem was that baseball rules limit Jack Clark to only one position in the batting order, thus limiting him to four hits in four at-bats with a home run, two runs batted in and two runs scored. He was the Padres’ sun, star and moon in what would be a 5-3 loss.

Of course, the Giants had their big guy, too. Kevin Mitchell hit home runs Nos. 44 and 45, the second of which apparently punctured a cloud and caused the rain to return in the seventh inning. Had the Padres done the prudent thing and just intentionally walked him each time up, as they did in the fifth inning, they might still be playing.

And so the Padres found themselves down six games and in third place as Game 1 ended and the drizzle continued.

“So we’re right where we were when we came in here,” McKeon said. “We’ve got to go out and get this one and be satisfied with two out of three.”

That was what they did. They bounced back to win the nightcap, 6-1. They had arrived in San Francisco six games behind and they were leaving for Cincinnati five games behind. A sweep had been their dream, but at least they had avoided a nightmare.

Clark had hit another home run in the nightcap, and so had Roberto Alomar and Chris James. Bruce Hurst pitched yet another complete game for his 15th victory. It was so neatly wrapped up so early that very few of the 25,543 fans braved the chill and dampness in hope of another miraculous Giant comeback.

However, with 12 games to play, the Padres are the ones who really need the miraculous comeback. Each of these teams plays nine games before they close the season against each other in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium Sept. 29, 30 and Oct. 1.

“The ideal scenario,” mused Hurst, “is that we would be four-up on them when they come to town. We could just play for fun.”

Yes, Hurst was just having some fun himself with a real impossible dream.

“They have that five-game lead,” he said, “and that’s a pretty good margin. If they keep winning, there’s nothing we can do. It depends on the help we get . . . and WE have to keep winning.”

Obviously, the Padres salvaged more that just pride in that second game Sunday. They salvaged hope.

The difference now is that help is imperative. Everyone talked of getting help and chipping away at that five-game lead. The magic number in that sense is three, since that’s how close the Padres would have to be from the top to go into that final weekend with at least a mathematical chance, which would probably be enough to unleash a frenzy of excitement in Mission Valley.

“We’re not the same ballclub we were early in the season,” Jack Clark said. “I’m sure the Giants are glad they have as big a lead as they do. I just really hope we can make those last three games really mean something.”

And so the Padres were off for their airplane. It was dark, but somehow it seemed brighter than it had been at any other time on this dreariest of days.