Padres Win as Whitson Gives All

The Padres took every precaution Wednesday. Preparations were being made around the clock. Not the slightest detail was overlooked.

This was too big a game, Padre Manager Jack McKeon insisted, not to behave like a fidgety husband with an expectant wife.

When Ed Whitson went to the bullpen to throw warmup pitches before the game, reliever Greg Harris was warned to sit tight.

After every pitch Whitson threw, Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson was right there, asking him how he felt.

Every second Whitson spent in the bullpen, McKeon was in the dugout, pacing back and forth.

Even Whitson was apprehensive, secretly wondering if the pain in his right bicep would return, haunting him just as it did his last start.

“We didn’t know what would happen,” McKeon said. “We didn’t know if he could pitch, first of all. And if he could pitch, we didn’t know how long.

“To tell you the truth, I was just hoping he could last five innings.

“We were prepared for everything.”

Except this.

Whitson, pitching one of the finest games of his season, surprised the house at Riverfront Stadium by lasting eight innings and helping lead the Padres to a 3-1, 10-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Oh, the box score this morning will not have a “W” to the right of Whitson’s name, but if not for his performance, the Padres might have been talking about next year instead of hanging in the playoff race.

Whitson, who had not thrown a pitch since lasting 2 1/3 innings in his last start Thursday, allowed just three hits while striking out seven. He actually got better as the game progressed, retiring the final 13 batters he faced before leaving after the eighth.

“What a game,” McKeon said. “That might have been his best-pitched game all year.

“I was hoping he’d just go five.

“Hell, he probably could have gone 12 the way he was pitching.”

If only he could have thrown in a few for the Dodgers. Playing the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park, they took a 7-0 lead and were in front, 7-3, entering the ninth. But the Giants staged another of their remarkable comebacks of late and won, 8-7, leaving the Padres five games behind.

The Giants’ victory prevented the Padres from reducing their deficit to the smallest since June 7.

“I’ll tell you what, they (the Giants) don’t want to come into our place three games up in that final weekend,” Padre left fielder Chris James said, “because they know their . . . will be in trouble.

“Big trouble.”

Said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn: “They know they have to win every night, because we’re right there. We’re not backing down. We’re putting the pressure on. If they want that magic number to drop, they have to win themselves, because we’re not helping.”

The Padres, putting together the finest winning streak in the franchise’s 21-year history, have won 21 of their past 26 games, 23 of their past 29. The streak has put them 14 games over .500 (83-69) for the first time since July 8, 1985.

And for the first time this late in a season since 1984, the Padres really believe they can win this thing, only asking for a chance to have those final three games against the Giants in San Diego mean something.

Considering that the Padres have just 10 games remaining in the season, doesn’t McKeon wish he could extend the season by just another week?

“Nah,” McKeon said, “we’ve still got plenty of time. It (the end) is getting closer and closer, but we have plenty of time to catch them. I think we’re going to be in good shape.”

Whitson provided some optimism by allowing just one run on a wild pitch in the fourth inning.

It was to be Whitson’s last mistake of the evening. He did not allow another runner to reach base, yielding just three balls out of the infield and striking out the side in the eighth.

“The guy’s unbelievable, isn’t he?” Dobson said. “There’s no one that competes any better than that guy. What a lift he was for this ballclub.”

Said Whitson: “There was no way I was going to miss this start unless it was an absolute emergency. Them boys would have had to tie me up not to let me start tonight. We’ve come too far to take time off now.”

The Padres, who had tied the game in the fifth inning on Garry Templeton’s sacrifice fly, broke loose in the 10th, albeit in a rather inauspicious way.

Gwynn led off with a single to center but was promptly thrown out trying to steal second. Cleanup hitter Jack Clark then walked for a record 126th time this season, snapping Gene Tenace’s franchise record of 125 in 1977. James followed with a single to left, and Clark surprised left fielder Herm Winningham by taking off for third, barely beating the throw.

“That was a great piece of base-running right there,” Gwynn said. “We might still be playing without that.”

Indeed, because when Benito Santiago hit a ground ball to third baseman Luis Quinones, Clark broke for home. Quinones alertly threw to home. But there was one problem. The throw was about four feet off target, sailing past catcher Jeff Reed to the backstop.

Clark scored, James went to third, and Santiago stood smiling on first.

The Padres added another run when pinch-hitter Carmelo Martinez hit into a fielder’s choice for his first RBI since Aug. 23. Bullpen stopper Mark Davis came into the game in the bottom of the 10th, and three batters later saved his 41st game.

“The way we’re playing now, it’s like there’s no stopping us,” said James, hitting .391 over the past five games after two more hits Wednesday. “No matter what the situation, no matter what the score, we feel we can’t be beat.

“People keep talking about how tough our situation is, but to tell you the truth, I kind of like it. I wouldn’t trade with anyone.”

Padre Notes

Meanwhile in Atlanta, the lineup controversy continues. Despite complaints issued Tuesday to the league office by Padre General Manager Tony Siegle and San Francisco Giant Manager Roger Craig to the league office, Brave Manager Russ Nixon had five non-starters in his lineup and had Rusty Richards making his major-league debut on the mound Wednesday. Bill White, National League president, telephoned Nixon 30 minutes before Tuesday’s game and told Nixon that he might consider making a lineup adjustment. Nixon refused. “I don’t know what it is,” Nixon said, “but if I were in their place, I’d be worrying about the guys ahead of me instead of the guys behind me. Everybody acts like this is the first time something like this has ever happened. They’re talking a lot about it to the league. If they’ve got a problem with it, they can call me if they want to . . . I don’t think if I had a five-game lead and had the best club in the league, I’d be worried about what a last-place club is doing. . . . I’m going to remember this. You’re damn right I am.” . . . Reds right fielder Paul O’Neill, on Padre rookie pitcher Andy Benes’ performance Tuesday in the Padres’ 5-1 victory: “Twenty-two? Is that all he is? For the first five innings, he threw the ball as good as anybody I’ve seen this year. . . . Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Players Assn., met with the Padres and Reds before the game, discussing the upcoming labor negotiations. Fehr informed them that the union has retained enough money to pay each player up to a maximum $70,000 in case of a lockout or strike. . . . The Padres’ local telecast of their game last Friday against the San Francisco Giants drew a 20 rating and 38 share of the Nielsen ratings, more than the combined total of the three major networks.