Pennant Talk: For Real Now?

It was a year ago at about this time when first baseman Jack Clark and pitcher Bruce Hurst, newcomers to the Padres, looked in puzzlement at one another, not believing what they were hearing.

The Padres were telling anyone who was carrying a note pad or microphone how loaded they were in talent. They were telling everyone that not only would they win the division, but they’d probably run away with it. And, oh, by the way, when do World Series tickets go on sale?

“It was crazy,” Clark said. “When they traded for me, and signed Bruce, they really thought it was a guaranteed championship. People talked about how were going to win a pennant before we played our first game. It was wild. There were question marks all over our team, but nobody seemed to care.

“I remember looking around, and saying, ‘Hmm, I haven’t been in the National League West for a while, and I don’t know the guys on the other teams, so I figured, well, OK.’ I thought maybe the division was real weak of something.

“Bruce and I just kind of looked at each other, thinking, ‘If you start talking like that, you better be able to back it up.’

“Well, you saw what happened.”

The Padres were 11 games out of first place by June, out of the race by the end of July, and not even 29 victories out of their final 39 games could rescue them.

So what do they do? They add power-hitter Joe Carter to the lineup. They pick up 15-year veteran Fred Lynn for left field. They sign reliever Craig Lefferts to help offset the departure of Cy Young Award winner Mark Davis.

And here they go again, whispering ever so quietly this time, they that they will win the National League West, and yeah, maybe even run away with it.

“The difference, though,” Clark said, “is that this is a much better team. It’s a damn good team. Really, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t win this thing.”

Certainly, the Padres have proven that they can lick the Angels and Seattle Mariners with little problem, posting a 12-2 record against the only two teams they played all spring.

But beginning today, they’ll find out just how good they are against their own league, opening the 1990 season at 1:35 p.m. against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

“What we’re doing this time is trying to sneak up and surprise people,” said Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn, who has won three consecutive batting titles. “There’s no question we’ve got more talent than any team we’ve ever had here. We’ve got it all, really. It’s actually scary.

“Now, we just have to separate the hype from the job that needs to be done.”

The Padres, who were rather confident, anyway, entering the spring, boarded the team bus Sunday trying to convince themselves that surely it won’t be this easy once the season commences.

While pitching staffs across Arizona and Florida were complaining about the shortened spring, the Padre pitchers say they feel as ready now as they ever have when opening a season.

While many teams were struggling with their offense, the Padres were averaging 6.6 runs a game.

While teams watched their players drop because of injuries, the Padres actually became healthier, with pitcher Eric Show feeling no ill effects from his back surgery eight months ago.

“You can’t guarantee we’re going to win the pennant,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said, “but this is the most talented of any team I’ve ever been associated with.

“Everything just seems to be falling in place. I remember last year, we had a lot of guys coming off bad years, and we were hoping they would turn it around. We were banking on them doing it. This year, we don’t have to bank on any one guy.

“If we get good pitching, the kind of pitching like we got the second half of last year, we’ll win it.”

The Padres, McKeon said, are planning to run more than ever before. You’ll see them executing the hit-and-run. You’ll see lots of steal attempts, particularly from Roberto Alomar, Gwynn and Bip Roberts. You’ll even see an occasional suicide squeeze.

“We may even run ourselves out of some games early,” McKeon said, “but that’s OK. We’ll have it working. You’ll see.”

And when the Padres aren’t running, they’ll be bashing. They have seven players in their lineup who are legitimate home-run threats, and Clark and Joe Carter are among the league leaders in home runs each season.

“That’s the thing that impresses me the most,” Padre shortstop Garry Templeton said. “We finally have the feeling that we’re going to be driving in runs around here.

“Last year there were times we’d get three straight hits, and have the bases loaded. You’re not going to see that this year. You even noticed in spring training, how outfielders all of a sudden are backing up on us when we were at the plate. Nobody was doing that last year.”

Said starting pitcher Ed Whitson: “All of a sudden, it seems like all the pressure’s off the pitchers. You know if you give up a two-, three-run homer in the early-going, you have a chance to come back. And with our offense, we can blow anyone out in a hurry.

“The last time I felt this way was when I was was in Pittsburgh, and we had the Pittsburgh Lumber Co. If we were down six runs in the sixth or seventh inning, no problem. I feel the exact same way now.”

Hmm, when do those World Series tickets go on sale, anyway?