BASEBALL ’90 PREVIEW : 1989 Review: A Bad Start Was Beginning of End

The Padres heard the talk all winter. They were inundated with it during spring training. Finally, they gave up and started talking the same trash, too.

This was their year. They were going to win the National League West. Maybe they’d even run away with the West.

“That’s when all our problems started,” Padre Tony Gwynn said. “The way we won in the spring, it was like we felt we didn’t have to execute. I think what happened gave us a false sense of security. By the time we realized what happened, it was too late.”

This was a team that went 18-8 in spring training, posting the best record in franchise history. Carmelo Martinez hit six home runs with 17 RBIs. Marvell Wynne batted .354. Dave Leiper went 3-0.

Martinez hit just six homers the entire season and was released. Wynne was relegated to the bench by mid-season and traded in August to the Chicago Cubs. Leiper was sent to the minors and later released.

The team that was supposed to run away with the division found itself fifth, eight games out of first, and it was only the second week of June. The Padres were 11 games out by June 24, 12 a month later.

Players who couldn’t wait until the season started were all of a sudden marking the days until it ended.

It took until Aug. 26 for the Padres to reach the .500 mark and maintain it. They won 29 of their final 39 games, but that was not enough. They finished with a 89-73 record, three games behind San Francisco.

What was supposed to be the Year of the Padres turned instead into the Year of Frustration.

* Pitcher Eric Show pitched his last game June 25, then underwent back surgery.

* First baseman Jack Clark hit just .227 with nine homers and 40 RBIs in the first half before turning it on after the Padres fell out of the race.

* Second baseman Roberto Alomar, after predicting a stellar defensive season, committed the most errors, 28, by any second basemen in the big leagues.

* Catcher Benito Santiago batted just .236, hitting only six homers over 342 at-bats in his first 96 games.

* Pitchers Walt Terrell and Dennis Rasmussen, the No. 4 and No. 5 starters, were a combined 9-20 when Terrell was traded July 22.

The Padres were in a constant state of flux. They sent 42 players in and out of the door. They made three major trades. There were changes made upstairs with the hiring of a president and general manager.

Finally, on the night of Aug. 23, it happened. Rookie pitcher Andy Benes, who had been called up to the big leagues just two weeks earlier, defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3, at Veterans Stadium.

Something magical started happening.

The Padres returned home and swept three games from the New York Mets, won two of three against Montreal and swept three from Philadelphia.

Still, they were seven games out with 26 left to play. Only a miracle would save them now.

It almost happened.

They moved into a tie for second the night of Sept. 4 with a 10-9 victory in Atlanta. A week later, they had moved past Houston for good by winning five of their next seven.

Still, the Giants weren’t cooperating. They kept the same torrid pace, winning night after night. It almost seemed cruel. The Padres were the hottest team in baseball, winning 24 of 30 games, but they had picked up just four games with a week left to play.

The Padres, trailing by five games, had a six-game home stand remaining. The Giants were on the road for six games. All the Giants needed were two victories or two Padres defeats, and the final three games between the Padres and Giants would be meaningless.

Well, a funny thing almost happened. The Dodgers swept San Francisco, the first time all season the Giants had been swept. The Padres, meanwhile, split the first two games of the series with Cincinnati.

In Game 3 of the Cincinnati series, realizing the Giants had lost once again, the Padres needed to win.

But there they were in the 13th inning, tied, 1-1. If you thought the Padres were fidgety, you should have seen the Giants. They were huddled in the visiting clubhouse listening to the play-by-play, refusing to leave Dodger Stadium until the Padre game was over.

The Padres ran into trouble in the 13th. The Reds had a runner on second with Eric Davis at the plate. With first base, Padre Manager Jack McKeon checked with pitcher Calvin Schiraldi, who said he felt strong.

“Don’t worry, Skip,” he said, “I’ll get him out.”

Instead, Davis lashed a double off the left-field wall. The run scored. Just a few minutes later, the game was over. Reds 2, Padres 1.

The Giants went screaming into the night, spraying champagne over one another into the wee hours of the morning. The Padres retreated to the quiet of their own clubhouse, wondering why in the world it took them so long to start playing this kind of baseball.

The frustrations were eased somewhat when Gwynn won his fourth batting title with six hits in his final eight at-bats, beating the Giants’ Will Clark. And there was euphoria among the players when reliever Mark Davis won the Cy Young with his 44 saves.

Still, when the season ended, the Padres thought they, not the Giants, were the best in the division.