Carter Lifts His Burden, New Team : Padres: His first hit of the season, a bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, scores two runs to put team ahead for good on the way to an 8-6 victory over the Dodgers.

Joe Carter was sitting alone in front of his locker Thursday morning, hours before the Padres would defeat the Dodgers, 8-6, when Padre Manager Jack McKeon stopped by for a quick chat.

“How’s it going?” Carter said, looking up nonchalantly.

McKeon: “I’m doing great, but I want to know how you’re doing, Joe? I want you to quit worrying. Just go out there and have fun. Everything will take care of itself, don’t worry about it, because I’m sure not.”

Carter: “Thanks, but I’ll be all right. Things could be a lot worse than this. I could be back in Cleveland, and it’s snowing there right now.”

Carter managed a weak smile, hoping to convince McKeon, along with everyone else in the clubhouse, that he was OK.

But who was he trying to kid? Here he was, the new guy in town, making more money than any player in Padre history, and he still had yet to reach base this season.

Sure, he had hit the ball hard a few times, all the way to the warning track twice Wednesday night, but all he had to show for it were zero hits in 11 plate appearances.

“I knew what he was going through,” said Fred Lynn, the Padre left fielder. “No matter how many times guys tell you to take it easy and not to worry, it doesn’t do any good. I know it was eating him up. We all knew that.”

Carter even started to incur the wrath of the 37,204 fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium Thursday, and when he struck out for the second time in the game in the sixth--extending his hitless streak to 14 at-bats--what could he do but stand there and listen to some wise guy yell, “That’s a $3 million swing?”

So you can just imagine the anxiety churning inside Carter when he stepped to the plate in the eighth. The bases were loaded. No outs. The infield was in. And the game was tied, 4-4.

It’s the situation every power-hitter dreams about. Yes, even if you are 0 for the season.

“If there was ever a time for me to get a hit,” Carter said, “that was the time.”

He walked slowly to the plate, allowing the bat to dangle from his hand. He dug his spikes into the batter’s box, then stepped out as catcher Mike Scioscia walked to the mound to discuss strategy with pitcher Don Aase.

They decided they would pitch Carter just as they have this entire series. Throw him an assortment of breaking balls and off-speed pitches outside and hope he chases them. Heck, it had worked for the past 3 1/2 games, Scioscia said. Why change anything now?

Aase went into the stretch and fired a slider about six inches outside. Carter swung anyway. Strike 1.

Carter groaned, stepped away from the plate to tell himself to relax, dragged his bat across the plate and stepped in to try again.

Aase threw another slider, this time across the strike zone. Carter swung again. This time, there was contact. The ball scooted sharply across the infield dirt . . . past shortstop Alfredo Griffin . . . and, yes, into the outfield.

Base hit.

Roberto Alomar came running across the plate. Tony Gwynn was right behind him. And Jack Clark stopped at second.

The mighty drought had ended.

Carter showed no emotion as he stepped across first base and didn’t even look in the dugout toward shortstop Joey Cora, who had predicted after Carter’s pop-up in the second that Carter would later get the game-winning hit. Instead, Carter said a word of thanks to the man upstairs and for the first time was able to take that deep breath and relax.

“When I hit the outfield grass,” Carter said, “you’re talking about a big sigh of relief. I said, ‘Baseball’s not supposed to be that hard, is it?’ ”

Carter’s hit opened the floodgates for what surely figures to be one of the ugliest innings the Dodgers will play this season. The Padres scored two more runs in the eighth after a walk to Lynn and a two-run single by Benito Santiago, and by the time the inning was over, the Padres had an 8-4 lead.

The Dodgers allowed just two singles in the inning, but when you walk five batters and botch a double-play ball, funny things can happen.

Of course, it was a rather strange game all-around. The Padres’ eight-run outburst was three more than they scored in the first three games combined. Calvin Schiraldi, who came onto the scene in the eighth, won his first game in relief since July 28, 1989. Lynn, who hit his second home run in the second inning, recorded eight putouts, just one short of the club record for outfielders in a nine-inning game.

And by the time Craig Lefferts induced Jeff Hamilton into a fly out--obtaining his second save in less than 19 hours--39 players, including 12 pitchers, had wandered in and out of the game. Little wonder it lasted 3 hours 34 minutes, tying the franchise record for a nine-inning home game set in 1982.

“It was like an American League game,” said Lynn, who spent his past 15 seasons there. “I’m used to these type of games. Hey, after about five innings, I was just getting warmed up.”

Actually, maybe it’s the Padre offense that is just warming up. They were on base 15 times Sunday, including six by the top two hitters in the lineup--Joey Cora and Roberto Alomar, who also stole three bases.

“This is exactly what we want to do,” Gwynn said. “We showcased ourselves today. I can see a lot of games like this. Just get on base. Start running at every opportunity. And let the big guys drive us in.”

Yeah, even if the big guys are driving in runs with singles instead of homers.

“I’d rather get 100 hits with runners in scoring position rather than getting a bunch of homers with no one on,” Carter said. “The home runs will come, anyway. I’m not worried. Especially now, because I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders.

“I feel at home now.”

And not just because he finally was able to move out of a hotel Wednesday and into his new house in Poway.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re staying,” Carter said. “If you’re not hitting, you don’t do a whole lot of sleeping.”

Padre Notes

Padre Manager Jack McKeon, after reading about the plight of San Diego motorcycle Sgt. Jim Kelley, telephoned him Thursday morning at Sharp Memorial Hospital before the game and then visited him afterward, showering him with gifts. Besides sending flowers and a card, McKeon brought Kelley and Kelley’s 12-year-old son Padre caps, shirts, autographed baseballs, notebooks, pens and about everything else McKeon could rummage out of his office. Kelley was hit while on his motorcycle Tuesday night at 9:15, when directing traffic, by a 48-year-old woman who was charged with drunken driving. He suffered five fractures in his lower left leg. “I just wanted to cheer him up,” McKeon said. “When I called him up, he said, ‘You really made my day.’ I feel good just doing something like that for someone.” Besides, McKeon figured, “Now if he stops to give me a ticket, maybe he’ll think twice.” . . . As long as McKeon was talking to Kelley, Padre catcher Mark Parent wondered, could he ask for a tiny favor? You see, a certain major league catcher happened to be driving 78 m.p.h. on Interstate 15 Thursday morning on the way to the game, was stopped and received a ticket.

Former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and Padre chief executive Jerry Kapstein spent the afternoon together watching the game. National League President Bill White also attended. . . . Former Padre pitcher Dave Leiper is scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery today in Redwood City, and several Padres are planning to visit him Saturday after their afternoon game with the Giants. . . . Padre reliever Mark Grant arrived in the clubhouse recently a bit surprised to see the item someone had left above his locker. Heck, he didn’t even know what it was. To his best guess, it’s a wooden Chinese dragon head. “Hey, who left me this thing, come on, who did it?” Grant yelled to no one in particular. Finally, Padre traveling secretary Doc Mattei stepped forward and admitted that he was the culprit. Mattei said the item is actually a Japanese dragon head that was presented to him this spring by the Yakult Swallows baseball team. “It’s to ward off all the demons and evil spirits,” Mattei said. Said Grant: “Thanks, I could use all the help I can get.”

Kansas City reliever Mark Davis, who got his first save Wednesday night, sent his regards to his former teammates via a telephone call with Grant. The biggest adjustment for Davis? “He told me he can’t believe how clean the stadium is in Kansas City,” Grant said. “There’s not even a gum wrapper in the stands. And as soon as there’s a piece of paper in the bullpen, someone picks that up.” . . . Shortstop Jose Valentin of the Padres’ double-A team in Wichita suffered a dislocated left shoulder while playing Wednesday and is expected to be out four to six weeks. . . . McKeon rested infield regulars Garry Templeton and Bip Roberts, instead starting Joey Cora at shortstop and Mike Pagliarulo at third for the first time this season. Catcher Benito Santiago will be given the day off Sunday, McKeon said, allowing Parent to make his first start. . . . McKeon said he wanted to keep Roberts out of the starting lineup for a day to help him relax and quit putting so much pressure on himself to hit .300 again. Roberts, the Padres’ leadoff hitter, is one for 12 this season without a walk. “I told Bip, ‘The only way you can help me is by getting on base,’ ” McKeon said. “ ‘Don’t worry about hitting .300 again. Just get on base.’ ”