Pagliarulo Leaves Bench, Lifts Padres in the 10th

The name is Mike Pagliarulo. His teammates call him Pags. Heck, even Pags calls himself Pags. Who can pronounce Pagliarulo, much less spell it?

It didn’t even irritate him in the slightest when he came to Candlestick Park, only to find his name misspelled above his locker.

“That’s OK,” he shrugged. “I didn’t even know how to spell it until I was 13.”

That’s Pags. Every scout can tell you the book on him: Great guy . . . leader in the clubhouse . . . gets along with everyone . . . . . . strong arm . . . and, uh, weak bat.

It’s the bat that has left Pagliarulo on the bench this season. You’re talking about a guy who has the lowest career batting average (.227) among all active players with at least 2,500 at-bats.

Still, Padre Manager Jack McKeon had every intention of providing Pagliarulo the opportunity to win the starting third base job this spring. But when you’re watching a guy bat .107 (three for 28), you’re not exactly lying awake contemplating your decision.

So, as you can imagine, when left-handed hitting Pagliarulo came to the ballpark Saturday morning, it hardly came as a surprise to see his name missing from the lineup. With a left-hander starting, and the Giants’ top middle reliever being left-handed, it appeared Pagliarulo would get more exercise walking along Fisherman’s Wharf in his sandals than he would at Candlestick.

For 8 1/2 innings, Pags just on the bench with the rest of the reserves, until all of a sudden his name was being called by McKeon to go onto the field.

Then it was the 10th, and the public-address announcer was calling his name as he stepped to the plate with one out and the bases loaded.

Just a few minutes later, he was encircled by reporters calling his name, wanting to know all about his heroics in the Padres’ 5-3, 10-inning victory over the San Francisco Giants in front of 24,846.

The Padres, who have scored 14 of their 17 runs in the eighth inning or later, won their fourth in a row. They were just one out away from defeat in the ninth when shortstop Garry Templeton tied it with a bloop single to left, scoring Joe Carter, who had reached base on third baseman Matt Williams’ error.

It was the only break the Padres would need. In the 10th, Roberto Alomar walked on four pitches, and Tony Gwynn followed with a double over the head of Williams, advancing Alomar to third and chasing reliever Jeff Brantley.

Dan Quisenberry, who was scorched by the Padres in their 8-3 victory Friday, came on. His first act was to intentionally walk Jack Clark, loading the bases for a potential easy force out.

Carter, who ended his hitless drought Thursday in this same situation, strode to the plate ready to win the game with one swing. Instead, he lofted a fly ball to center, too shallow even to allow Alomar an attempt to score from third.

That, as Quisenberry would later say, was supposed to be the tough out. Now, he was dipping into the bottom of the order, and the next batter was Pagliarulo, whose 1990 repertoire consisted of three strikeouts and an infield pop-up in four plate appearances.

Pagliarulo walked to the plate, taking a peek over his shoulder to make sure McKeon was not sending up a pinch-hitter. Pagliarulo has managed to maintain his confidence, anyway, but Quisenberry was a guy he always loved to face. In fact, of his eight previous at-bats against Quisenberry, five resulted in hits.

So even though he missed badly on a sinker thrown by Quisenberry, evening the count at 1-1, Pagliarulo remained undaunted. The next pitch was a slider, and Pagliarulo stayed back, swung and sent the ball soaring toward the right field gap.

Brett Butler raced over to the warning track, making an over-the-shoulder catch and robbing Pagliarulo of at least a double. But no matter. Alomar tagged up and scored easily from third, and Gwynn advanced to third. Benito Santiago provided the insurance run when he laid a bunt down the third-base line, allowing Gwynn to score.

The rest was left up to Craig Lefferts, the reliever who departed San Francisco at the end of last season for a $5.25-million free-agent contract with the Padres.

Will Clark opened the inning with a blooper to center field . . . snagged by a diving Carter. Kevin Mitchell, who hit his first homer of the season in the fourth inning, followed with a screaming line drive . . . snared by a leaping Pagliarulo. And the game ended with Matt Williams looking at a called third strike.

Pagliarulo was mobbed by his teammates, who know the anguish he’s had to endure as a backup player for the first time in his career.

So what’s the first question asked of him by a Bay-area reporter?

“What do you think of that Giant bullpen, it’s pretty beat up, isn’t it?”

Pagliarulo winced and said: “They got Joe Carter out, didn’t they? It’s not hurting that bad. He (Quisenberry) had to get three outs in a row. That’s tough for anybody. He was trying to get a ground ball out of me, and it just didn’t work.”

Pagliarulo, exasperated by the question, sat back in his locker and rolled his eyes. But he knows that when you’re hitting the way he has, even sacrifice flies must be blamed on someone.

“I know I can still go out there every day and hit 20 home runs,” Pagliarulo said, “I just know I can do that. I’ve done it before. I mean, it’s one thing to question a guy who’s never done it before, but I’ve done it. I’m just not in that situation now to show it.”

Pagliarulo allowed some of his frustrations to seep out while talking about his new life on the bench. He’s eligible for free agency after the season, and of course could shop his services to someone who will make him a starter. But he wants to stay put, he says, just hoping the Padres will give him that chance to show he can once again be an everyday player.

So just how tough is it now for him to be sitting on the bench?

“Well,” Pagliarulo said, “I haven’t strangled my family or anything yet, if that’s what you mean. Sure, it gets me down, but there’s really nothing I can do right now but wait.

“I just get tired of people seeing me play once a week, and I don’t get a hit, and they say, ‘Hey, he can’t hit any more.’ If I had 500 at-bats, it’d be a different story.”

But the statistics don’t lie. Pagliarulo’s batting average has plummeted each of the past four seasons, and after hitting 32 homers and driving in 87 runs in 1987, he has since hit just 22 homers with 98 RBIs.

He reads the papers and hears the talk that he’s washed up. His response: “To hell with them.”

“When you look at the paper (statistics), my sister could say that, but so what? Those people aren’t general managers. Screw ‘em. Let the second-guessing . . . say whatever they want. All that does is inspire me.”

It’s really quite similar to the way Lefferts was feeling Saturday. The fans at Candlestick taunted and booed him when he came onto the field in the ninth inning, and that was all the inspiration he needed to pitch two hitless innings without yielding even a walk.

So, does he at least feel the least bit of sympathy for the Giants over their bullpen problems, knowing that he could have rectified them by staying?

“No, not at all,” Lefferts said, breaking into a smile. “It feels great to pitch against them. They wouldn’t give me the opportunity I wanted, and now they’re paying the price.”

Padre Notes

Padre catcher Benito Santiago, who ended Friday’s game by picking off Robby Thompson at second base and threw out Thompson trying to steal second Saturday, now has thrown out four of the four base-runners who have attempted to steal, including two pickoffs. “The way I’m feeling this year,” Santiago said, “I tell them, ‘Just go ahead and try. I dare you.’ No one’s going to steal off me this year. If they steal, it’ll be off the pitcher.” Santiago, who had an extensive workout program during the winter, said his arm feels the best it has in years. He also is off to the best start in his career, batting .364 (eight for 22) with three RBIs. “He’s really busting his butt,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “He’s really a different player this year. He’s happy, he’s smiling, it’s great to see. I’ve really been impressed.” The Padres’ new road jerseys had one minor flaw Friday night--the name on the back of Santiago’s uniform was misspelled. It was corrected for Saturday’s game. . . . Former Padre infielder Tim Flannery, in town as a color analyst for today’s game, was a bit surprised to see his name on the Candlestick scoreboard in the ninth inning Friday night: “Now warming up in the bullpen, Tim Flannery.” But neither team had one, although new Padre reliever, Craig Lefferts, now wears Flannery’s old number, 11. Said Flannery: “I thought I was in Field of Dreams or something.” . . . Former Padre President Chub Feeney was in attendance Saturday.