After Padres Get Loud, They Get on Mets, 5-4

There was the sound of muffled voices from behind the cinder block walls of the visiting clubhouse at Shea Stadium Thursday afternoon. They became louder. Then there were shouts.

This was supposed to be a Padre team meeting, but by the time it ended, it was more like a summit. It kept going and going and going. By the time it finally ended 50 minutes later, it was too late for the Padres to even take batting practice.

They marched onto the field, refused to talk to waiting reporters and promptly played their best baseball of the season, defeating the Mets, 5-4, in front of 31,659 fans at Shea Stadium who were wondering just who these imposters were in the brown pinstripe uniforms.

“Now that you mention it,” shortstop Garry Templeton said, “it’s time to do something about these damn uniforms. We’ve got to change these things. We need to start looking like a ballclub instead of like jailbirds.

“We look like Taco Bell.”

Before anyone gets carried away, Padre Manager Jack McKeon said, let’s not forget that this was just one game. Besides, he had two previous team meetings this season, also resulting in immediate victories.

But this one, McKeon finally conceded, was different from the others. This one was an in-your-face, let-it-all-out showdown.

Once McKeon had his say, addressing the team for about 10 minutes, he was kicked out. It was the players’ turn, and as several said later, it got downright nasty at times.

They talked about their lackadaisical play, and from what could be heard from outside the clubhouse, pitcher Bruce Hurst did just fine addressing that issue.

They talked about their lack of concentration, giving up key home runs or committing errors at the most inopportune times.

And yes, they talked about the accusations of selfishness involving right fielder Tony Gwynn, made public by third baseman Mike Pagliarulo and echoed anonymously by several others.

It’s unknown just how that issue was handled, because Gwynn refused to talk to reporters after the game and Pagliarulo would not address the subject.

“Let’s just say there were a lot of things brought up,” first baseman Jack Clark said, “and that was covered.”

From now on, the players vowed, there no longer will be any quotes attributed to anyone anonymously or said about unnamed players. If someone has a gripe about a player or wants to criticize a teammate, it will be said with names attached or not at all. No one will be able to hide.

“We got a lot of things off our chest,” Clark said. “I know I got things off mine. Oh, yeah, you know I got pretty loud.”

The idea of the meeting originated with Templeton, the Padre captain. He talked privately with McKeon about the idea, particularly because of the accusations directed toward Gwynn, and by late Wednesday, McKeon, Templeton and Clark decided just how this would be handled.

“I think everyone knew it was coming,” McKeon said. “The players knew they deserved it. There are times when they need to have their asses kicked, and this was one of them.”

With that, the Padres went out and built a 5-0 lead, knocked Met ace Frank Viola out of the game in the fourth and hung on for dear life when Craig Lefferts rescued starter Andy Benes and saved his sixth game.

Just how important was it for the Padres to win this game?

“Tonight was the biggest game of the year,” Pagliarulo said. “I’m not kidding. I’m dead serious. And tomorrow will be the biggest game of the year.

“We have to have that approach, or it’s just not going to work. If we don’t do that, we might as well pack up our bags.

“For the first time in a while, we played as a team tonight, and you saw what happened.”

The Padre team that played Thursday didn’t even resemble the guys who have dug themselves a 9 1/2-game hole in the division race with a 19-21 record.

First of all, they actually had a lead for a change. And they were even stealing bases. In fact, leadoff hitter Bip Roberts’ two steals was just one shy of the team’s total the previous 15 games. All right, they gave up their usual quota of homers when Benes gave up two in the fifth. But that was Benes also going two for two with two RBIs and a sacrifice fly.

“Tonight we finally played the way we were capable of playing,” Templeton said. “Everybody was busting their asses out there, and that’s why we won. If you don’t go out there and concentrate, then the meeting isn’t worth a damn. It’s just a waste of words.”

There was no better example of the Padres’ rejuvenated spirit than in the sixth inning, when Met third baseman Howard Johnson hit a foul ball toward the stands. Templeton, Pagliarulo and Roberts each sprinted over. As the ball began to fall, Pagliarulo batted it up in the air. Templeton took a swipe at it, and it bounced off his wrist. And then Templeton grabbed the ball barehanded with Roberts crouched beneath, waiting for a final tip.

“That play right there showed how this team has come together,” Roberts said. “We know every time we drift apart, it’s not going to work.”

If the meeting and victory were not enough, the Padres were treated to a special bonus with their showcasing of Jerald Clark at first base.

The Yankees have been scouting Clark the past two weeks but have had little opportunity to see him because he has been on the bench. McKeon provided Clark with a few pinch-hitting opportunities but was reluctant to put him back into the outfield because of his defensive deficiencies.

So McKeon rectified the problem by putting him at first, a position he never had played in the big leagues and one at which he played just twice last season in triple-A.

“Why not?” McKeon said, “Let’s see what happens when we get the extra bat in there. Everyone else has been getting the opportunities, let’s give him one.”

Besides, with Yankee scouts Fred Goodman and Gene Michael in the stands, why not let them take a long look at Clark, who went one for three and actually looked quite adept at first.

The Padres and Yankees are expected to talk again soon, and if the Padres get their wish, they’ll receive reliever Eric Plunk or Greg Cadaret in return.

“It seems like we make a deal every year at about this time,” McKeon said.

“It wouldn’t bet against it this year.”

Padre Notes

National League President Bill White said Thursday that he’s confident the sale of the Padres will be approved and finalized in June, possibly at the owners’ meetings June 13-15 in Cleveland. In fact, one source said that the official changing of the guard will take place June 15, with managing partner Tom Werner becoming responsible for all club matters on that date. White, who met Wednesday with Padre President Dick Freeman in Montreal, said: “It will get done, I’m sure of that. We’ve gone too far and worked too hard in the process for anything to go wrong now. Everything looks absolutely great. They’ve done a great getting local representation.”