Padres Halt Streaking Giants, 4-3

Padre reliever Craig Lefferts has read all of the conjecture and rumors. He’s heard the comments in the clubhouse. Yeah, he knows all about Mark Davis.

But while it might be juicy gossip to speculate that the Kansas City Rouyals might give up on Davis and return him to the Padres, there might be one little fact worth noting:

Who needs him?

Lefferts once again came to the Padres’ rescue Tuesday night, bailing them out of a jam, and preserving the Padres’ 4-3 lead over the San Francisco Giants, ending their three-game losing streak while halting the Giants’ nine-game winning streak.

Lefferts got out of a bases-loaded jam created by Greg Harris in the seventh, squirmed out of his own jams in the eighth and ninth, and posted his 10th save of the season. He now has stranded the past 18 baserunners he has inherited.

“People keep talking about Mark Davis,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said, “but Lefferts has done a hell of a job. You can’t ask for anything more than he’s given us. He’s just been exceptional.”

Lefferts, 4-1 with a 1.45 ERA, has kept quiet about the speculation that the Padres could be interested in reacquiring Davis. Hey, Davis still has a lot of friends in the Padre clubhouse, and he sure doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings with any comments.

But, it would be nice for once for people to consider his own, and take a good look at what he has done for the Padres.

“All of that stuff gets kind of irritating,” Lefferts said, “but what are you going to do? If they want to get him back, I can’t stop them. But I don’t think anyone can argue what I’ve done this year.”

Certainly, if not for Lefferts’ heroics on this night at Candlestick, the Padres (32-31) wouldn’t be talking about catching the Cincinnati Reds. They’d be talking about next year.

But thanks to Lefferts, the Padres were able to forget all about their night of embarrassing moments.

Such as the time in the fifth inning when Giant Manager Roger Craig sent pitcher Don Robinson to the plate to pinch-hit in the fifth inning. The fans, who normally boo him when he pitches, cheered his presence.

So what happens? The guy clobbers a homer over the left-field fence on Hurst’s first pitch. The paid crowd of 31,164 went bonkers. And even though the Giants still were trailing, what was a guy to do but step out and take a curtain call.

And there was Padre left fielder Shawn Abner’s blunder in the ninth inning when he began walking off the field from second base thinking that Joe Carter had struck out. Oops. There were only two strikes on Carter, and Abner was thrown out easily by catcher Terry Kennedy.

And, oh, and it’s not exactly as if the Padres were able to sit back and admire their offensive exploits. After all, their four runs were scored against the likes of Francisco Oliveras and Bob Knepper.

Besides, any time your biggest power-hitter of the evening is pitcher Greg Harris, who entered the game with a .031 batting average with one hit in 32 career at-bats, you don’t do a whole lot of boasting.

Harris, who believes the last time he ever got an extra-base hit was back in Siler City, N.C. when he played in high school, led off the the seventh inning with a triple into the left-center gap. The ball rolled all of the way to the fence, and he didn’t stop running until he slid head-first into third.

It was the first triple by a Padre pitcher since Oct. 1, 1985 when Dave Dravecky accomplished the feat against Rick Honeycutt at Dodger Stadium.

Of course, Harris could still use a refresher course on baserunning. Gwynn followed Harris’ triple by hitting a sinking single into left field that was trapped by Kevin Mitchell. But instead of scoring, Harris stayed put, believing that Mitchell caught the ball.

Oh well, Harris scored anyway on Bip Roberts’ ground ball to second, giving the Padres a much-needed two-run cushion, 4-2.

The Giants, after being thwarted by Lefferts in the seventh, came right back in the eighth. Kevin Mitchell opened the inning with a single to left, but Lefferts appeared that he would remain unscathed when he induced pop-ups by Matt Williams, Mark Litton and Robbie Thompson.

One little problem. When Thompson hit his popup to short left-center field, and shortstop Garry Templeton, left fielder Shawn Abner and center fielder Joe Carter converged, no one came up with the ball. It deflected off Templeton’s glove--later was ruled a hit--and Mitchell came across home plate with a run while Thompson went to second.

Lefferts, however, averted complete catastrophe when he induced Jose Uribe to ground out to third baseman Bip Roberts, ending the inning.

The Giants threatened again in the ninth. Brett Butler hit a one-out single to right, and after Rick Parker hit into a fielder’s choice, Will Clark singled to center, putting runners on first and second with two outs.

Next up: Kevin Mitchell.

Gulp.

No problem, Mitchell swung at Lefferts’ first pitch, popping up to Roberts in foul territory. Roberts snagged the ball, and lifted his hands in triumph, signifying the finality of the Padres’ losing skein.

And wouldn’t you know it, for the first time since June 8, the Padres actually led a game for all nine innings.

How remarkable was the feat for the Padres?

Consider this: The Padres had led in just six of their previous 88 innings entering the night, and had not owned a lead since Friday night when they beat the Dodgers, 3-1, in 13 innings.

Perhaps the biggest beneficiary in the victory was starting pitcher Hurst, who had not won a game since May 18. Hurst lasted just five innings, but when he got in trouble this time, McKeon didn’t hesitate pulling him, allowing his bullpen to come to the rescue.

Hurst, though, can’t be blamed if he was a bit rattled before he even took the mound. He was warming up in the bullpen before the game, and really, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

There, before his very eyes, were his teammates actually scoring in the first inning.

There was Roberts drawing a one-out walk. There was Roberts stealing second. There was Roberts scoring on Roberto Alomar’s single to center, and going to second on catcher Gary Carter’s error. There was Joe Carter, who received hitting advice by former Giant Bobby Bonds before the game, singling to left, scoring Alomar for the second run. There was Carter going to second on a balk, to third on a wild pitch and scoring on Mike Pagliarulo’s sacrifice fly.

Padre Notes

Padre catcher Benito Santiago, who’s sitting at home with a broken left arm, widened his gap over the rest of the field in the All-Star balloting. Santiago has received 619,945 votes compared to 208,750 by Mike Scioscia of the Dodgers. If Santiago wins the nomination by the fans, he still will be invited to attend the festivities by the Major League Baseball office. Yet, unlike last year when he received a $25,000 incentive for making the All-Star team, Santiago does not have such a clause this season. . . . Padre outfielder Fred Lynn’s home run Monday night was the first homer hit into the upper deck at Candlestick Park this season, and by Lynn’s best estimate, might have been the longest of his career. “I sure can’t think of any I’ve ever hit any farther, that’s for sure,” Lynn said. . . . Just what is the secret to the Giants’ 16-1 streak, which is their best since going 17-1 Sept. 4-Sept. 20, 1965? It’s simple. Some Giant fan sent a vial of dirt from the Iowa farm in which the movie Field of Dreams was shot. “At the way we’re going,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said, “we’ll have half the farm sent here.” . . . Giant General Manager Al Rosen on their streak: “We weren’t as bad as we looked at the start, but we’re not as good as we’ve looked lately, either. Somewhere in between is a pretty good team. How good? I don’t know. If we get decent pitching, we’re the best team in the league. If we don’t, we’re just another team.” . . . Craig, on the stock answer given by many managers that they don’t read the newspapers: “I remember Preston Gomez used to tell that to all the writers, and I used to believe it. Then one day I came to his hotel room. I saw eight newspapers from eight different cities. He subscribed to them all.” . . . Padre Manager Jack McKeon on the subject of retaliation: “I don’t even want to know about it. I would never order one of my players to do that. Now, if they do it on their own, hey, I’m not going to stop them. The only time I’ve ever ordered someone to get hit was when I was managing in the Carolina League. Some guy was stealing second and third with an 11-run lead. We took care of his running for a while.” . . . Craig, on the Giants’ 91-36 scoring advantage against the Atlanta Braves this season: (Braves Manager) Russ Nixon came up to me and said, ‘Roger, you know how much I like you and everything, but I really don’t care to see you again, not even in September.” . . . There’s an advertisement in the local newspapers featuring San Francisco 49er running back Roger Craig in underwear. Well, the same ad can now be found in Craig’s office, the only difference being that the manager’s face is superimposed over the running back’s face.” . . . Giant first baseman Will Clark on being the Padres’ No. 1 enemy: “When you’re losing, you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. But when you’re winning, it doesn’t matter--you step on them with both feet.” . . . The Padres will conclude their three-game series in San Francisco with a 12:35 game today against the Giants. Andy Benes (6-4) and John Burkett (7-1) are the scheduled pitchers. The Padres are off Thursday, and then will play a three-game series in Atlanta.