Templeton Fuels Rally, Padres Overcome Braves

Garry Templeton is supposed to be too old to keep playing this game every day, remember? His knees are supposed to be too shot to be playing at shortstop. His best days are supposed to be long behind him.

Well, if all this is true, then how do you explain Templeton’s performance Tuesday, when he again defied his critics, leading the Padres to a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Braves?

Templeton drove in three runs, all in the final three innings, helping the Padres stage their largest comeback of the season at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

After the Braves scored three runs in the seventh, increasing their lead to 6-1 and sending most of the 12,310 fans home, back came the Padres.

“It was like a script,” Padre center fielder Joe Carter said, “we couldn’t have written it any better.”

It was Templeton who hit a two-out single into right field, scoring two runs, and capping a four-run seventh inning that included Roberto Alomar’s two-run single.

Still, the Padres couldn’t get any close until the ninth. Bip Roberts led off with an infield single to shortstop. Alomar laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving Roberts to second.

It was Templeton’s turn again for heroics, and this time, he drove a single into center that scooted past Oddibe McDowell. Roberts scored easily, and, by the time the ball was retrieved, Templeton was standing on third.

Braves Manager Bobby Cox, not about to give Tony Gwynn or Jack Clark the opportunity to beat them with a sacrifice fly, ordered pitcher Rick Leucken to walk them intentionally, loading the bases.

The job was left up to Joe Carter, who entered the game with a .333 batting average (4 for 12) with the bases loaded this season. He swung at the first pitch and hit a routine bouncer to third baseman Jim Presley that looked like a double-play ball.

Presley put his glove up, and then watched in disgust as the ball caromed off, allowing Templeton to come across with the winning run.

Hey, with the way the Padres’ season has gone, they’ll take victories any way they can. It was their seventh victory in the past nine games, and, if nothing else, it gives them a firm hold on fourth place in the National League West.

“We didn’t give up,” Templeton said. “We battled our butts off. We didn’t let them get us down even though we were down a few runs.”

The comeback got starter Eric Show off the hook. Show allowed three runs in the first inning but yielded just three hits over the next four before being removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth.

Show, whose career 16-3 record against the Braves is his best against any team, didn’t even know he’d be pitching until he arrived in the clubhouse before the game. He developed a knot near his right wrist Monday, a form of tendinitis, he said, but told Padre Manager Greg Riddoch that he could still pitch.

“I didn’t have too much on the ball tonight,” Show said. “The swelling went down a litle, but it hurt. I was a little tentative, but I did the best with what I had.”

The situation deteriorated after Show’s departure when the Braves jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the seventh on Dale Murphy’s two-out, basesloaded double off reliever Calvin Schiraldi. But on this night, with the Braves’ defense, it hardly mattered.

Tonight, we were a little flat for awhile,” Show said. “We hadn’t played with the intensity we had for the past seven games. That picked up later, and then it was really fun to watch.”

Still, the best news of the day for the Padres was that they’ve decided catcher Benito Santiago is ready to resume playing again. He will leave Thursday for a rehabilitation assignment with the Padres’ triple-A team in Las Vegas.

Santiago, who has been on the disabled list since June 14 with a broken left arm, met for about 30 minutes Tuesday afternoon with Manager Greg Riddoch, Jack McKeon, Padre vice president/baseball operations, and assistant Bill Beck. They discussed the possible options for Santiago, and decided that a stint in Las Vegas would be the best course for recovery.

Santiago is expected to be in Las Vegas seven to 10 days and, depending on his progress, could join the Padres Aug. 10 in Houston.

“The way I look at it,” Santiago said, “if I do good, I’ll be in Houston, but it’s up to me. If it still bothers me, I’ll change my mind and wait a few extra days until they come back from their road trip.

“I think Bernie (Mark Parent) and this guy over there (rookie Tom Lampkin) could do a better job than me right now. I just want to put everything together and make sure I’m 100 percent. I want to help these people; not mess them up.

“I want to do everything I can to help this team, and I will.”

Santiago, who suffered the fractured forearm June 14 when he was hit by a pitch thrown by Jeff Brantley of the San Francisco Giants, already is progressing much quicker than imagined. He was in a cast for six weeks, had it removed July 24 and began taking live batting practice Sunday.

“It’s still kind of weak,” he said, “I don’t have any power there. The muscles are still tight. Maybe the pain will be out of there in three, four days, maybe a week.

“But I’m surprised. I didn’t think I’d be swinging the bat like I am.”

If there was some sort of benefit to the injury for Santiago, it showed the Padres just how valuable he is to the team. The last time he started, June 13, the Padres were 30-27 and sitting in second place, just six games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

Take a look at the standings today, if you dare:

The Padres are 15-28 since Santiago’s departure and are all but mathematically eliminated from the race. They’re buried in fourth place with a 45-56 record, 15 games behind the Reds.

It’s too late, of course, for Santiago to help his team catch the Reds. Heck, with the way things are going, it’ll be a monumental task for the Padres just to reach the .500 level.

But Santiago knows that he’ll be back in plenty of time before Sept. 3, and smiles just at the thought.

The significance of that date, you ask?

That just so happens to be the day the Giants return to town for the first time since Santiago broke his arm.

Oh, 10 weeks will have passed since Santiago sustained the injury when the Giants return for the first time, but Santiago vows he will not forget. In fact, there’s not a day that goes by when Santiago says he doesn’t reflect upon the pitch thrown by Brantley that sailed toward his face until he blocked it with his forearm.

Santiago saw Brantley once since the incident, at the All-Star Game in Chicago, and said he shook his hand only out of courtesy. All of the All-Stars were shaking hands, you know, and he didn’t want to make a scene.

But when Brantley later approached Santiago and tried to apologize, Santiago didn’t bother with diplomacy. He refused to listen.

“He gave me all kinds of excuses,” Santiago said, rolling his eyes, “but I didn’t want to hear his excuses. I’m not interested. He knows what he did, and I know what he did.

“You don’t forget those type of things.”

Unfortunately for the Padres, it might be a long time before they forget this season, too.

Padre Notes

The Padres announced Tuesday that they are changing their color scheme for the 1991 season. The new uniform colors will be navy blue, orange and white. The design is still unknown, Padre President Dick Freeman said, but the letter styling and logo will be the same. The new uniform colors will be a combination of their colors when they played in the Pacific Coast League and their current colors. Jack Goodall, one of the partners in the ownership group, said: “As a group, I think we all agreed, none of us really cared for the old uniforms. One misconception is that the blue will be like Dodger blue. It’s not. It’s Navy blue.” Said Dennis Rasmussen, the Padre player representative: “I saw them today, and they’re a great improvement over what we’ve worn here in the past, that’s for sure.” The Padres currently are among baseball’s worst in national novelty sales, Freeman said, which contributed to the decision.

The Padres never came close to making a trade before the 2 p.m. deadline today, said Jack McKeon, vice president/baseball operations, but he did not rule out making a trade or two before the end of the season. The only restriction in making a trade now is passing players through waivers, but McKeon does not expect that to be a problem. The last trading deadline is Aug. 31, when players must be traded before midnight on that date to be eligible for inclusion on a team’s playoff roster. . . . McKeon, however, did put a scare in a few of his players by coming to the clubhouse Tuesday for the first time since he resigned July 11 as manager. “I get nervous every time I see him,” one player said. “You feel like he’s going to tap you on your shoulder and say, ‘You’ve just been traded.’ ” . . . McKeon was scheduled to take a flight Tuesday night to scout the Padres’ Class A Charleston team in the South Atlantic League, and later in the week is expected to visit their Class A Waterloo club in the Midwest League. He’s then expected to join the Padre big-league team in Atlanta on Monday or Tuesday.

The biggest ovation of the night? When the video board showed Texas Ranger pitcher Nolan Ryan winning his 300th career game. . . . Padre pitcher Ed Whitson quietly is having the best season of his career with little to show for it. “I know I’ve never pitched better than this season,” Whitson said. Yet, he only owns a modest 8-7 record. The reason? His teammates have scored just seven runs while he’s been in the game during his seven defeats. But with no chance at a championship season, and no opportunity for a 20-victory season, there is one personal goal left for Whitson to attain. The ERA title. Whitson owns the fifth-lowest ERA at 2.77 in the National League, and has allowed more than three earned runs in just four of his 21 starts. “I’m going to go for it,” Whitson said of the ERA title. “I’d love to have that thing.”

The Padres will play the second of their make-up games against the Cincinnati Reds at 1:05 p.m. today at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The two clubs then will depart to Cincinnati for a four-game series. The pitching matchups for the four-game series: Dennis Rasmussen (7-9) vs. Tom Browning (10-5) on Thursday; Bruce Hurst (6-8) vs. Jack Armstrong (11-7) on Friday; Ed Whitson (8-7) vs. Norm Charlton (8-6) on Saturday; and Eric Show (2-8) vs. Jose Rijo (6-4) on Sunday.