PADRES : Back-to-Basics Policy Not Just for Rookies

Believe it or not, Padre outfielders are actually spending 15 or 20 minutes during workouts learning the proper way to catch a fly ball.

Welcome to Baseball 101.

Even four-time Gold Glove winner Tony Gwynn is enrolled.

“I’ve been taught to set up behind the ball and catch it with two hands,” Gwynn said. “But, evidently, sometimes that’s not always the best way. Sometimes you catch it with one hand and have your other hand there ready to get rid of it.”

Spring training this year is longer on fundamentals and shorter on swings in the cage. Thursday, for instance, players spent much of the workout sitting on the grass, listening to coaches talk about baserunning.

And that can get boring.

At this point, even Manager Greg Riddoch is itching to get on with the exhibition schedule, which starts today with a 1 p.m. game against the Angels.

“You get to the point where you kind of go: ‘Well, it’s about time we got to go do the real thing instead of all the fundamentals,’ ” Riddoch said. “I think they’re ready to play.”

They had better be. The Padres will play an “A” game and a “B” game today, another game Saturday and two more Sunday. All against the Angels. That kicks off a 29-game exhibition schedule that wraps up April 7 in Las Vegas against the Seattle Mariners.

It was just after 9 a.m. when former Padre Tim Flannery bolted through the locker room and announced: “The press is here. The press is here.”

Flannery, a television reporter for Channel 8, showed up to tape a few interviews.

About an hour into Thursday’s workout, pitchers Larry Andersen and Ed Whitson spotted Flannery getting ready to face the camera. Turning to pitcher Derek Lilliquist, Andersen yelled: “Hey, throw a couple of balls over here.”

Andersen got one. Whitson got one. One, two . . . They let the balls fly. Flannery saw what was happening in the nick of time and ran to get out of the way and Andersen and Whitson burst out laughing.

Who will fill the fifth spot in the pitching rotation is still a mystery and Riddoch says he is in no hurry to decide.

The other spots are filled by Whitson, Bruce Hurst, Andy Benes and Greg Harris.

The two top candidates for the other position appear to be Calvin Schiraldi, who was 3-8 with a 4.41 ERA in 42 appearances last season, and Dennis Rasmussen, who was 11-15 with a 4.51 ERA in 32 appearances. Also in contention are Atlee Hammaker, currently out with a fractured finger on his pitching arm, Mike Dunne and Lilliquist.

“That’s something we’ll take our time with,” Riddoch said. “It’s important. We want to give everybody the opportunity to show us everything they can do so it will be easy to make that decision. It’s not something we want to do in haste.”

Schiraldi is scheduled to start Sunday’s “A” game against the Angels, followed by Craig Lefferts, John Costello and Frank Seminara.

Riddoch said no roster trims will be made until the Padres return to Yuma on March 21 after their 11-day trip through six other training sites in Arizona.

Other positions not yet secure are second base, third base, center field and left field. Riddoch said the outfield positions might not be determined until after the start of the regular season.

Padre Notes

The old Padre uniforms aren’t extinct. The pants are still being used for sliding practice. The pitchers made use of them for the second day in a row Thursday, pulling the well-worn pants over new uniforms and sliding into second. . . . Outfielder Jerald Clark, out with a hamstring strain, is expected to be ready Sunday.