Harris Saves the Day : Baseball: Padres defeat Dodgers, 4-2. Front-office error doesn’t help.

Greg Harris was pacing the clubhouse Friday, nervous and fidgety, and who could blame him? It was his first start as a member of the Padre rotation. He was facing the Dodgers and their powerful lineup. And this was the Dodgers’ home opener, with Ronald Reagan throwing out the first pitch.

And five minutes before he was about to warm up before the game, he was nudged on the shoulder: “Greg, we’ve got a little problem here. The boss just pulled a boner, and you’ve got to pitch the game of your life. We’ve got no bullpen.”

Gulp.

In an outing he’ll never forget, Harris saved Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, and the organization tremendous embarrassment, pitching 8 2/3 innings in a 4-2 victory in front of 49,676 at Dodger Stadium.

Harris, primarily a reliever in his first two years with the Padres, allowed just seven hits--six singles--and two runs by the Dodgers, before giving way to Wes Gardner.

Gardner hardly reminded anyone of Dennis Eckersley, loading the bases and falling behind on a 2-0 count to Jeff Hamilton, but got out of the jam when Hamilton grounded into a forceout, shortstop Tony Fernandez to second baseman Bip Roberts.

“I created a lot of excitement for one out, huh?” Gardner said.

Actually, the commotion was created about 15 minutes before the opening pitch, when McIlvaine received a telephone call from the Padre office.

The National League office had called. They had a little problem. The Padres announced they called up Steve Rosenberg, the left-handed reliever, from their triple-A team. But the league simply wanted to let the Padres know that he is ineligible to pitch before Wednesday.

What?

The Padres, in an oversight, forgot that a pitcher optioned to the minor leagues must remain for 10 days before being called back to the big leagues. Rosenberg had been in Las Vegas only a week.

Oops.

“We made a mistake, and we had to act quickly,” McIlvaine said. “What are you going to do?”

The Padres decided that they would have to send Rosenberg back to Las Vegas, and call up left-hander Pat Clements, a non-roster pitcher, but not even the Concorde could get Clements to Los Angeles this quickly.

They quickly scratched Rosenberg’s name off the lineup card, and all of a sudden, they were left with only one pitcher in the bullpen who could be called upon--Gardner. Larry Andersen still had a stiff neck. Mike Maddux and Craig Lefferts had pitched in three consecutive games. And Rich Rodriguez had pitched two days in a row.

“I thought something was funny when they asked me just before the game if I could pitch,” Andersen said. “I think they were running out of options.

“I said, ‘Go get them, Greg.’ ”

Harris, aware of the Padres’ predicament, went out with the intention to go as long as he could. There was only one problem. He had no curveball, his best pitch.

“It just wasn’t there; I couldn’t throw a breaking ball for a strike,” he said. “After the first couple of innings, I decided to shelve it.”

It just might have been for the best. While the Dodgers kept looking for Harris’ curveball, he kept throwing fastballs and changeups. They never had a clue.

Harris limited the vaunted top of the Dodger batting order to only two singles. Leadoff hitter Brett Butler never came close to getting a hit in four at-bats. Cleanup hitter Darryl Strawberry was 0 for 4, hitting the ball out of the infield only once. And the only damage incurred was a double into the right-center gap by Kal Daniels.

“He kept us off-balance the entire game,” Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia said.

Said Harris, who owns a career 0.94 ERA against the Dodgers: “I have no idea how I did it. I really don’t.”

The Padres scored all the runs they needed by the third inning off Dodger starter Bobby Ojeda. Center fielder Darrin Jackson hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning for their first run, and Fred McGriff, Benito Santiago and Jerald Clark drove in consecutive runs in the third. They only managed three singles the rest of the game, but with the way Harris pitched, what did it matter?

The Dodgers never had more than one baserunner in any inning, and Harris appeared well on his way to pitching his first complete game since Sept. 25, 1988, against the Houston Astros. If you don’t remember that performance, that’s because it was the night Padre President Chub Feeney stole the show when he flipped off the crowd on Fan Appreciation Day, resulting in his immediate dismissal.

Harris retired Strawberry and Daniels in the ninth and had thrown a first-pitch ball to Lenny Harris when pitching coach Mike Roarke came to the mound. Roarke wanted to make sure he was not hurt.

“We decided then that if he gave up a baserunner, he was out of there,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “I basically made a decision that one game is not worth as much as Greg Harris.”

Lenny Harris hit the next pitch up the middle for a single, so Riddoch went to the mound and summoned Gardner. Mike Scioscia greeted him with a single to right. Eddie Murray then walked on a full count to load the bases.

“I was pacing out there,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said. “I ran over to the bullpen to see who was warming up, and nobody was warming up. Everybody was doing what I was doing, just pacing.”

Said Riddoch: “It was Gardner’s to win or lose. That’s the only guy we had.”

Gardner, who had not saved a game since May 13, 1988, and had only 13 saves in his big-league career, fell behind 2-0 to pinch-hitter Jeff Hamilton. Hamilton hit the next pitch down the third-base line, just foul. The next was hit to Fernandez, and the game was over.

“Thank you, dear Lord,” said Riddoch, clasping his hands together in his office. “We are very thankful for this one. Very thankful.”

Said McIlvaine: “Hey, nothing to it, right?”