PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : McIlvaine Cherishes Record, but Remembers Who Got Away

The attention and accolades pale in comparison to winning the World Series. It’s not a statistic that you’ll find in your local sports pages, let alone TV broadcasts.

Nonetheless, when Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, was informed Saturday that the New York Mets produced more players on opening-day rosters this season than any other franchise, he called it one of his finest tributes.

McIlvaine, who spent five years as the scouting director of the Mets, signed and helped produce a major league-leading 39 players who are on big-league rosters.

“That’s the best thing that can happen to a franchise, short of winning the World Series,” McIlvaine said. “That’s what the game’s all about. Hopefully, by the year 2000, we can say the same thing here.”

In 1981, McIlvaine’s first year with the Mets, they signed nine players who made it to the big leagues, including Kevin Mitchell and Lenny Dykstra. Yet the year could have been stupendous, McIlvaine said, if they only had increased their offer of $10,000 to a certain 12th-round draft pick named Roger Clemens.

“He wanted $25,000 from us, and we offered $15,000,” McIlvaine said. “That was a lot of money for a 12th-round pick, but I decided to go see him. Twice, I went down to Texas to see him. Both times it rained, and I never saw him.”

The Mets had a chance to draft Clemens again two years later in 1983 when they had the No. 4 pick. Instead, they selected third baseman Eddie Williams. Clemens went 14 picks later to the Boston Red Sox.

“After you’ve been in this game for awhile,” McIlvaine said, “you learn that some things that are meant to be in this game, and some aren’t.”

Although the Mets lead the major in supplying talent, since 1985, the Montreal Expos have become the kings of scouting and development.

Since Jan. 1, 1985, the Expos have produced 12 players on opening-day rosters. The Chicago White Sox are second with 11 players. The Padres, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers each produced 10 players apiece. The Dodgers have only four.

Garry Templeton has started each of the three games in this series, leading to speculation the Padres might be showcasing him for a possible trade to the Dodgers, who might be worried that back problems eventually will fell Alfredo Griffin.

“I though it would be a good fit when they sent (Jose) Offerman down (to triple-A),” McIlvaine said, “but there have not been any overtures.”

When the Chicago Cubs swept the Philadelphia Phillies this week, it marked the first time since Sept. 8-10, 1986, that they’ve accomplished the feat.

Just who were the winning pitchers in the pitchers in the last sweep?

None other than Ed Lynch, the Padre farm director; Lee Smith, now pitching for St. Louis; and Guy Hoffman, last seen pitching in Japan.

The winner of the weekly ex-Padre player of the week goes to Kevin Mitchell of the San Francisco Giants. Mitchell, who might have won last week’s award, too, if not for his brawl with his ex-teammates in San Diego, entered Saturday’s game against Houston batting .318 with one double, one homer, five RBIs and a stolen base. He leads the major leagues with six homers and 14 RBIs.

More ex-Padres: Jack Clark of the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians pitcher Tom Candiotti have become friends over the years since they live only 10 minutes away from each other in Danville, Calif. But that friendship might have become strained this week when Candiotti struck out Clark all three times they faced at Fenway Park. Said Candiotti: “Jack and I talk a lot on the phone during the off-season. Now, he’ll probably hang up on me.”

The Indians devoted a lot of time and effort toward building their future around promising outfielder Alex Cole, whom the Padres traded away last July for catcher Tom Lampkin. But Cole has been replaced by Mike Huff, a Dodger castoff. Cole dislocated his shoulder during spring training and claims he aggravated it on opening day. The club, he said, does not want take any chances with him.

But when told of the shoulder problem, Manager John McNamara said he knew nothing about it. “It’s news to me,” he said. “Huff is playing because he’s doing a better job. Cole is not getting on base and he’s not making good contact.”

Just when the the Kansas City Royals believed they found the root of reliever Mark Davis’ problems, who was tipping off his pitches, he broke the ring finger on his left hand Friday night and will be out at least six weeks.

Padre catcher Benito Santiago, who argued during the winter that he was better than Darren Daulton of Philadelphia, who earned a three-year, $6.75-million contract as a free agent, might soon get the last laugh. Daulton has allowed 27 of 29 baserunners to successfully steal off him this season. . . . Left-handed reliever Steve Rosenberg, who was going to join the Padres last week until a clerical mix-up was discovered, owns an 8.44 ERA at triple-A Las Vegas. . . . The Padres will complete their four-game series of the Dodgers at 1:05 p.m. today. Andy Benes (0-1) and Ramon Martinez (1-1) are the scheduled starters. The Padres then will embark on a 12-game, 14-day trip beginning Monday in San Francisco. The scheduled starters for the Giant series: Greg Harris (1-1) vs. Kelly Downs (0-0) at 7:05 p.m. Monday; Eric Nolte (2-0) vs. Scott Garrelts (1-0) at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday; Ed Whitson (1-1) vs. John Burkett (1-1) at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday.