Padres Get a Boost From Bullpen : Baseball: Maddux, Clements, Andersen keep Giants in check for a 7-5 victory. Starter Harris leaves with elbow injury.

Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, spent long, tedious hours during the winter structuring this team. Manager Greg Riddoch expended his energy from sunrise to nightfall preparing the Padres to the best of his ability.

After the Padres’ 7-5 victory Monday over the San Francisco Giants, they were scratching their heads and wondering how they are 9-5, the best record in the National League.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it,” Riddoch said, “absolutely crazy.”

Their victory in front of the 12,156 fans at Candlestick Park was a microcosm of the opening two weeks of the season, during which they have won in every imaginable way.

Take a look for yourselves:

Greg Harris, the Padres’ starting pitcher, lasted one pitch, leaving the game because of a strained elbow. Giant second baseman Robbie Thompson hit for the cycle. The Padres had three players thrown out at the plate. And they allowed 15 baserunners.

You’d be a bit confused, too, if you realized that much of the Padres’ success this season has been predicated on a pitcher who was wandering around Las Vegas looking for a job in February and a pitcher who was called up only because of a clerical mixup.

Mike Maddux, shoved into emergency duty when Harris felt sharp pain in his elbow while warming up, kept the Giants in check through four innings. Pat Clements got the victory, pitching the next two innings. And Larry Andersen, who has a strained neck that severely limits him, kept the Giants from even thinking of a comeback with two hitless innings.

“They’re awesome, aren’t they,” Riddoch said. “Just awesome.”

The Padres’ enthusiasm was dampened only by Harris’ condition. Harris, who had a tender elbow last season, began warming up in the bullpen before the game when he felt something wrong. He tried to throw harder and couldn’t.

“I never was able to even air out a pitch,” he said. “But I kept thinking it would get better. I kept thinking with the adrenaline of the game, I wouldn’t feel a thing.”

But he was wrong. He threw one pitch to Thompson, a high fastball, and screamed in pain. Riddoch came to the mound, and Harris left the game.

“He just couldn’t get his arm loose,” Riddoch said. “He didn’t have any pain. We didn’t want to take a chance with him.”

The injury still appears more serious than Riddoch is letting on. Harris was examined by Giants doctors after the game, who informed him that there’s a muscle strain behind the elbow. There’s no talk yet of putting Harris on the disabled list, but he’ll be examined again the next couple of days.

“I think I hyper-extended it,” Harris said. “I don’t think it’s serious, I really don’t. But the pain, man, that was for real.”

Riddoch, all of a sudden, needed some quick bullpen help. He called upon Maddux, the same pitcher who was out of a job until he spoke with McIlvaine at a luncheon in Las Vegas, pleading for a job. Maddux, who owns a 2-0 record with a save, finally appeared mortal by allowing seven hits and three runs in four innings. Yet, the Padres still were staked to a 4-3 lead when he left the game.

Clements, who was brought up to the big leagues only after a mix-up prohibited the Padres from calling up Steve Rosenberg, pitched the next two innings, and left the game with the Padres leading 6-4.

The Padres finally took the lead for good in the seventh inning when they were able to capitalize on three singles and three walks. And it didn’t even matter that Bip Roberts was thrown out at the plate.

Roberts, who reached base four times in the game, led off the inning with a walk. Tony Fernandez struck out after attempting to move Roberts over with a bunt. No matter. Roberts moved to second anyway when Giant catcher Steve Decker allowed his second passed ball.

Tony Gwynn, who went four for four, then hit a line drive down the left-field line. Roberts rounded third with Coach Bruce Kimm waving him home. Yet, Roberts inexplicably slowed down as if he was going to stop at third. When he changed his mind and ran toward home, the ball was there awaiting him.

No problem.

Fred McGriff, forcing Trevor Wilson pitch to him, walked on a full count. That brought out Giant Manager Roger Craig, who decided that he wanted a right-handed reliever to throw to catcher Benito Santiago, who was hitless in his past 17 at-bats. Unfortunately for the Giants, the pitcher Craig chose was Rick Reuschel.

Santiago, batting only .036 since his homer a week ago against Dodger reliever John Candelaria, hit the first pitch up the middle for a single, scoring Gwynn. Jerald Clark followed with a single almost to the same location, scoring McGriff.

Reuschel, getting out of the inning when Shawn Abner grounded out, left the field to resounding boos, which only got worse when the Padres scored again in the eighth on Gwynn’s double, putting the game out of reach.

“I feel bad that I had to come out of the game like that,” Harris said, “but geez, with the way everything’s going, those guys really picked me up.

“It’s unbelievable, huh?”