PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Santiago Defends His Ability to Throw Out Baserunners

Padre catcher Benito Santiago is aware of the statistics. He has heard about Montreal Manager Buck Rodgers’ recent criticism of his throwing.

“I know people are probably looking at the stats and thinking something’s not right,” Santiago said. “Look, I know the numbers aren’t good. But let me say this: If the pitchers give me a chance, I’ll throw them out.

“But they’ve got to give me that chance.”

As it stands, Santiago is not even among the top 10 catchers in the league at throwing out baserunners. He has thrown out eight of 28 baserunners this season, 29%, the lowest percentage of his career.

Perhaps this is why Rodgers, a former catcher, the other day offered this assessment: “Santiago is not even in the top 10 anymore. He’s living off his reputation. Ever since the guys in the media over there made a big deal about him throwing off his knees, he lost all his fundamentals. He would have to start all over again from A-B-C. He fell in love with his media reputation. I don’t mind the media writing about it, but Santiago has to be smart enough to know it’s just words written on paper.”

It’s probably too early to draw any conclusions this season on Santiago’s arm, but the pitchers, in particular Eric Nolte, have had difficulty keeping baserunners close. Baserunners have stolen nine consecutive bases with Nolte pitching.

Yet Padres’ opponents are not nearly as reluctant to against them as in the past. They have stolen 28 of 44 bases (64%) against the Padres overall.

Take a look at opponents’ success rate for the rest of the National League before Saturday’s games:

New York: 22 of 44 (50%)

Montreal: 27 of 52 (52%)

San Francisco: 28 of 50 (56%)

Cincinnati 30 of 46 (65%)

Atlanta: 25 of 38 (66%)

St. Louis: 39 of 59 (66%)

Pittsburgh: 31 of 46 (67%)

Dodgers: 25 of 36 (69%)

Houston: 33 of 45 (73%)

Chicago: 28 of 36 (77%)

Philadelphia: 43 of 50 (86%)

Beginning Monday, Santiago and the Padres face the Braves for the first time this season. Atlanta was 43-for-60 entering the weekend.

The ex-Padre player of the week award goes to Andy Hawkins, the starting pitcher who was released May 9 by the New York Yankees. Last week, the Padres said they had no interest in re-signing the right-hander.

Oakland picked him up for $78,000, and in his first start Saturday, he pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings for the victory, allowing three hits and one walk in the Athletics’ 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Ex-Padres around baseball: Boston Red Sox first baseman Jack Clark has hit only one home run in 16 games at Fenway Park this season, incurring the wrath of the New England fans.

Chicago White Sox infielder Joey Cora says the toughest adjustment to the American League is the length of games. Who can blame him? The average time of White Sox games this season is 3 hours 21 minutes.

San Francisco catcher Terry Kennedy hit his first triple this week since July 8, 1987: “I didn’t have a cycle, I had a unicycle.”

Yankee Manager Stump Merrill, on the release of Hawkins: “People are mistaken. By releasing him, we weren’t saying he couldn’t pitch. We were just saying he could not pitch for the Yankees.”

The ailing rotator cuff in Cleveland Indians catcher Sandy Alomar’s right shoulder explains why he has floundered this season. Alomar, who has been hampered by a bad shoulder all year but never notified the Indians for fear of being taken out of the lineup, was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

The Padres have stolen only 19 bases in 36 opportunities this season. The only teams with fewer steals were the Giants, who entered Saturday’s game with 15. ... How impressive has Reds bullpen ace Rob Dibble been this season? Consider this: He has struck out 34 batters in only 19 1/2 innings; the Padres’ entire bullpen has only 56 strikeouts in 112 innings. ... The Padres will play the finale of their three-game series at 11:15 a.m. (PST) today against the Reds. Andy Benes (1-4) and Norm Charlton (2-3) are the scheduled starters.