Gwynn, Padres In Winning Groove

Tony Gwynn stood in the on-deck circle Sunday afternoon, wincing while watching center fielder Thomas Howard stagger in the infield, holding his left thumb.

Gwynn, remembering his thumb injury three years ago, cursed under his breath.

Trying to gather his emotions, Gwynn settled into the box and calmly stroked a single through the right side.

That scored the Padres’ go-ahead run in the sixth and helped lead the Padres to a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

“I turned to Jerald Clark,” said Padre starter Andy Benes (4-6) and said, “ ‘Do you realize how lucky we are to be playing with the best hitter in baseball? He’s carrying us right now.’ ”

This club has been in a constant state of flux this season, shuffling 38 players on and off the roster, making 31 roster moves, disabling 10 players, and leaving Padre Manager Greg Riddoch wondering each day just who would be healthy enough to play.

There has been one constant during the season, and one dominant reason why the Padres (30-27) are in contention in the National League West.

His name is Anthony (Tony) Keith Gwynn.

“Somebody’s got to pick up the slack,” Gwynn said, “because if we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any at all.”

Gwynn, conceding for the first time Sunday that he’s in the finest hitting groove of his career, went two for four with a triple and RBI, scoring the Padres’ first run and driving in the next, and even stealing a base.

Gwynn can be found among the leaders in every offensive category except stolen bases and home runs. He leads the majors with a .373 batting average, 85 hits and eight triples, and his 40 RBIs rank third in the National League, putting him on a pace to drive in a career-high 113.

If not for Houston third baseman Ken Caminiti’s diving stab of Gwynn’s grounder May 24, Gwynn would have a 28-game hitting streak. Still, the streak has reached 15 games, Gwynn’s longest since his 18-game streak July 2-July 23, 1988. And during these past 28 games, Gwynn is batting .417 with 20 RBIs.

“I haven’t seen anything like it myself,” Gwynn said. “I can’t explain it. It’s going to end. I’m not going to hit in every game now until the end of the season.

“But I’ve been here my whole career, and this is just about as much fun as I’ve ever had.

“Even though we’ve struggled, even though we’ve had the injuries, we’re still right there, and I believe we will be there all year. I won’t bet my paycheck on it, but I’m sure confident.”

The Padres, who won only one game in Pittsburgh (34-19) all last season, defeated the Pirates for the second consecutive game, knocking starter Zane Smith out of the game in the fifth inning.

The Padres are doing it all. They have batted .367 in the first three games of the series, yielded a 1.33 ERA, and have not made an error.

“That’s what you’ve got to feel so good about,” Riddoch said, “because Pittsburgh is the best team we’ve played this year. They’re in a class by themselves.”

Benes (4-6), who has won four of his past six starts, stymied the Pirate attack. He did not allow a runner to reach second base until the fifth inning, and if not for Bobby Bonilla (two for four with a triple and two-run homer), Benes easily could have had a shutout.

“Hey, the way we’re playing, they make it easy,” Benes said. “Well, at least kind of easy. We’ve got to keep it going, though. We can’t sit around and wait for the next injury to happen.”

The latest injury occurred in the sixth inning in a freak accident. Howard, who had won the starting center-field job during the trip by batting .400 with three stolen bases, was on first base when he saw the hit-and-run sign. Howard took off. Pirate shortstop Jay Bell ran toward second base to cover, and Tony Fernandez hit a ground ball up the middle. Bell dove for the ball, missed, and was laying by the bag when Howard rounded second.

“Right when I’m ready to cut,” Howard said, “he fell down. So I tried to jump over him because I didn’t want him to get my knee. But I tripped.”

Said Bell: “I ducked my head, hoping he wouldn’t step on my hand. I couldn’t move.”

Howard tumbled, and to catch his balance, put down his left hand, jamming his thumb into the artificial turf. The thumb came out of the socket, and moments later, Howard was up on his feet, grasping his hand, trying to squeeze out the pain.

“I saw that and I had a flashback to ‘88,” Gwynn said.

It was on May 7, 1988, also at Three Rivers Stadium, when Gwynn hit the turf, spraining his right thumb. He had to go on the 21-day disabled list.

“That’s the sad part, here’s a guy just coming into his own, playing a good center field, and that has to happen,” Gwynn said. “As soon as he got up in the air, I thought, ‘He’s a football player, maybe he’ll roll.’ But he didn’t.”

Howard, who played football at Ball State, insisted there was no need for medical treatment, and instead had trainer Bob Day pop the thumb back into its joint. He scored from third on Tim Teufel’s ground ball, but when he came into the dugout, the Padres decided they had better examine the thumb more closely.

They took him to Allegheny Junior Hospital for X-rays, which revealed no fracture or ligament damage.

“I think I’ll be ready to go back in there (today),” Howard said. “I didn’t even want to leave this game.”

Realistically, Howard will miss several games, and could miss as much as two or three weeks. He’ll be replaced in the lineup today by Shawn Abner. When the Padres return home Tuesday, they expect to have Jerald Clark (sore Achilles’ heel) back in left field, and Bip Roberts (back spasms) in center.

When Howard returns to the lineup, it will pose an interesting dilemma. No one’s saying what will happen, but Riddoch admitted a likely solution would be to move Roberts back to second base and Tim Teufel to the bench. But know one knows for sure.

“The way things are going,” Riddoch said, “we’ll just wait until our next injury. Thomas Howard definitely has opened some eyes. And he’s definitely won a job.

“But around here, and we can’t plan on anything past a day.

“What’s next?”