Benes Keeps Mets in Check : Baseball: McGriff’s double gives Padres a 2-0 victory.

For Andy Benes, it was merely a matter of maintaining a positive attitude.

Considering the Padre right-hander was saddled with a four-game losing streak and a 4-10 record, optimism wasn’t easy. As pitching coach Mike Roarke put it before Sunday’s game against the New York Mets, “If he starts thinking 4-10, the rest of his season will be a nightmare.”

But Benes kept plugging away, telling himself, “You have to evaluate your performances, not whether you’re winning or losing.”

Benes’ determination paid off Sunday. He shut out the Mets on five hits through eight innings for a 2-0 victory in front of 25,090 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Since Benes had thrown 118 pitches, Manager Greg Riddoch brought in Craig Lefferts to pitch the ninth, and the left-hander retired three Mets in order for his 16th save in 21 opportunities.

Even at that, it took a big break for Benes to get the victory instead of a no-decision like he did Tuesday night, when he held the Montreal Expos to one run through eight innings.

An error by Mets third baseman Howard Johnson on what should have been the third out of the sixth inning opened the door for the Padres. Fred McGriff drove in two runs with a double, saddling Mets left-hander Frank Viola with the defeat.

After Johnson booted Darrin Jackson’s grounder, Tony Gwynn beat out a dribbler to Johnson for only his ninth hit in 53 at-bats. McGriff then lined Viola’s first pitch off the right-field wall, and when Hubie Brooks fell down and then overthrew the cutoff man, the Padres got two runs instead of one.

“Tony (Gwynn) might not have scored if Brooks hadn’t fallen down,” Benes said. “Then maybe it’s a different ball game.”

Viola (11-7) was more upset about his teammates’ continued futility at the plate than about the circumstances that gave the Padres their two runs. The Mets are hitting only .194 on this trip, which will wind up at Dodger Stadium the next three nights. They have won only one of five games, that when Dwight Gooden and John Franco combined to shut out the Padres on Saturday night.

“The whole trip, we haven’t made anything happen,” Viola said. “It’s clear that pitching has to carry this team. I threw only one bad pitch all day; I put it too much over the plate, and it beat us.

“Did we hit any balls hard? McGriff’s ball was the only hard-hit ball all day.”

McGriff confirmed that the pitch he hit was a fat one.

“It was a fastball right over the plate,” McGriff said. “I way trying to be aggressive and take my hacks. He’s got real good stuff, and I didn’t want to get behind him.”

One of the big keys to Benes’ success was that he didn’t walk a batter, while striking out four. Only twice did a runner advance beyond first base, and Vince Coleman was the man in each case. Coleman reached third in the sixth inning and second in the eighth.

Since Coleman is such a base-stealing threat, Benes allowed himself to be distracted until Roarke went to the mound in the eighth. At the time, he had a 2-1 count on ex-Padre Kevin McReynolds. After getting words of wisdom from Roarke, he struck out McReynolds with a slider and a fastball.

“I was worried too much about Coleman,” Benes said. “Mike came out and said, ‘Forget about him. He’s not the guy who’s going to beat us.’ After that, I was all right.”

Riddoch’s decision to turn the ball over to Lefferts after that inning cost Benes a chance for the first shutout of his career--he has made 61 starts--but he took it in stride.

Asked if he was disappointed about being removed, Benes said, “Not really. If they were going to use a reliever, they didn’t want him to go in with anybody on base.”

Lefferts and McGriff were not the only major contributors to Benes’ first victory since June 9. With Mets on first and second and one out in the sixth, third baseman Scott Coolbaugh saved at least one run with a diving stop of McReynolds’ hard ground ball to force Tommy Herr at second.

“It was a do-or-die play,” Coolbaugh said. “I was playing in a little bit, and I got it in the webbing of my glove. The timing was just right. If I’d been back farther, it might have come to me on the wrong bounce.”

Benes said that a lesson he derived from a disastrous outing June 25 in Cincinnati helped straighten him out. He was bombed for six runs in the first inning that night on a walk to Chris Sabo with the bases loaded, a grand slam by Jeff Reed and a solo home run by Herm Winningham. When he finally retired the side, he spiked the ball behind the mound in disgust.

“I let it get to me,” Benes said. “You can’t do that if you’re going to get anywhere in this game. Since then, I’ve taken things as they came, and I’ve never lost my confidence.

“All along, I’ve tried to stay upbeat. You learn a lot when things aren’t going well.”

PADRE ATTENDANCE Sunday: 25,090

1991 (50 dates): 1,251,759

1990 (50 dates): 1,304,396

Decrease: 52,637

1990 Average: 25,035