Worthington Has Corner on a Job : Baseball: Traded to the Padres after two poor seasons in Baltimore, he hopes to regain batting stroke.

They have been the can of Pabst Blue Ribbon in a refrigerator full of Heinekens, the Instamatic camera on the shelf with Nikons, the Big Mac on a grill with porterhouse steaks.

They have been the Padre third basemen in an era of greatness.

During a time Brooks Robinson, Ron Santo, Mike Schmidt and George Brett dominated the game at third base, the Padres were stuck with the likes of Ed Spiezio, Dave Roberts and Barry Evans.

The Padres have tried 72 players at third since their inception in 1969, and the best they’ve come up with is an aging Craig Nettles. In fact, Nettles was 42 years old until the Padres thought they could do better.

Today, the Padres finally believe they have a legitimate candidate to erase the memories of Chris Brown, Jim Presley and Dave Hilton.

He is Craig Worthington.

The Padres hope Worthington, 26, will end years of ineptitude at the position. Never again will they tolerate a year such as last, when they used seven third basemen who combined for a .194 batting average.

It was the lowest batting average of any position in the major leagues except for National League pitchers.

“We’re not going to go through that again,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “You can’t survive. There’s no question Craig can improve on that.”

Only three years ago, Worthington was The Sporting News’ Rookie of the Year. But only two weeks ago, all it took to trade for Worthington were some guys named Jim Lewis and Steve Martin, neither of whom were going to make the Padres.

“I know there’s questions about me, but I also know I can do it,” Worthington said. “It might sound funny now, but I want to spend the rest of my career in San Diego.”

Certainly, the Padres will provide every opportunity for Worthington to succeed. Their dream is for Worthington to start at third and Tim Teufel to come off the bench.

“That’s the best scenario,” Riddoch said. “I know Tim will do whatever we want. He came in the first day and said, ‘I’m here for two years, Ridd, no matter how you use me.’

“The rest now is up to Worthington.”

Worthington certainly is the best defensive third baseman in camp and could be one of the finest in the league. The question is his bat. He had 15 homers and 70 RBIs in his rookie season in 1989, but he never achieved such production the last two years.

The fastballs that he was seeing his rookie season suddenly turned into breaking balls. The confidence he showed his rookie season strayed to anxiety. Success was replaced by failure.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Worthington said. “It just got worse and worse. It got more frustrating by the day.

“The best thing that could have happened to me was getting traded.

“Now, I’ve got to prove I can do it all over again.”

Said Merv Rettenmund, Padre batting coach: “He’s a front-foot hitter, which isn’t necessarily bad, but he has to anticipate the speed of the pitch. That’s the difficult part. We’ve got to get him to keep his head down and use the middle of the field. It’s too early to tell if he can do it.”

Worthington’s woes began during spring training, 1990, the year of the lockout. It finally was settled on a Sunday night, leaving players scrambling to reach spring training by Monday.

Worthington says it caught him off-guard. He and his wife still hadn’t packed. Worthington arrived in camp in Miami on Thursday, three days after most of his teammates.

“I got into their doghouse and never got out,” Worthington said. “(Former Manager) Frank Robinson didn’t say much, but the front-office was pretty upset.”

The expectations Worthington created with his play in 1989 weren’t close to being met. He batted only .226 with only eight homers and 44 RBIs. The cheers turned to lusty boos.

“I just never got off the ground,” he said. “I just think I tried to put up big numbers too soon, and it just snowballed. I tried to hit 20 bombs (homers) and didn’t come close.”

The Orioles began taking a hard look at Leo Gomez. If Worthington struggled in 1991, they would be ready. Worthington won the opening-day job, and a month later Gomez was sent to triple-A Rochester. Everything changed May 21. Worthington pulled a hamstring muscle, Gomez was recalled, and Worthington was never heard from again.

Worthington helplessly watched as Gomez stepped into the starting lineup and hit 16 homers, the most by any major league rookie. Worthington spent 19 games in Rochester, and never again suited up for the Orioles.

“I was in Baltimore the last couple of months,” Worthington said, “but I didn’t even bother going to the games. I’d go in for rehabilitation in the morning, and leave before any of the guys would come in.

“I was still part of the team, but it was like I really wasn’t.”

The Orioles began shopping Worthington in the off-season, but his stock had dropped more dramatically than they feared. No one was willing to offer major league players for Worthington, and the Orioles finally gave in to the Padres’ meager offer.

“We had nothing to lose,” said Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager.

Worthington also comes into camp with little to lose. He realizes the dearth of third basemen in the organization. There’s no hotshot third baseman pushing him. It’s his job to lose.

“There was a lot of pressure in Baltimore that I won’t have this year,” said Worthington, who is from Fullerton. “I know these guys need a third baseman pretty bad.

“To tell you the truth, I think the atmosphere is perfect for me. It’s a laid-back organization, and I hear the fans are pretty easy-going.

“It’s a whole lot different from Baltimore. The people there were so bitter about losing their football team (the Colts) that they took it out on the baseball team.

“We could win 20 games in a row, but once we lost that one game, they’d boo.

“Really, I think this will be perfect.”

The Padres will be the judge of that.