Padres’ Clark, Howard Set for Decision : Baseball: Both know one person will be the starter in left field. The other might hit the road.

They’ve known one another for the last seven years, making the same stops in four different cities. They’ve shared dreams, failures--even apartments.

Now, for the first time, they realize one must go. There can be only one survivor.

Clark and Howard.

It sounds more like a scouting expedition than a left-field tandem. In 10 days, Jerald Clark and Thomas Howard should know who’ll be the Padres’ starting left fielder.

“God, I’d hate to make that decision,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said. “I know it’d probably be best for both of their careers for one to start here, and one to leave and start for someone else, but I don’t want to see either leave.

“It’s so strange how it all turned out, it doesn’t even seem fair.”

If Las Vegas oddsmakers made book on such predictions, Clark would be the starter and Howard would be the odd man out. You don’t bench a man who leads the team with four home runs and eight RBIs this spring, batting .333.

But Clark, 28, never has been an everyday player in the big leagues. He has a history of nagging injuries and is considered by scouts to be an ordinary player without his power.

Howard, 27, also never has been an everyday player in the big leagues. He has more speed than Clark and plays better defense. He probably even has more raw talent, yet the Padres are growing tired of waiting for it to emerge.

“We talk every day,” Howard said, “but we try not to talk about our situation. It’s like an unspoken thing. We’re glad one of us is going to get the job, but whoever’s left out is going to be mad.

“We’ll always be friends, but it can’t help but put somewhat of a strain on our relationship. The worst, I guess, would be if we both platooned, then we’d both be frustrated.”

Clark and Howard. Howard and Clark. Two close friends who are so different in talent, and just as dissimilar in their personalities.

Clark, a 6-foot-4 right-handed hitter, is quiet and soft-spoken. Howard, a 6-foot-2 switch-hitter, is outgoing, almost to the point of being considered cocky.

Clark, who comes from the small Southern town of Crockett, Tex., would never even think of wearing jewelry. Howard, who is from Middletown, Ohio, and loves the city lights, wouldn’t be caught dead without his diamond earring.

Clark, a 12th-round draft pick, has concentrated exclusively on baseball since high school. Howard, a first-round draft pick, also was one of the top football recruits in the country, and has more athletic ability than any player on the team.

“There’s so much to choose from either of them,” said Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, “but they’re so different. That’s what we’re deciding now, which is a better fit for our ballclub.”

The Padres, whose outfield hit only 37 homers, need power. Only Houston and St. Louis had outfielders who generated less offense.

The Padres, who stole only 101 bases last season, also need speed. Their outfield stole only 37 bases last year in 63 attempts, the fewest in the National League. And that’s before the Padres traded away Bip Roberts for reliever Randy Myers.

“I wish it didn’t come down to this,” Howard said. “I know what he can do. He knows what I can do. We know each of us belongs.

“But it’s not up to us.

“Maybe that’s good.”

Clark never figured he’d get a second chance. Once he lost his starting job last year, watching Oscar Azocar and Kevin Ward playing ahead of him in left field by the end of the season, he figured he was finished.

Besides, he just knew the Padres would get a left fielder during the winter. The front-office talked about trading for outfielder Eric Davis, but settled on Myers. They sought free-agent outfielder Danny Tartabull, then dropped out of the bidding. They tried to acquire outfielder Carlos Quintana of the Boston Red Sox, only to be thwarted.

“I thought last year, after they took me out of the lineup,” Clark said, “it was pretty black and white that I’d never start again here. I thought, ‘Well, I lost my job, so now what will happen to me?’ ”

The Padres, running out of alternatives, decided to give Clark a final chance. After all, he was doing fine in April last season--batting .288 with three homers and 13 RBIs--before he went down with a left Achilles’ injury. It took a full five weeks for him to recover.

He came back to the lineup June 10, and hit five home runs with 16 homers in the next month. It took 104 at-bats before he’d hit another. He became so frustrated that he’d come home after games, clear a spot in his garage, and hit off a batting tee until 2 a.m. Still, he couldn’t regain his timing.

The Padres started taking him out earlier for defensive purposes. On Aug. 25, he lost his job. He finished the second half batting .179 with two homers, 14 RBIs, and waiting for a one-way airline ticket out of town.

It didn’t even make any sense playing him only against left-handed pitchers. He batted .175 against lefties, and .255 against right-handers. His career .182 batting average against left-handers is the lowest of any active right-handed hitter in the major leagues.

“I didn’t think they wanted me anymore,” he said. “Really, who could blame them?”

Clark decided to turn to God.

“You don’t know how much that’s helped me,” said Clark, who has begun reading the Bible in the clubhouse each day. “I get goose bumps just thinking about it. I don’t carry the same frustrations now. I do what I can, man, and let him take care of the rest. It’s his call.

“I’ve come to realize that all this stuff doesn’t mean much. If I have a good year, if I make good money, what does it mean? The final result is that I want the Lord to say, ‘You’ve done a job well-done,’ and everything will be cool.”

Something has worked. Clark appears so much more relaxed at the plate and in the field this spring. Considered a liability in the past playing left field, Clark has looked surprisingly confident and has made only one error.

“I really can’t believe the difference in Jerald,” Gwynn said. “He’s so much more confident, so much more relaxed. For the first time, I think, he knows he belongs.”

Said McIlvaine: “He’s passed through the ‘I-think-I-can-do-it-stage,’ to the ‘I-know-I-can-do-it-stage.”

Will he indeed be the starting left fielder?

“I’m just praying,” Clark said.

Perhaps no one has been more influential in the Padres’ patience with Howard than Shane Mack. He was the player the Padres failed to protect in the 1989 winter draft, believing he no longer could play in the organization.

It might have been the worst decision in the franchise’s history. Mack has emerged as one of the finest players in the American League, batting .317 during his two seasons, hitting a total of 26 homers and 118 RBIs.

“They don’t want to make the same mistake twice,” Howard said, grinning. “I know that, and you know that. If it happens again, they’ll never forgive themselves.”

The trouble is that the Padres are beginning to wonder if Howard will ever excel. He has great speed, but has not learned to be a great base stealer. He has good defensive skills, but has not learned to run the proper routes in the outfield. He is a switch-hitter, but the Padres wonder if he would be better off batting only left-handed.

“They’ve talked to me about giving it up,” Howard said, “but I’m not going to do it. I’ve worked six years on being a switch-hitter, I’m not going to give that up now.”

He has spent at least part of his six professional seasons in the minor leagues, including four different stints in triple-A Las Vegas, but the Padres just don’t know if he can be an everyday player in the big leagues.

They remain intrigued by his raw ability, but not so much that they’ll refuse to trade him. Several teams inquired about him during the winter. Cincinnati wanted him to be included in their trade talks involving Bip Roberts.

“That’s the frustrating part,” Howard said. “Other teams scout me, and like what they see, but these guys have trouble seeing it. All I need is a chance, and I’ll show them what I can do.

“Actually, that’s why I’m surprised to even be here now. I thought for sure I’d be traded during the winter. I had no idea they wanted to keep me.

“I just want to go where I can play baseball every day. If it’s here, that’s great. It would be perfect. If it’s elsewhere, hey, that’d be fine, too.”

Howard, who’s batting .303 this spring, is being mentioned again in trade talks. McIlvaine won’t be specific. But he can’t guarantee Howard will be around opening day.

“Jerald and Thomas offer a lot to a lot of teams,” McIlvaine said. “It’s just that if Jerald can be a productive home run and RBI guy, he could be exactly the No. 5 hitter we’re looking for.

“You get to the point where potential ends, and production has got to take over. That’s where we are now.

“They have to produce.”

Howard, who batted .249 with four homers and 22 RBIs last season, realizes his power limitations may hurt his chances. It’d be different if the Padres had a power-hitter protecting McGriff, but the Padres need all of the offensive power they can manage.

He waits and wonders. There’s nothing he can say. He’s done all he can do.