Stillwell Making Successful Transition to Padres

It was easy to lose track of Kurt Stillwell amid the home runs, relief pitchers and knuckle balls in the Padres’ home-opening 6-3 loss to the Dodgers Thursday.

It was nothing spectacular but the Padres’ new second baseman got one of the few hits off Tom Candiotti and his baffling knuckleball. He and Tony Gwynn are the only Padres on hitting streaks going into tonight’s rematch.

In the fourth inning, Stillwell was in the middle of a slick 5-4-3 double play that helped stave off a charge by the Dodgers, who scored four quick runs in the first inning.

Stillwell, who had two hits in each of the Padres’ first three games in Cincinnati, got a line single off Candiotti in his first at-bat Thursday and is seven-for-16.

Stillwell, 26, a switch hitter who batted a career-high .265 last year at Kansas City, has celebrated his return to the National League by hitting .437. He has carried over his success from spring training, where he was 10 for 28 (.357) over the last eight games.

So far he’s matching Gwynn hit for hit. The Padres will settle for anything close. Stillwell isn’t making any bets.

“It feels good to start out good (but) 12 at-bats is too early (to predict a big year),” Stillwell said before Thursday’s game. “The way I’m hitting is kind of how I am--kind of a streaky player.”

So far, Stillwell has been steady despite bouncing around the lineup--he batted eighth in the first game, leadoff when Tony Fernandez sat out Tuesday, seventh the next day and eighth again Thursday.

When he signed with the Padres as a free agent in February, Stillwell said he thought he could develop into a .300 hitter.

Merv Rettenmund, Padre batting coach, credits some of Stillwell’s recent hitting success to a bout with the flu. “He has to do two things: one is relax, the other is just keep his head in the strike zone and not overswing,” Rettenmund said.

“He’s staying behind his swing, which he wasn’t doing early in the spring. He was too strong,” Rettenmund said. “After he got the flu he really relaxed, and he’s been swinging well since. He may be a streak hitter, but he can still take a good swing every at-bat. I don’t like to put numbers on guys, but he’s capable of hitting in (.300) range.”

Part of Stillwell’s early success stems from his ability to separate his offense from his fielding. A shortstop since he came up with Cincinnati in 1986, Stillwell shifted to second this spring. He said he feels “more comfortable at second base everyday. It’s coming.”

Rettenmund said, “That hasn’t bothered (his offense). He separated that early--and he works very hard on defense. He’s very serious about taking his grounders.”

Stillwell is not only more comfortable at second, he’s getting more comfortable at home--in this case, a new house in Poway. Stillwell purchased it when he signed with the Padres, but he and wife Angie have only been in it since Wednesday, when the team returned from its opening series in Cincinnati.

“Been there two days,” he said with a grin. “It’s full of boxes. We haven’t even emptied any boxes.”