Sheffield Makes Himself at Home : Baseball: New Padre third baseman leads teammates past the Dodgers, 5-4.

The Dodgers scored four runs in the top of the ninth Sunday, but they couldn’t catch Gary Sheffield.

They used four different pitchers in a 5-4 loss to the Padres but Sheffield still had a career-high five runs batted in.

They even bounced the ball off of Sheffield’s glove in the ninth inning, making him look mortal, but . . .

In the bottom of the ninth with the score tied, two out and a runner on second, Roger McDowell (0-2) delivered a 2-and-1 slider. Sheffield drove it down the right-field line to drive home Kurt Stillwell. The Padres won their third consecutive game.

Greg Harris shut out the Dodgers for eight innings, but left after two batters in the ninth with no decision. He allowed only two runs and three hits, but Randy Myers (1-0) faced seven batters in the ninth and got the victory.

After the first week of the season--three games with the Cincinnati Reds and four with the Dodgers--look who is in first place in the NL West.

And look at that guy at third.

Sheffield, third baseman No. 73 in the Padres’ brief 24-year history, checked into San Diego this week. You could tell by the way he rattled the Dodgers around San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium and by the way the Padres were left shaking their heads in amazement.

“He can play,” Tony Gwynn said. “ He can play. “

The Padres won three of four from the Dodgers, during which time Sheffield had six hits in 16 at bats--including a double, triple and homer--and had eight RBIs.

He started Sunday with a .182 batting average. He finished it at .269.

“We just ran into a hot Sheffield,” the Dodgers’ Mitch Webster said. “We’ve been spending the whole weekend trying to figure out how to pitch him.

“I think he’s just hot. I don’t think there’s anything we could do.”

The only way Sheffield was going to be stopped was when he nearly stopped himself in the top of the ninth.

He had broken open a 1-0 game in the seventh with a three-run homer to left-center, but the day nearly turned into disaster for Sheffield and the Padres in the ninth.

Trailing, 4-0, Darryl Strawberry singled to center, and Eric Davis followed with a hard grounder to third. Sheffield came up on the glove side of what looked like a sure double-play ball, but it deflected off of his glove. Suddenly, the Dodgers had two runners on and none out.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch summoned Myers, and the Dodgers countered with pinch-hitter Mike Sharperson, who promptly walked.

Pinch-hitter Webster then singled to center, driving Strawberry and Davis home, and Jose Offerman followed with a sharp single to right.

Myers then struck out pinch-hitter Eric Karros and Brett Butler in succession, but Juan Samuel, batting for Lenny Harris, followed with a single to right, scoring Sharperson and Webster.

It was 4-4, and the attention had shifted from Sheffield’s bat to his glove.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘You’ve got to knock the ball down,’ ” Sheffield said. “I didn’t do my job. . . .

“I felt I started it all. And when the bottom of the lineup was getting hits, I felt real bad then.”

But then came the bottom of the ninth, and Stillwell singled, was bunted to second and, after Tony Fernandez’s fly ball to left and an intentional walk to Gwynn, up stepped Sheffield.

“I had seen McDowell the night before,” said Sheffield, who knocked in the winning run in the ninth on Saturday against McDowell with a sacrifice fly to center. “I told myself, ‘Now, I’m in a situation where I need a hit.’ I wasn’t going to try to pull him. That’s what I did the other night, and I jammed myself.

“I wanted to go up the middle or to right.”

The ability to accomplish that, as much as Sheffield’s hits themselves, impressed Gwynn.

“You look at this series, and he hit the ball all over the place,” Gwynn said. “A triple to right-center, a homer to left-center. . . . When you use the whole field like he does, it’s going to pay off.”

The opening week of the season also showed problems the Padre lineup can give opposing managers. With Gwynn, a lefty, batting second; the right-handed Sheffield third; the left-handed McGriff fourth and Santiago, a righty, fifth, it can wreak havoc for a manager attempting to maneuver his bullpen in the late innings. Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda learned the hard way.

“How many times did Tommy have to use two pitchers to get two outs?” Gwynn asked. “When you can do that to a club, sooner or later, it’s going to cost them.”

In the eighth inning Thursday, Lasorda brought in the right-handed McDowell to face Sheffield; summoned lefty John Candelaria to face McGriff next and then came back with right-handed Jim Gott to face Benito Santiago.

In the eighth inning Saturday, he used left-handed Steve Wilson against McGriff and came back with Gott against Santiago.

“(Lasorda) had gone to the bullpen so many times, he couldn’t go anymore,” Gwynn said.

Also, Sheffield’s performance this week took some of the heat off of Santiago (.045)--who was booed heavily by the crowd of 27,623--and center fielder Darrin Jackson (.083), who are off to horrendous starts.

“(Sheffield) has been super,” Riddoch said. “He hasn’t stopped smiling since he got here. The longer he’s here, he’s more relaxed every day. He’s hit some balls on the screws.

“And the thing to remember about him is, he’s only 23. We’re going to draft some kids this spring, (college) seniors, who are 23 and will be going to rookie leagues.”

Sheffield is young. The season is younger.

The future is wide open.