Another Victory for Benes : Padres: Free-agent outfielder Gary Pettis signs, Thomas Howard traded away.

Padre pitcher Andy Benes walked out of the clubhouse minutes before game time Tuesday, looked at awaiting reporters in the hallway, raised his eyebrows and laughed aloud.

“I just want to know one thing,” he said. “Why does everything always have to happen on the days I pitch?”

On a day when the Padres shook up their roster by signing free-agent outfielder Gary Pettis and trading away Thomas Howard--creating confusion and bewilderment in the clubhouse--Benes was left unfazed.

He went out and manhandled the San Francisco Giants, pitching the Padres to a 4-0 victory in the Giants’ home opener at Candlestick Park in front of a crowd of 46,238.

Benes allowed only three hits in 7 1/3 innings and, although it was just the latest in his phenomenal streak, he rarely has pitched better. Benes, 2-0, yielded nothing more harmful than a single and did not allow a single batter to reach second base until the eighth inning.

Just how dominant was his performance?

Benes allowed only seven balls to be hit out of the infield, struck out six and retired 18 of 19 batters he faced until he walked Kirt Manwaring with one out in the eighth inning.

Just another day at the office, right?

“I don’t get excited when I pitch well any more,” he said. “I’m only disappointed when I don’t pitch well.”

Giants’ manager Roger Craig said: “When he’s pitching like he was tonight, he’s unbeatable.”

Take a look at the numbers Benes now has compiled during his past 17 games: 13-1, 1.64 ERA. More mind-boggling, in his 13 victories, he has yielded a 0.86 ERA.

Benes’ outing, which his teammates have started to take for granted, was overshadowed earlier in the day by the Padres’ roster shuffling when they signed Pettis to a one-year, $109,000 contract. They made room for Pettis by trading Howard to the Cleveland Indians for an infield prospect and player to be named later.

The Padre management decided last week that they wanted to sign Pettis, 34, but their question was how to make room for him. They finally agreed to sign him before making a roster move Tuesday.

They telephoned outfielder Kevin Ward and told him not to board the team plane Tuesday morning to San Francisco. Still, he was advised to stay close by the phone, because they were attempting to make a trade.

Just 45 minutes before game-time, Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, finally consummated the deal with Cleveland for infielder Jason Hardtke.

Ward was called and told to catch a plane for San Francisco, rejoining the Padres during the game.

Hardtke, 20, who batted .290 with 12 homers and 81 RBIs for Columbus, Ga., of the South Atlantic League, will be assigned to the Padres’ Class A Charleston team.

The Padres’ reason for the outfield switch simply is because they lost confidence in Howard’s defensive abilities and were petrified at the prospect of playing him in center in place of starter Darrin Jackson.

“The reason we got him,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said, “is for his defense. He’s as good as anyone in the game. If anything ever happened to DJ (Jackson), we could throw him right in there.”

Indeed, Pettis is a five-time Gold Glove winner and is the only outfielder in baseball history to win Gold Gloves with three difference teams--the Angels, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers.

No one has ever questioned his, but his offense that has impeded his career.

Pettis owns a .237 batting average during his eight-year major-league career, never having hit more than five homers in a season and never batting as high as .260 in a full-season.

In fact, Pettis’ career batting average is the second-lowest of any outfielder in major league history who played at least 1,000 games, leading only Gorman Thomas (.225). Of course, Thomas also hit 268 homers compared to Pettis’ 20. Pettis has not hit a home run since June 18, 1990, spanning 511 at-bats and 212 games.

The Rangers’ patience exhausted, they released Pettis on April 3, despite owing him $1 million in the final year of a three-year, $2.66 million contract.

“I’m still not really sure why we got him,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said. “He’s a good defensive player, can switch-hit and can run, but I’m not sure how he fits in.

“I’m perplexed myself.”

Said Pettis, who never has played in the National League: “I’m not expecting to start or anything. I’ll do whatever they want.”

Riddoch, anticipating that the acquisition of Pettis could make Jackson and left fielder Jerald Clark a bit nervous, privately told the two outfielders there was no need to worry.

“I know I’m going to be out there playing, and I’m the center fielder,” Jackson said. “At least that’s what they told me. I know he’s good defensively and has speed, but I’m known for my defense, and I’ve already gotten two stolen bases.”

Still, because teams have been running on Jackson’s arm this season, and Jackson is considered a better defensive outfielder than Clark, Pettis could enter games in the late innings. He could play center, moving Jackson to left field.

Actually, the Padres had hoped that Howard, 27, could fill that same role. Yet, after being the Padres’ first pick in the 1986 draft, he never lived up to expectations. Although he had perhaps more athletic talent than anyone on the team, his abilities were never refined.

His departure was another slap in the face of the Padres’ farm system, whose only remaining first-round pick on the major league team is Benes. Gone in the past year are Joey Cora, Kevin Garner and now Howard.

“It was bound to happen,” said Howard, a career .253 hitter, who had only four plate appearances in the Padres’ first seven games. “I was hoping I could stay here, but it just didn’t work out. I just want to go somewhere I can play.

“It looks like the only way to Cleveland is going through San Diego.”

Indeed, Howard will join former Padres Sandy Alomar Jr., Carlos Baerga and Chris James with the Indians.

Although Howard is not bitter toward the Padre organization, he still believes he never received a fair opportunity to become a starter. It was always someone else who got the chance in past years, he said. Even this year, he batted .333 in spring training and it made no difference.

“It seems like I was always the person that they could fall back on when the person didn’t do the job,” Howard said. “They always had ‘Tank’ to fall back on. It was like I had to do something dynamic to play every day.

“I thought I had a legitimate shot this year, but evidently it was just like any other year--in disguise.”

The Padres, who had refused to include Howard in their trade with the Cincinnati Reds during the winter, finally had no choice. They wanted Pettis, didn’t want to lose Ward and knew they couldn’t pass Howard through waivers without having him claimed.

“This will be a good opportunity for him,” Riddoch said. “He needed a change. Look at what it did for Gary Sheffield. Maybe it’ll do the same for Thomas.”

The Indians can only pray Howard will have the same impact, considering that Sheffield continues to tear apart the National League.

Sheffield opened the Padres’ offensive attack once again Tuesday when he hit a two-run homer off Giant starter John Burkett in the first inning. They were the seventh and eighth consecutive runs driven in by Sheffield for the Padres.

His streak was finally snapped in the fourth inning when shortstop Tony Fernandez drove in Kurt Stillwell with a suicide squeeze on a 3-and-1 pitch.

The Padres’ 4-0 lead after four innings was, of course, unconquerable with Benes on the mound.

The only thing that failed him was his bat. Benes was hitless once again in three plate appearances, and he has now gone 53 at-bats without a hit. It’s the longest hitless streak by any player in the past 10 years.

Of course, when you’re pitching like Benes, who needs to bother with a bat?