Padres See the Streak Go Swiftly : Baseball: Giants’ new pitcher goes all the way to win, 6-1, and halt the Padres’ winning streak at five games.

It was as if they announced the Golden Gate Bridge was being turned into an eight-lane thoroughfare. It was as if the wine country was being bulldozed for an industrial park. Or cable cars were being discarded for yellow cabs.

The Bay Area became enraged this winter because the San Francisco Giants traded Kevin Mitchell to the Seattle Mariners for three pitchers. There go the home runs, they cried. There goes the offense. Heck, there goes the season.

“It’s kind of funny now, isn’t it?” said Giant first baseman Will Clark. “You don’t hear people talking about him anymore. I think we’ve proven we can do just fine without him.”

Billy Swift, the pitcher everyone ignored in the trade, not only has proven he can make the conversion from the bullpen to the rotation, but has become quite capable of carrying an offense.

Swift frustrated the Padres on Thursday, snapping their five-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory in front of 22,743 at Candlestick Park. He tormented them with his arm, drove them wacky with his bat, and had them talking to themselves with his baserunning.

“He beat us with his arm, legs and bat today,” said Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager. “Everyone knew the Giants were getting three decent pitchers in the trade, but I don’t think anyone considered there to be a quality starter in the bunch.

“It looks like we were wrong.”

Swift, who had started only eight games in his six-year career with the Mariners, has emerged as one of the biggest surprises this season. Allowing eight hits in his second complete-game victory of the season, Swift became the first starter to win three games in the major leagues, leads the majors with 25 2/3 innings pitched, and has a sizzling 0.70 ERA.

“What we’ve got now,” Clark said, “is a complete team. Everyone knew we needed pitching. It was the flat-out commodity we needed. And in our eyes, we were getting some great pitching in return.

“But no one saw it that way. Because Kevin was here so long, because he was the MVP one year, because of his homers and RBIs, it created a stir, needless to say.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, this team is damn good, and it’s a complete team. Before, we’d have guys that went their own way. Not any more. We go out together, we have fun, and we pull together.

“Believe me, it makes a big difference.”

Still, with the absence of Mitchell, won’t the Giants’ offense suffer?

“Not a bit,” Clark said. “We just have to rely on other forms.”

When you have your starting pitcher hit a double to left, a ground-rule double to right-center, drive in the game-winning run, and score from second on a single to left, this qualifies as another form of offense.

“This guy can do it all,” said Giant manager Roger Craig. “He was on base so much today, I had to go out there and give him a breather.”

Craig did visit the mound at the start of the eighth inning, feigning that he was concerned about a possible injury to Swift. Because Swift opened the seventh with a double and later scored, Craig wanted to buy time.

“He wasn’t worried me being tired on the mound,” Swift said, “but whether I was worn out on the basepaths.”

There’s no need to remind Padre starter Dave Eiland (0-1) who saw enough of him for one day.

“I think he’ll be one of the best pitchers in the game,” Eiland said, “but it was his bat that killed me. If I get him out, it’s a whole new game.”

The game was tied, 1-1, in the fifth with two outs, Royce Clayton on first base and Swift at the plate. Eiland nearly walked Swift in the third inning when he fell behind on a 3-and-0 count, and once he threw a first-pitch ball to Swift in the fifth, he was determined not to be careless again.

“So I threw a get-ahead fastball to him,” said Eiland, who gave up eight hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings. “I didn’t say, ‘Here it is, hit it.’ It was more like a (batting practice) fastball to throw for a strike.

“It cost me the game.”

Swift, who had not batted since attending the University of Maine in 1981-1984, hammered the pitch into the left-center gap, past a sprawling Jerald Clark. Clayton scored easily, and Darren Lewis compounded the problem when he followed with a single to left, scoring Swift from second.

It’s the only offense Swift needed. Swift, a sinkerball pitcher, induced 17 ground balls during the game, preventing the Padres from getting an extra-base hit.

“He’s the kind of guy you go back to the bench talking to yourself,” said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn. “He did that to us all day.”

Said Padre second baseman Kurt Stillwell, who batted .200 against Swift in the American League: “He’s one of those guys where you get yourself out. The most tired we made him was when he was running the bases.”

Swift, selected second by Seattle in the 1984 June free agent draft behind Shawn Abner, instantly became a hero in his debut here. He was loudly cheered each time he took the mound, receiving standing ovations after each of his hits.

Of course, it has been a long time since Giant fans have had reason to be excited about one of their pitchers. They’ve had only one 20-game winner since 1973, and Mike Krukow wasn’t exactly known for being an ace of any staff.

“The fans were great,” Swift said. “I mean, they were nice in Seattle, but nothing like these fans. These fans understand baseball.

“I don’t know even know why people were making such a big deal out of Candlestick. It wasn’t cold out there. There wasn’t even any wind out there. It felt real good.”

Said Will Clark: “Of course, he hasn’t pitched a night game here, yet. We haven’t had the heart to tell him what that’s like.”