PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Houston’s Astrodome Isn’t Padres’ Favorite Place to Play

Nothing against the city of Houston, but the Padres wanted out of here as quickly as possible.

The Astros may have lowered the fences at the Astrodome, and made it much more conducive to hitters, but the Padres would never know it. They failed to hit anything more damaging than a double in their three-game series, batting .221 and scoring only three runs in 30 innings.

The result was that the Padres were swept at the Astrodome for the first time since Sept. 15-17, 1985.

“I hate this place,” said Padre center fielder Darrin Jackson, who batted .083 in the series. “It seems like no matter what we do, we have to battle them to the bitter end. I can’t remember ever beating these guys here, to tell you the truth.”

Said Padre Manager Greg Riddoch: “We always seem to make their highlight film. Maybe nothing else will happen the rest of the year. Hopefully, they got all their taping done.”

Said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn: “It’s the same ol’ Astros. They don’t overwhelm you, or bust your chops, they just nickle-and-dime you. Really, they’re like we are.

“I look at it realistically, we didn’t think we’d keep playing .700 baseball forever.”

Although Padre pitcher Andy Benes’ incredible run continued, lowering his ERA to 0.39 for the season, and 1.52 for his past 18 starts, he was most thrilled with his bat.

Benes, who was in a zero-for-54 drought, equaled his entire hit total of the 1991 season with his first two-hit game. He doubled off Butch Henry in the fifth inning, and singled in the seventh.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Benes said. “But I give credit to (Padre backup catcher) Dann Bilardello. I used his bat. My bat obviously wasn’t doing the job.

“No bat can go through so many at-bats line mine did without a hit.”

Surely, he didn’t use the same bat the entire time without breaking it, did he?

“Why not, I never made contact,” Benes said.

Padre second baseman Kurt Stillwell, who left the game Saturday night with a severe bruise below the left knee, had a sleepless night because of the pain. He did not play Sunday, and might be out of the lineup for the next few days.

“It was really throbbing,” said Stillwell, who sustained the injury in a collision with Astro first baseman Jeff Bagwell. “It was brutal. I’ll be all right, it’ll just take a couple of days.

“I’m just glad nothing happened to the joints.”

Although the Astros aren’t saying anything publicly, they’ve already decided to place third baseman Ken Caminiti on the 15-day disabled list.

Caminiti suffered a mild separation of his right shoulder Saturday night.

“When I hit the ground, I knew what happened,” he said. “This is something I’ve experienced before, but never in my right shoulder. When I had it in my left shoulder, I could still use my glove. It hampered me when I had to dive, but that’s all. Now, I have to deal with it when I throw.”

Said Astro Manager Art Howe: “He’s in a lot of pain.”

The Houston Astros started the season with seven players who were non-roster invitees to spring training, leading the major leagues: Pitchers Doug Jones, Joe Boever and Rob Murphy; outfielders Pete Incaviglia and Chris Jones; and infielders Rafael Ramirez and Denny Walling.

In all 46 no-roster players made the opening day roster, with the Padres quite representative with three: pitchers Dave Eiland and Pat Clements and outfielder Kevin Ward.