Padres Get Help from the Bottom : Baseball: Lower half of the batting order produces in Padres’ 9-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

It’s like Arsenio Hall walking on stage in a Sears leisure suit. Or Imelda Marcos walking down Fifth Avenue in a pair of penny loafers. Or Jose Canseco driving a Ford Escort.

You’ve got to have the image, and the bottom of the batting order has been ruining the Padres’ gig.

While the top quartet of Tony Fernandez, Tony Gwynn, Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff have earned the stature of being among the most feared in the National League, the follow-up act has soiled the Padres’ persona.

It’s difficult frightening folks when the bottom of the order is making Mario Mendoza look like a power hitter.

For the first time this season, the act came together in the Padres’ 9-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves, making believers of the crowd of 18,581 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The lower group of Benito Santiago, Darrin Jackson, Jerald Clark and Tim Teufel, who had been embarrassed to look at their batting statistics, combined for two homers and five RBIs Wednesday. They reached base seven times.

“When we have the bottom of the order going like we did today,” said Gwynn, who raised his batting average to .381, “we’re capable of causing a whole lot of damage. I think you saw evidence of that today.”

The Padres (9-7) had a season-high 15 hits with three hits apiece by Gwynn and Sheffield, and home runs by No. 5 hitter Benito Santiago and No. 7 hitter Jerald Clark. They scored five runs alone in the first inning--the most they had scored in all but one of their games this year--handing Brave starter Tom Glavine, the 1991 Cy Young winner, his worst beating in two years.

The Padres, whose nine runs also were a season high, hit .379, with 12 extra-base hits, in the three-game series against the Braves. This was the same team that batted only .221 and scored three runs in 30 innings in the three-game catastrophe against the Houston Astros?

“I don’t know what they did to lose five in a row,” said Glavine, who yielded his most hits in a game since Aug. 30, 1990, against St. Louis. “They’ve got a good lineup, no question about it.”

Said Brave Manager Bobby Cox: “They’ve got an outstanding lineup. There’s not an out man in it.”

Padre starter Bruce Hurst, who was looking for his first victory since Aug. 28, couldn’t believe his fate. The Padres had scored only seven runs in his first three starts this season, and there he was pitching with a five-run lead after the second inning.

Hurst (1-1) took advantage of the opportunity and dominated the Braves, allowing six hits and striking out eight in 7 1/3 innings. The Braves hit only two fly balls to the outfield the entire game.

Hurst so frustrated the Braves that when Lonnie Smith struck out in the eighth inning, he argued the call with home plate umpire Jim Quick, was ejected, and spent the next five minutes on the field screaming at Quick. It took three coaches, Cox, and third baseman Terry Pendleton just to restrain Smith from attacking Quick.

Smith exemplified the Braves’ frustrations of their trip. They not only lost eight of 10 games on their West Coast swing, but they had more strikeouts (78) than hits (76).

This was a game, however, that belonged to the bottom of the order.

“We know it won’t stay like that all year,” Jackson said, “but when you’re batting like we have, it’s tough to take. The top of the order has been carrying us all year.”

While the Padre top four this season is batting .332 with nine homers and 35 RBIs, the bottom of the lineup entered the game with a .185 batting average, four homers and eight RBIs.

“That’s embarrassing,” Clark said.

This day, there was no reason for apologies. No need for embarrassment. No cause for remorse.

“It felt good today, real good,” Clark said, laughing. “We haven’t been happy at all with our performance. I know I sure haven’t. When you don’t gets hits for awhile, you ask what’s going on. You question yourself.”

Clark, who was mired in a one-for-21 slump, broke open the game in the first inning when he hit a two-out, two-run homer off Glavine into the left-field seats. It was the first time this season Clark hit with a runner in scoring position.

In the fifth inning, with the Padres leading, 5-2, it was Santiago’s turn. He worked the count to 3-and-2, and slammed the next pitch from reliever Marvin Freeman over the left-center-field fence. It was Santiago’s first home run of the season, spanning 59 at-bats.

“I told you my hits would come,” Santiago said. “They’re going to start coming in bunches.”

Yet, it wasn’t Santiago’s homer that so delighted the coaching staff. It was his next at-bat, in the sixth. The bases were loaded. There was one out. Santiago, wanting so badly to swing for the fences again, showed remarkable restraint. He did not swing at a single pitch, walking on a 3-2 count, forcing in Gwynn.

“That was an incredible at-bat, maybe his best of the season,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “The thing is, we’re not even worried about his hitting. People don’t realize the kind of job he’s done behind the plate.”

Said Hurst: “I can’t tell you how good he’s been. His pitch selection has just been awesome. He was just messing with guys’ heads up there today. I wouldn’t trade that guy for anybody.”

Santiago also is the most integral part of the bottom of the order. He already has been to the plate 20 times this season with runners in scoring position, but has only three hits. Jackson, who was moved up to sixth in the lineup, has had only three at-bats with runners in scoring position.

“For us to win, we have to have those guys come through,” said McGriff, whose three RBIs pushed him past Sheffield for the league lead with 15 RBIs. “Fernandez, Gwynn and Gary are going to get their hits. They’re going to be on base. And I know I’m going to get my share.

“But we Benny, Jerald and Darrin too come up with that big hit.”

Said Sheffield, who is batting .429 with a monstrous .929 slugging percentage the past 11 games: “If everybody contributes, and swings the bat like they did today, we can score a lot of runs. I mean, we can scare some people.”

Maybe even resurrect that image.