Memories Painful for Padres : Baseball: Two former Padres--John Kruk and Dave Hollins--help the Phillies beat their old team.

Padre fans used to torment the outfielder, booing him on the field during the game, and breaking into his car at night. They once slashed the convertible top on his car while parked at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, and openly cheered when he was traded away.

They never even saw the third baseman. He was in the minor leagues during his three-year stay, never advancing past double-A Wichita, and the fans shrugged their shoulders when he was left unprotected in the 1989 winter draft.

While the Philadelphia Phillies were beating up the Padres and starter Bruce Hurst Monday night, winning 12-9 in front of 11,998 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, guess who came to dinner?

Say hello again to outfielder John Kruk, who had two hits, reached base four times, and raised his league-leading batting average to .411.

Introduce yourself to third baseman Dave Hollins, who drove in a career-high five runs, went three for five with a homer, and continued his assault on Hurst.

“I don’t know what it was with Kruky,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said. “He was such a crowd favorite when he first came up, and then the fans turned on him. They got ugly.

“I think they realize now how wrong they were.

“And someone sure made a mistake with Hollins.”

The two ex-Padres certainly turned Hurst’s performance into a living hell. He allowed nine hits and seven earned runs in just 3 2/3 innings, and although the Padres made it interesting, they could never overcome the 7-0 deficit.

It was the most runs Hurst has allowed in a game since his debut with the Padres April 4, 1989--101 starts ago--when he gave up seven earned runs in an 8-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Still, comeback or no comeback, this night belonged to Kruk and Hollins.

Kruk was the guy the Padres gave up on, trading him along with Randy Ready in exchange for Chris James, who was supposed to solve their problems at third base. Kruk was the guy the Padres thought would eat himself out of the major leagues. Kruk was the guy they figured would be out of the game by now.

“You know something,” Kruk said, “if I stayed here, I don’t know if I would be playing now. I mean, I don’t know if I’d be playing anywhere.

“I just got buried with all of the outfielders here, and when they traded me away, it was the best thing that ever happened.”

Who’d ever have thought that in the final days of April, there would be the two kids who spent a summer together in Walla Walla, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk, locked in a batting title race?

“We used to talk about this day,” Gwynn said. “We were 1-2 in the batting race the first month in 1987, too.”

Kurk wound up hitting a career-high .313 that season. Gwynn, of course, picked that year to bat .370.

“It’s no surprise to me what he’s doing,” Gwuynn said. “He’s like me, everybody focuses on how big we are rather than how we hit. I’m telling you, he’s a good hitter, and will always be a good hitter.

“Man, it seems like yesterday when we were riding our bikes to the park at Walla Walla with our Walkmans on. He listened to Hank Williams. I listened to the Commodores.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? I’m from Los Angeles. He’s from West Virginia. And we’re so much alike.”

Said Kruk: “Well, there is one difference. He gets a whole lot more hits than I do. It’s a shock when he doesn’t get two hits.

“Actually, I’d like to hit a homer before the year’s over.”

Kruk, who played right field for only the second time this season after playing first base in 18 games, hardly was the only one to resurrect memories.

Hollins, the Phillies’ starting third baseman, was drafted in 1987 and developed in the Padre organization. They made only one mistake. They didn’t bother to protect him in the Rule 5 Draft in 1989. So they let him escape, along with Shane Mack, for $50,000.

While Mack is in the American League with the Minnesota Twins and can’t haunt the Padres 12 times each summer, Hollins certainly has had the pleasure.

Hollins, who is hitting .500 with three homers and 12 RBIs at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, hit a two-run homer in the first inning, ignited the Phillies’ four-run third inning, and finished with the finest game of his career.

Certainly no one can blame for Hurst for not caring if he faces Hollins again. Hollins is five for six off Hurst with two homers.

It was after Hollins’ homer in the first inning, Hurst figured the safe thing would be to pitch Hollins very carefully in the third inning. There was one out, and no one on base, so Hurst didn’t see any harm in walking Hollins.

Then, he made the mistake of walking Kruk, too. First baseman Dale Sveum made Hurst pay dearly, lining a single into right field. Third base coach Larry Bowa waved home Hollins. Gwynn threw to the plate, but catcher Benito Santiago was unable to hold onto the ball. Hollins was safe, and Kruk scored when the ball was kicked away.

Sveum went all the way to third on the play. He soon scored on Darren Daulton’s double to the right-center gap, and Kim Batiste completed the four-run inning with a single to left, scoring Daulton.

It never got any better for Hurst. Even though he struck out Hollins in the fourth, he gave up a one-out double to Mariano Duncan, who tied a career-high with four hits and raised his batting average to .333. Kruk drove him home with a sharp single to left, bringing Padre Manager Greg Riddoch to the mound. Hurst flipped him the ball, and Mike Maddux came in for his first appearance of the season.