Lefferts Fires Pitch to Stay in Rotation : Baseball: He allows five hits in seven innings in Padres’ 5-1 victory over Philadelphia, but his spot as a starter is not secure.

Padre pitcher Craig Lefferts described it as one of the exhilarating moments of his career. This was the game, he believes, that will convince the Padres he belongs in the starting rotation.

Who can blame him for his euphoria?

Lefferts shut down the Philadelphia Phillies’ offense Saturday night, pitching his finest game of the year and leading the Padres to a 5-1 victory in front of 23,070 fans at Veterans Stadium.

He yielded only five hits and six baserunners during his seven-inning stint. Never was he in trouble, allowing only two baserunners to reach second. It was the best performance by a Padre starter since Greg Harris pitched a complete game April 29 against Montreal. Dale Murphy’s solo homer in the seventh inning was the only blemish on his outing.

“There’s nothing better than this,” said Lefferts, who is 3-2 with a 4.80 ERA. “The only thing better than this would be going nine for a complete game. I’m looking forward to that day.

“There’ll be plenty more opportunities.”

Or will there?

The cruel irony is that although Lefferts has the best record of any Padre starter and has helped the Padres to four victories in his six starts, he might have pitched for the final time in the starting rotation.

There’s a possibility that Lefferts will be asked to return to the bullpen next week.

In fact, nobody would say after the game when Lefferts would make his next start.

Not Padre Manager Greg Riddoch. Not pitching coach Mike Roarke. Not even General Manager Joe McIlvaine.

They did confirm that Jose Melendez will be joining the starting rotation beginning Tuesday against the New York Mets, but they do not have Lefferts scheduled to start in any of the final seven games of the trip. Lefferts’ next regularly scheduled turn would be Thursday, which happens to be an off day. The next time they would need Lefferts is May 19 in San Diego against the Mets.

Will he even start that day?

“We don’t know,” McIlvaine said. “We have to talk about it. We’re keeping our options open right now.”

The Padres must decide whether to keep Lefferts in the rotation or bring up rookie Frank Seminara, who is 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA for triple-A Las Vegas. Seminara has never pitched in the major leagues, but the Padres believe he’s ready.

“Ideally, we’d like to keep him down there as long as we can,” McIlvaine said, “but he’s been pitching awfully well. . . .”

Lefferts, still ecstatic over his performance, refused to even consider the prospect of returning to the bullpen where he has spent his last eight years. He even has aspirations of pitching in Pittsburgh six days from now.

“I’d like to pitch in Pittsburgh,” Lefferts said, “but if it means me going to the bullpen so that the rotation doesn’t get out of whack, I’ll do it.”

What would he think if he were to stay in the bullpen?

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I’m going to start again. They’re not going to get me out of the rotation.”

The Padres probably will wait about a week before announcing a decision, but considering the events of this night, they weren’t going to allow anything to spoil their celebration.

Instead, they wanted to cherish the idea that all of their runs were created with rallies that began with two outs and nobody on base. They wanted to savor five stolen bases, their most since June 24, 1990, after entering the game with only 16 all season. They wanted to admire the top of their order, which reached base 11 times, scored all five runs, stole all five bases and drove in all of the runs.

“This was a great win for us,” said Gwynn, who was surprised minutes before the game when his wife, Alicia, arrived in town to celebrate his 32nd birthday. “These guys call me, ‘Old man, you don’t have it.’ Well, I take that as a challenge.

“We’ve become a little stagnant, so we’re going to try to be more aggressive. Tonight was an example of doing what we wanted to do.”

Leadoff hitter Tony Fernandez set the pace again with two hits and two stolen bases. He has eight hits--including four doubles--in the last three games, raising his batting average to .313. Gwynn reached base three times and stole two bases--one more than he had all year. Fred McGriff not only hit his second triple of the season, but stole his third base of the season, even drawing a pitchout while at first base. Third baseman Gary Sheffield made two brilliant defensive plays and had two hits, including the one in the Padres’ seventh that broke the game open.

Gwynn started the seventh-inning rally with a two-out single to center. He stole second, but had to stop at third when third baseman Dave Hollins knocked down Sheffield’s line drive. Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi took rookie Cliff Brantley (1-2) out of the game and replaced him with left-hander Wally Ritchie.

Ritchie worked the count to 2-and-2 with McGriff, and then tried to sneak a fastball over the outside part of the plate. Bad idea. McGriff slammed the pitch off the center-field wall. Gwynn and Sheffield scored easily, and McGriff rounded second on his way to third. Shortstop Kim Batiste’s relay throw to third bounced off McGriff’s back, caromed away, and allowed McGriff to score. He was credited with his second triple of the season, equaling his total of the last two years.