NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : PADRES UPDATE

The Padre management might have lost confidence in bullpen stopper Randy Myers, keeping him in the bullpen during their last two save situations. They may not care for his personality, and are weary of his zany antics.

But yet, Myers’ teammates remain firmly behind him, and maybe none more so than third baseman Gary Sheffield.

“What the guy did for me,” Sheffield said, “is something I’ll never forget.”

It happened the night of May 25 against the Pittsburgh Pirates in San Diego. Tony Gwynn had just homered off Pirate starter Zane Smith. Taking his revenge out on Sheffield, Smith sent Sheffield sprawling with a pitch near his head.

Sheffield got up, dusted himself off, and hit the next pitch into the upper deck for a home run. It was a dramatic moment, and sure to be an event that was to attract a horde of reporters wanting to know how it felt to get revenge.

“I was mad, really mad,” Sheffield said. “But when everyone was congratulating me in the dugout, saying how nice it was to pay him back, Randy pulled me aside. He said that reporters might try to start a controversy, saying how he tried to hit me with a pitch.

“So he told me to just say, ‘The pitch got away from him, no big deal.’ I said that, and no one hardly made mention of the pitch.

“I tell you, here’s a guy who was struggling and going through rough times, but he thought enough of me to give me some advice. I never had that in Milwaukee.

“To me, that’s a team player right there.”

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The Padres were still livid Saturday over the home-run trot Friday night by Deion Sanders. When Sanders hit his eighth-inning home run off Mike Maddux, he watched it for several seconds, took a sweeping turn around the first-base bag, and pounded his helmet in glee while rounding the bases.

“That made me sick,” one Padre said. “Someone should have been knocked down after that one.”

Apparently, a few of Sanders’ teammates agreed.

Atlanta second baseman Mark Lemke apologized to Maddux after the game.

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The ex-Padre Player of the Week award goes to outfielder Shawn Abner of the Chicago White Sox.

Remember him?

Abner, who was traded in 1991 to the Angels for third baseman Jack Howell, has resurfaced for the White Sox and has performed quite well.

Ready for this? Abner is hitting .323 with four RBIs.

Abner is the third Padre center fielder to perform wonders once leaving San Diego. Shane Mack is batting .314 for the Minnesota Twins, and Thomas Howard is batting .303 with the Cleveland Indians.

Although Abner still says the Padres made a mistake in trading him, he is most bitter toward the Angels, who released him in spring training.

“I’m really sorry about what happened to (Manager) Buck (Rodgers),” Abner said. “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. But I don’t believe I was given a fair shake in spring training with them. They released me too late to catch on with another team without having to go to the minor leagues first.

“It wasn’t right.”

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The Padres are considering bringing up outfielder Phil Stephenson from triple-A Las Vegas. He is batting .357 with eight homers and 40 RBIs. He also has made only two errors in the field.

The Padres’ patience with left fielder Jerald Clark nearly has been exhausted. He is hitting .186, and has failed to hit a home run since April 27.

Clark was benched once again Saturday in place of Oscar Azocar, who is hitting only .204 this season with three RBIs.

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Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn saw a familiar face behind the plate Saturday when he saw Kerwin Danley as the home-plate umpire.

Danley was Gwynn’s teammate at San Diego State, and Friday night was his first game in the big leagues.

“That was always one of the biggest mysteries to us,” Gwynn said. “He was a first-team All-American, and didn’t even get drafted. It was great to see him again.

“He’s just like the rest of us now.

“He can always say he made it to the big leagues.”

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Atlanta first baseman Nick Esasky, who has been out the last two years with vertigo, continues to be impressive in his comeback bid. He is hitting .345 with three homers and five RBIs at triple-A Richmond in the first eight games of a 20-game rehabilitative assignment.