Big Hitters Can’t Help the Padres : Baseball: Atlanta stymies Padres, sweeps with 4-2 victory.

Perhaps it was the frustration speaking aloud. Maybe it was the anguish of losing once again Sunday to the Atlanta Braves, knocking the Padres further into the pack of the National League West.

Most likely it was the rage of being bypassed year after year for the All-Star Game.

Padre first baseman Fred McGriff, who has emerged this season as a virtual shoo-in for his first All-Star Game, said that he has a notion to snub the game if he’s finally invited to play.

“I’d like to tell them to take a hike,” McGriff, who was hitless in the Padres’ 4-2 defeat to the Braves, said. “That’s what I’d like to do, just tell them I’m going to Tampa, take three days off, and relax. They’ve had plenty of chances before to take me so they won’t miss me.”

McGriff was asked if he was really serious.

This, after all, is the All-Star Game, and it will be played in front of the hometown fans in San Diego.

McGriff paused: “I don’t know. In the back of my mind, that’s what I’d really like to do. But since it’s my first one, I’ll probably play.

“It’s just that I don’t want anything handed to me. I don’t want people to have sympathy for me. I don’t want them to feel sorry for me. I just want them to judge me by my numbers.”

Although Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox doesn’t want to tip his hand as manager of the National League team, there’s little doubt McGriff will be selected to the All-Star team. He has put up Triple Crown numbers the first two months of the season with a .329 batting average, 14 homers and 44 RBIs. He can found among the leaders in 12 different categories.

“I want to prove people wrong,” McGriff said. “I want to show people I’m a well-rounded player. If I hit a homer, people expect it. But if I steal a base, or keep my average like it is, no one expects it.

“I know it’s a nice honor to be in the All-Star Game, but I feel I could have been there a lot of times by now. Really, I could have been chosen every year but my first season when I platooned.

“Last year probably was the toughest because it was in Toronto. They had Joe Carter and (Roberto) Alomar there, but not me or Tony (Fernandez). We wanted to show the fans in Toronto that they gave up something, too.

“It wasn’t like it was a one-sided trade.”

This is the first time McGriff has acknowledged his frustrations over being bypassed for the All-Star Game. He had always shrugged his shoulders, saying he didn’t care. Yet, he said, he was merely camouflaging his hurt.

“There are a lot of guys who want to be in the headlines, and run to the press when they’re upset about not winning individual awards,” McGriff said. “But that’s not me. The All-Star game is a nice personal honor, but it doesn’t mean a thing as far as the team.

“I want to go back to the playoffs again. That’s what I want to do. I’m tired of sitting home in October. I hate watching everyone else.”

Yet in a season that McGriff has emerged as perhaps the premier power-hitter in the National League, enjoying the finest year of his career, he is being tormented by his own talents.

The Braves, who completed their second three-game sweep of the Padres in the last week, became the first team this season to reveal their intentions. No matter what the situation, no matter the circumstances, they refused to pitch to McGriff.

They threw sliders down and in. They threw fastballs up and away. They tossed in a few changeups low and away.

“They didn’t throw him anything,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “They kept the ball away from him the last two series. It was like they were saying it was OK for someone else to beat them, but not Fred.”

Said Cox: “Do you blame us? With the way McGriff’s hitting? No way do you give him a chance to beat you.”

The Padres already were trailing 3-0 when McGriff strode to the plate in the sixth inning with a chance to make an impact. There were runners on first and second. Two outs. One swing of the bat, and McGriff could tie the game.

Instead, Atlanta starter Charlie Leibrandt threw nothing but outside changeups, and McGriff walked, loading the bases. The strategy was perfect. Darrin Jackson came up, grounded out to third baseman Terry Pendleton, and the threat, inning, and, for all intents and purposes, the game was over.

Leibrandt (6-2) had become the latest Atlanta pitcher to shut down the Padre offense. After losing six consecutive times to Atlanta the past week, it was little wonder the Padres were fleeing the city.

“I’m just glad to be getting out of here and heading to Houston,” Riddoch said, shaking his head.

The vaunted Padre offense batted only .199 during six games with the Braves, and its first homer didn’t occur until Tim Teufel’s two-out shot in the ninth inning Sunday that ruined Leibrandt’s shutout. The Padre quartet of Tony Fernandez, Tony Gwynn, Gary Sheffield and McGriff were even kept in check, batting .221 with four RBIs in six games.

“It was frustrating,” Gwynn said. “They made it look easy the way they spanked us. I know we can play with these guys. I know we have as much talent. But we’re not putting it all together.

“It’s going to take more than just hitting, more than just pitching, more than just defense. We’ve got to put it all together. I know we’re not this bad.”

The Padres had none of it working Sunday in front of a sellout crowd of 40,790 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Padre starter Bruce Hurst, who had been 5-1 with four complete games in his last six starts, couldn’t make it out of the sixth inning. Gwynn was the only Padre to obtain a hit off Leibrandt in the first six innings. And there was little the defense could do to stop the Braves’ 12-hit attack.

“They beat us in every conceivable way,” Gwynn said. “They kicked our butts. Their pitching is as good as any team we’re going to see. If there’s a gimme in that rotation, Leibrandt’s the guy, and you saw what he did to us.”