PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Waller Remains Optimistic Padres Can Sign High School Draftees

Reggie Waller, Padre scouting director, knows the Padres could become unpopular in Tennessee. They might be inviting an avalanche of hate mail from Knoxville.

No matter, Waller wants his man, and his confident he can get him.

Outfielder Todd Helton, the Padres’ first pick in the June free agent draft, is the prize. The Padres badly want to sign him. Tennessee badly wants him to forget this idea of playing baseball and concentrate on his quarterback skills.

“It’s a tough dilemma for the young man,” Waller said. “I don’t think it’s football vs. baseball, but just the college experience.

“There’s always a a chance you can lose the guy, but after watching him swing the bat the way he does, I’ll take a chance. I’m not going to put a deadline on him. I don’t believe in pressuring guys. I’ll just hang back for a while, and then see him another time or two.

“If, or let me say when, we pull this off, I don’t think we’re going to be too popular in the state of Tennessee.”

Waller was in Houston in an attempt to sign fifth-round pick Jim Baron, a left-handed pitcher. Baron is a senior at Humble High in the Houston area.

“He’s got some kind of arm,” Waller said, “but we’re also going against a college for him, too.”

Baron has a scholarship at Rice.

“We think we’ll get him sooner or later, but we want him now,” Waller said. “He had a little problem with his control this year, so we think it’d be beneficial for him to sign with us now.

“Look at Nolan Ryan. His control was wild in high school. If he hadn’t signed professionally, who knows if he would have ever made it in college.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed on both of them.”

While the Padres may be slipping in the standings, they have risen dramatically in the latest All-Star voting.

Padre shortstop Tony Fernandez made the biggest move, surpassing incumbent Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals in his bid to win the starting shortstop job. Fernandez, who was third last week in the balloting, has received 341,784 votes to Smith’s 308,988 votes.

“It’s a nice feeling,” Fernandez said. “It would be an honor to go. It’s nice to be recognized.”

Tony Gwynn also emerged among the outfielder leaders, ranking second behind Barry Bonds of Pittsburgh. Gwynn has 320,179 votes to Bonds’ 492,482.

Meanwhile, Padre catcher Benito Santiago, who’s on the disabled list with a broken finger, appears to be a shoo-in for his fourth All-Star game. He is pulling away from the pack with 411,899 votes to runner-up Gary Carter of Montreal, who has 157,895 votes.

In other voting, third baseman Gary Sheffield is second to Terry Pendleton of Atlanta, first baseman Fred McGriff is second to Will Clark of San Francisco and second baseman Kurt Stillwell is fourth,

McGriff couldn’t help himself Tuesday when he sidled over to teammate Craig Lefferts and showed him a newspaper article from his hometown paper in Tampa, Fla.

The Tampa Tribune conducted a computer game in which they pitted the finest major league talent out of Tampa against the World Series champion Minnesota Twins.

In the game, Tampa was leading 2-1 in the ninth inning when they went to the bullpen and summoned Lefferts to relieve Dwight Gooden.

Lefferts ran into immediate trouble, and lost the game when outfielder Shane Mack hit a two-run homer.

“I can’t believe this,” Lefferts said. “Come on, Shane Mack? Who wrote this thing, anyway?”

Said McGriff, laughing: “Hey, I went oh-for-four in the game. I’m not too proud of that, either.

“But, man, Lefty, we could have won if it wasn’t for you.”

Lefferts asked if he could keep the newspaper article, and then said he’d burn it.

Padre center fielder Darrin Jackson missed only his third game of the season Tuesday when he sat out with a bruised left knee. Jackson was hit by a pitch thrown by Astro reliever Al Osuna.

“It hit square on his kneecap, right where there’s no muscle, only skin and bone,” said Bob Day, Padre trainer. “He should be OK in a day or two.”

Padre catcher Tom Lampkin, who’s in triple-A Las Vegas, is batting .543 in the month of June. Paul Faries is hitting .500 for the month.

Astro Manager Art Howe has 253 victories, one shy of equalling Hal Lanier for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list.

Howe (253-295) also trails Bill Virdon (544-522), Harry Walker (355-353) and Bob Lillis (276-261).

Howe, who’s in his fourth season as manager of the Astros, ranks behind only Tom Lasorda of the Dodgers, Roger Craig of the San Francisco Giants and Jim Leyland of the Pittsburgh Pirates in seniority.

Tickets for the July 13 All-Star workout at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium go on sale today, 9 a.m., at the ticket window near Gate F. Prices range from $3 to $10. The workout includes a Heroes of Baseball old-timers game, All-Star players’ batting practice and a home run derby between four players from each league.