Padres Can Get a Victory, But Can’t Get Satisfaction : Baseball: Neither Seminara nor McGriff are pleased with performances, but they play key roles in 7-3 victory. Padre take three of four in series they could have swept.

Their pitcher was disappointed, their first baseman said he didn’t have a clue and their right fielder was still smarting from Saturday’s loss.

So. Sunday must have been the day the Padres showed that they are to a legitimate pennant contender what Cheez Whiz is to real cheese. Right?

Wrong. As the Cincinnati Reds put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep of Atlanta, the Padres won a 7-3 decision over San Francisco, keeping them 5 1/2 games behind the Reds.

As Padre Manager Greg Riddoch will be happy to tell you, it is way too early for a pennant race. But while the Reds and Braves are threatening to run away from the rest of the division, the Padres so far are playing the role of the obnoxious uncle who never knows when to leave.

In front of 20,945 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Frank Seminara won his third consecutive start, Fred McGriff’s two-run fifth-inning single broke open a 4-1 game, and Tony Gwynn still couldn’t get over how close the Padres came to a four-game sweep of the Giants.

“I don’t want to be negative after a win, but (Saturday’s game) looks huge after today,” said Gwynn of a night on which the Padres blew a 3-0 lead and lost, 5-3.

Well, why not take the hard-line stance? Everyone else seemed to.

Seminara (3-2) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings. He was removed, though, after walking Jim McNamara and Jose Uribe to start the seventh.

“You can’t go out there with a six-run lead and put the two leadoff guys on,” said Seminara, who was staked to a 7-1 lead entering the seventh. “That’s just terrible pitching.

“I’m just a little disappointed in myself. I was looking to go seven or eight innings today.”

McGriff, who missed seven games as a result of a rib-cage injury and a four-game suspension, went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in his second game back.

That stroke coming back, Fred?

“Put it this way,” McGriff said. “Health-wise, I felt fine. Swinging-wise, I was brutal. I was bad.”

Still, this grumpy band of Padres won four of six games during the home stand and are in the midst of the most generous portion of their schedule. They travel to Los Angeles for three games beginning tonight and then return home to play their final 11 games before the All-Star break.

“We’re hanging in there,” Riddoch said. “We don’t sit and watch the scoreboard every day to see what the Reds do. We’re just trying to be able to stay afloat and see where we can be.

“I’m very happy with where we are. I think we’ve walked over a lot of hurdles.”

One is the fifth starter’s position, which was nearly as ineffective as a Reebok commercial for the first 2 1/2 months of the season. Seminara, while far from overpowering, has used a little bit of guile and a lot of runs to give the Padres a boost.

Until his first victory on June 18, the Padres had received zero victories from their fifth-starter spot. In his three victories, Seminara has allowed four runs in six innings, three runs in eight innings and three runs in six innings. Not exactly Bob Gibson, but . . .

“That’s what we’ve been looking for from the four and five spots,” Riddoch said. “If we get (Seminara) to give us decent performances like that and if we get Dave Eiland to give us decent performances like that. . . .”

He didn’t finish the thought. Sometimes, you know, you wake up in the middle of dreams.

Seminara was inconsistent but, until the seventh, battled out of trouble.

He allowed two one-out singles in the first, to Willie McGee and Kevin Bass, but then induced Cory Snyder to ground into a double play.

He walked McGee to lead off the fourth, but McGee was caught stealing.

He allowed the Giants to score a run and load the bases in the fifth with one out but then got Mike Felder to pop to shortstop and McGee to ground to second. He did get some Giant help here: He had walked two before, and, inexplicably, both Felder and McGee swung at first pitches.

Seminara ended up with five walks and a career-high six strikeouts. The run support he has received in his three victories--the Padres have scored nine, eight and seven runs in his past three starts--has not been lost on him.

“I’ve gotten some outstanding run support,” he said. “It seems like they’re scoring a lot of runs early for me. That takes away the other team’s game--they don’t hit-and-run or steal as much.”

The Padres scored four in the second, thanks in large part to Tim Teufel’s two-run single, and, with Randy Myers remaining in the bullpen, breathed easy the rest of the way.

“Offensively, we’ve got a good ballclub,” McGriff said. “If our pitchers can keep us in enough games, we’ve got a chance to win a lot of ballgames.

“If they don’t, we’ve got a chance to lose a lot of ballgames.”

Padre Attendance

Sunday: 20,945

1992 (39 dates): 910,983

1991 (32 dates): 993,433

Decrease: 82,450

1992 Average 23,358