Hurst Makes Fast Work of Phillies : Baseball: Left-hander shelves off-speed stuff, relies on fastball in Padres’ 4-3 victory.

Padre starter Bruce Hurst already has braced his family for the news. He counts down the days to the trading deadline. He believes he could be gone within 10 days.

But if it’s all right by everyone, Hurst said Tuesday in the aftermath of the Padres’ 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, he’d just as soon hang around and win a World Series in San Diego.

“I’d prefer to win in San Diego,” said Hurst, who yielded nine hits and three runs in 8 1/3 innings. “I’d rather go to the World Series with the Padres than someone else, but it’s out of my control.”

Hurst requested to be traded two months ago because of his differences with Manager Greg Riddoch, sources said, and the Padres have been flooded with inquiries since.

There were scouts from six different teams among the crowd of 19,829 at Veterans Stadium. Included were representatives of the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Dodgers.

Most came solely to watch Hurst pitch. Their employers must assess what they want to offer the Padres before the July 31 trading deadline.

“I couldn’t tell a scout from a season ticket-holder,” Hurst said. “But really, whatever happens, it’s out of my hands. I’m just going to pitch. If they decide they want to make a trade, they’ll make trade. If they don’t, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.

“I know it’s a possibility. I’ve read the reports and I told my family it could happen to us. You just figure if it happens, you go to a team that wants you more than the team that gives you up.”

Hurst was asked point-blank if he wants to stay in San Diego or pitch for a contender.

“I prefer to win in San Diego,” he replied.

The Padres (51-44) have won four consecutive games and eight of their last 10. It’s the first time since the end of the 1989 season that they’ve been seven games above .500. But they still trail the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves by 5 1/2 games.

“We can’t get discouraged, and worry about what they’re doing,” Hurst said. “The worst thing that can happen is that we play real well, string a bunch of games together, gain only a game or break even, and then give up.

“I hope we don’t do that, and I don’t think we will.”

If nothing else, the Padres certainly are becoming the ugly tourists in the state of Pennsylvania.

The Padres are 15-2 this season against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

They are 36-42 against the rest of the world.

“We’re just playing real good baseball right now,” Riddoch said. “Everything’s going right.”

Hurst was responsible for making the Phillies look silly on this night. He entered the game with an 11.67 ERA in his last two starts--allowing 15 hits and 11 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings--but had a sneaky surprise for the Phillies.

Instead of relying on his classic changeup and off-speed pitches, Hurst went with his fastball.

“Can you believe it?” Hurst said.

Hurst, whose fastball is clocked at only about 84 m.p.h., might have thrown more fastballs Tuesday than any game in his major league career. Certainly, he said, it’s the most since signing with the Padres in December, 1988.

“I’ve been a card-carrying member of the soft-tossing lefties’ guild,” Hurst said. “They were sitting on my changeup, so we tried something different.”

Said catcher Benito Santiago: “They didn’t know what was coming.”

Hurst cruised through the first eight innings, finding himself in trouble only in the sixth. He tired in the ninth, allowing a leadoff single to Dave Hollins and a one-out double to Wes Chamberlain.

Closer Randy Myers came into the game. Hurst, nerves frayed, sat on the bench with a towel in his mouth a la Jerry Tarkanian.

Myers induced three ground balls--although two runs scored--before Ricky Jordan ended the game by grounding to third baseman Gary Sheffield. Chalk up save No. 17.

“Randy has a way of making it interesting,” said Hurst (9-6), “but the bottom line is that he got the job done.”

The victory was the Padres’ sixth in a row over the Phillies, but this one left the Phillies blaming first-base umpire Jerry Layne.

The Phillies questioned a third-inning call. With runners on first and third with one out, Hollins grounded to Sheffield. Sheffield threw to second baseman Kurt Stillwell for one out, and although Stillwell’s throw to first appeared to be a split-second late, Layne called Hollins out.

The Phillies went bonkers. Third-base coach Larry Bowa began screaming. And within minutes, the veins in Bowa’s neck were popping, and he was ejected for yelling at Layne from the dugout.

“He was safe, no question,” said first-base coach Mel Roberts, who was supported by the TV replays.

Said Phillie infielder Wally Backman: “He’s the worst umpire I’ve ever seen.”

Riddoch, amused by Bowa’s antics, said simply: “Hey, we’ll take them any way we can get them.”

In the meantime, the Padres produced offensively, although shortstop Tony Fernandez and center fielder Darrin Jackson were out of the lineup. Craig Shipley, who took Fernandez’s spot, got the Padre offense untracked.

He opened the third inning with a double into left field. He stayed at second while Hurst struck out trying to sacrifice and Kurt Stillwell flied to center.

That brought up Tony Gwynn, who was a surprised to see left fielder Ruben Amaro playing closer to shortstop Joe Millette than the left-field wall. Gwynn made him pay the price by driving a ball over his head for a double.

Sheffield then poked a single to right field, scoring Gwynn for a 2-0 lead. It was Sheffield’s 64th RBI of the season, one shy of Graig Nettles’ club RBI record for third basemen set in 1984.

Sheffield, who’s batting .386 over the last 31 games and has a 10-game hitting streak, also led off the sixth with a double. Fred McGriff followed with a run-scoring triple and scored on Benito Santiago’s sacrifice fly to right. It was McGriff’s third triple of the season; he has only two the previous two seasons combined.

“If I’m swinging the bat good, I’m going the other way,” McGriff said, “and that’s what’s happening. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing before. And I was just brutal during the home-run hitting contest at the All-Star game.

“But I’m back now. Really, I just wish I could have that home run contest over again. There’s no way I should have hit only three.”