PADRES NOTEBOOK : Prank Gives Sheffield a Jump Start

The way Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield figures it, the most difficult aspect of hitting his second career grand slam Friday was simply being alive in the second inning to walk to the plate.

“Really, I thought I was going to die of a heart attack before the game even started,” Sheffield said, “I was so scared.”

Sheffield was victimized by the Padres’ traditional clubhouse prank used on unsuspecting rookies and newcomers.

The prank goes like this: The visiting clubhouse attendant brings out a dark, steel cage in which he proclaims lives a mongoose. Actually, the only thing inside is a small stuffed mouse. Anyway, several of the Padre players walk by the cage, pretend to stir up the mongoose, and say it’s time for feeding.

They tell the unsuspecting player to get a close look at the cage for feeding, and, wham , a trap door springs open and the mouse pops out. It usually startles the victim and always brings a laugh.

The biggest reaction by a Padre occurred a year ago when first baseman Fred McGriff actually leaped into his locker.

That changed Friday.

McGriff, wanting to set up his buddy, made sure Sheffield was nice and close to the cage when the spring was set. The stuffed mouse popped out, and Sheffield almost leaped out of his skin.

Sheffield took a step, jumped into the air and onto the back of left fielder Kevin Ward and fell into the laundry bin.

The entire clubhouse erupted in uncontrolled laughter. Right fielder Tony Gwynn laughed so hard that he actually fell to the floor, and he still was giggling about it 30 minutes later.

“In all of the years I’ve seen the gag,” Padre reliever Larry Andersen said, “I’ve never seen a reaction like that.”

Said Sheffield: “I’ve got to say they got my heart jolted in a hurry. I was still pumped up at game time. I couldn’t relax after that happened.”

Padre left fielder Jerald Clark, who has been hitting .325 in his last 37 games with four homers and 21 RBIs, may have to miss the remainder of the Cincinnati series because of his strained left hamstring.

Clark sustained the injury while swinging in the first inning of Thursday’s game against Atlanta, and then aggravated it while making a running catch of Greg Olson’s line drive in the second inning.

“It just got worse and worse after that,” Clark said. “It got so bad that if there was a routine fly ball hit to the outfield in the fifth inning, I couldn’t have made the catch. I couldn’t even bend my leg.

“I hated to come out, but I had no choice. I just hope I’m not out too long.”