Sheffield’s Show Goes on: He Hits 2 More Homers : Padres: He is now at least a co-leader in every triple crown category. Hurst is the beneficiary in 4-2 triumph over Mets.

If it isn’t enough that Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield is using the National League for his personal playground, he decided Saturday night to challenge himself.

He walked up to New York Met outfielder Bobby Bonilla before the Padres’ 4-2 victory over the Mets at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. They exchanged pleasantries. And then Sheffield called his shot.

“I told Bonilla I’d get at least one today,” Sheffield said. “Fortunately, I got two.”

Sheffield did everything but point toward the left-field seats, hitting two home runs and, for the first time this season, becoming at least a co-leader in every triple crown category.

His two homers moved him into a first-place tie with teammate Fred McGriff with 27 homers; he is tied with Darren Daulton of Philadelphia with 87 RBIs; and he continues to lead the league with a .339 batting average.

Not a bad season for the Padres’ youngest player. If Sheffield, 23, wins the triple crown, he’ll become the second-youngest player to accomplish the feat. Only Ty Cobb was younger when he won the triple crown at the age of 22 in 1909.

Sheffield is pursuing something that no one in the National League has accomplished since Joe (Ducky) Medwick in 1937 with the St. Louis Cardinals. The last major leaguer to win the triple crown was Carl Yastrzemski with the Boston Red Sox in 1967.

Considering Yaz performed the feat a year before Sheffield was born, perhaps it’s understandable that when someone asked Sheffield if a year ago he knew anything about Medwick, Sheffield responded: “No, and I still don’t.”

The crowd of reporters laughed, and Sheffield shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, “What’s the big deal, anyway?”

It was Sheffield’s turn to laugh when someone asked about feeling pressure down the stretch in pursuit of Medwick. Maybe when he feels older, he said. For now, pressure is beating McGriff for the home-run title to win a bet.

“We’ve got a dinner on it,” Sheffield said.

Where?

“Who knows,” McGriff said, “probably McDonald’s.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day, Sheffield said, was coming into the clubhouse Saturday and being mobbed by a dozen reporters that consisted of everyone from Sports Illustrated to the New York Times to the Daily Californian.

“I feel like I got attacked,” Sheffield said. “I feel like a singer. Now I know what Jose Canseco feels like.”

Imagine how teammate Phil Stephenson feels; he had to crawl around reporters after the game simply to get to his locker.

“It’s the pits having your locker next to God,” Stephenson said.

Although Sheffield has become most popular baseball subject of the year, everyone still is asking for a piece of his time. They want to know how it feels to have this kind of season. What is his secret, anyway?

“I feel like they’re trying to find excuses why I’m doing well,” Sheffield said, “instead of just saying I can play. If it’s as easy as they say it is, why don’t a lot of other guys do it?

“I just want it to be known that he had a good season, that he was a good ballplayer. I don’t want to come in here next year and have everybody saying, ‘He needs to have a good year for the team to win.’ ”

In the meantime Saturday, the greatest mismatch in sports these days continued to be Padre starter Bruce Hurst against the New York Mets. Hurst won his eighth consecutive game against the Mets; he has beaten them four times this season. He gave up only three hits in eight innings.

Randy Myers came on in the ninth to record his 26th save and 13th in a row. The victory, in front of 22,685 fans, ended the Padres’ five-game losing streak.

In fact, when Bonilla hit a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh, it was the first time in 37 innings that the Mets scored off Hurst, ending his skein of three consecutive shutouts. It also ended Hurst’s bid to become the first pitcher in history to throw four consecutive shutouts against the Mets in one season.

“It was a pretty good pitch, and a good piece of hitting,” Hurst (13-7) said, “just lousy timing for it.”

Although the homer tied the game, Padre catcher Benito Santiago and Sheffield made sure it was of little consequence.

It took two pitches for Santiago--who dominates the Mets almost as much as Hurst--to break the tie with a leadoff homer in the seventh. Santiago raised his batting average to .368 against the Mets this season with two homers and eight RBIs. One inning later, Sheffield put the game out of reach with his second homer of the night, this time off Lee Guetterman.

“I don’t know what more you can say about him,” Hurst said of Sheffield. “He’s just awesome.”

Said Padre Manager Greg Riddoch: “What people forget about is his defense. That’s the thing being overshadowed. His defense has been incredible.”

Indeed, Sheffield’s offensive prowess draws raves, but scouts say his defensive skills have improved the most. He might not win a Gold Glove, but he has become one of the finest defensive third baseman in the league.

“His defense has improved by leaps and bounds,” Hurst said. “He’s made some real adjustments over there. Really, there’s nothing he doesn’t do well.”

Santiago, who has seven homers, is eligible for free agency in two months, and the Padres are looking to trade him before the Aug. 31 deadline. The only problem is that no one has inquired about Santiago in recent weeks since the Montreal Expos last expressed interest.

“I just want to keep doing well,” Santiago said, “as long as I’m here.”