Pendulum Swings Back for Pendleton : Baseball: After poor start, Marlins’ 35-year-old veteran has shown flashes of his former self.

Terry Pendleton heard the whispers.

At age 25, an off year is called a slump. At 35, it’s a crisis.

Pendleton turned 35 on Sunday.

To observe the impending landmark before Saturday night’s game, a Florida Marlin trainer wrapped each of Pendleton’s ankles with what seemed like 35 feet of adhesive tape.

“You don’t have to remind me,” Pendleton said of how fast time is encroaching.

It is easy to wonder what Pendleton is doing on the Marlins, current bottom feeders in the National League West. Meanwhile, Pendleton’s former team, the Atlanta Braves, is cruising toward another divisional championship.

In 1991, Pendleton joined Atlanta as a free agent and took center stage in the team’s dramatic turnaround from perennial loser to pennant winner.

That championship season, Pendleton won both the NL’s Most Valuable Player award and batting crown.

Then, in a flash, it was over, and Pendleton is laying on a trainer’s table at Dodger Stadium as designated clubhouse leader for a team known as “The Fish,” hours before he would go hitless against Hideo Nomo.

If Pendleton is bitter, he isn’t telling. After an injury-plagued, strike-shortened 1994 season in which he batted .252 (20 points below his career average), the Braves cut him loose.

“Let me just say this,” Pendleton said diplomatically. “I can explain this better when I’m out of the game, I just don’t want to step on anybody’s toes right now.”

Stamped damaged goods by the Braves, there were few takers. Pendleton, who made $3.2 million in 1994, signed a one-year deal with Florida for $1.5 million.

At first, it appeared the Braves had guessed right on Pendleton, who was batting .214 as late as May 29.

Pendleton reminded everyone he is traditionally a slow starter.

“People were coming up to me and saying, ‘Aren’t you worried?’ ” Pendleton recalled. “I said, ‘Worried about what?’ I don’t worry about not hitting. I go to the plate every night and take my bat with me. It’s all I’ve ever done.”

The Marlins signed Pendleton hoping his experience and leadership skills would rub off in the clubhouse.

When he was slumping, all eyes were fixed upon him.

“I noticed when I’d come to the dugout after a rough day, or pop up with the bases loaded, you’d tend to see the guys peek down to see what kind of reaction they’d get. Well, I got over the throwing the helmet stage in ‘86, you know? It’s not in my vocabulary anymore.”

Pendleton took revenge by raising his average 73 points in the next 36 games and is now batting .287.

Marlin Manager Rene Lachemann said Pendleton is a perfect role model for his young and impressionable team.

“He plays the game hurt and he has shown leadership in the clubhouse,” Lachemann said. “He talks to the young players. We talked about that before he came over here. I explained to him what I was looking for.”

Lachemann said Pendleton’s poor start did not concern him.

“He’s gotten off to slow starts his entire career,” Lachemann said. “Now, if he’d been into the middle of July hitting .210, you’d really have to take a look at it.”

Pendleton, a 10-year veteran, said his team’s place in the standings does not affect his approach.

“You can’t change a thing, whether you’re in a pennant race or not,” he said. “I don’t know what our record is, to be totally honest with you. As God as my witness, I can’t tell you what our record is. I just try to go out and play the game.”

Pendleton has always done that. He has won three Gold Gloves as a third baseman and played in four World Series, two each for St. Louis and Atlanta.

Pendleton, who grew up in Oxnard, thought he was going to become a Dodger after playing out his option with the Cardinals in 1990.

The Dodgers were in the midst of their fruitless, decade-long search for Ron Cey’s successor at third base.

Pendleton seemed to be the free agent answer.

“Really, I had packed up from St. Louis and moved everything back here to California, because I knew I was going to be a Dodger,” Pendleton said. “But my agent was told [by the Dodgers] that I was hurt too much. They said Jeff Hamilton was going to be the third baseman.”

Instead, Pendleton signed with the Braves and put up his MVP season.

Pendleton, of course, could not have imagined ending his baseball career so close to the Florida Keys.

But he has few regrets.

“I’m somewhere I’m wanted, that’s always a big plus,” he said.