Batting Title Is Not Gwynn’s Goal

The race within a race will probably go down to the last weekend as well.

The Dodgers and San Diego Padres meet seven times in the last 10 days of the season. The National League West title--and wild card, perhaps--should be decided then.

So could the race between Dodger catcher Mike Piazza and Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn for the league batting title.

Wrong, you say?

Gwynn won’t have enough plate appearances to qualify, you say?

Technically correct, but Gwynn could still emerge with his seventh crown, tying the total won by Rogers Hornsby and Stan Musial. Only Honus Wagner, with eight, won more National League titles.

An obscure rule that has never been employed to decide a major league batting race would allow Gwynn to win if his batting average were the highest after being credited with no hits for the number of plate appearances he was short.

“I don’t think I’ll get the plate appearances [he needs 502] and I hate the idea of winning the other way,” Gwynn said.

“Right now, all I want to do is win the division. I’ve won five of those [batting] titles as consolation prizes.”

Gwynn referred to the fact that only in 1984, when he won his first batting title at .351, did the Padres also win the division title.

Piazza could become the first catcher to win a batting title since Ernie Lombardi in 1938, but he too has the primary goal of reaching the playoffs.

He began the weekend with a league-leading .345 batting average.

Gwynn had a .352 average, but his name did not appear at the top of the list because he lacked the qualifying number of plate appearances--3.1 for each of his team’s games. Gwynn sat out all of July and assorted other games because of a frayed Achilles’ tendon.

He went into Friday’s game in St. Louis having hit a scorching .392 since leaving the disabled list, but he needed 437 plate appearances, including walks, sacrifices and hit by pitches, to qualify for the leaders’ list and he had only 400.

He needed to average 4.68 plate appearances in the Padres’ last 22 games to reach the 502 qualifying minimum.

Gwynn has been averaging 4.21. At that rate, he would fall about 10 plate appearances shy of 502. If his batting average was the league’s highest at that point and remained highest after he was charged with a 0 for 10--those missing plate appearances being credited as at-bats--he would emerge with his seventh title.

Before Friday’s game, Gwynn’s totals projected to 159 hits in 451 at-bats, an average of .353. A 0-for-10 would drop it to .345, putting him even with Piazza’s current average.

That projection is misleading, however, since it does not account for Gwynn’s sizzling pace since leaving the disabled list.

If he were to continue batting, say .388, he would finish at .359, or 162 hits in 451 at-bats. In that case, he would be batting .351 after his 0-for-10.

Gwynn sat out Tuesday’s game in Philadelphia but does not figure to miss another.

Manager Bruce Bochy has basically returned to his season-opening outfield of Rickey Henderson in left, Steve Finley in center and Gwynn in right.

Greg Vaughn, whose recent acquisition figured to fill San Diego’s power vacuum and prompted the Dodgers to trade for Chad Curtis, has suddenly become the odd man out.

Vaughn had seven homers in 80 at-bats with the Padres before Friday, but Bochy felt he couldn’t afford Vaughn’s .175 average in the middle of the lineup at the expense of Henderson’s .415 on-base percentage at the top.

Stimulated, perhaps, by Vaughn’s arrival, or simply more familiar now with National League pitchers and umpires, Henderson went into Friday’s game having batted .323 since Vaughn arrived.

Gwynn’s torrid pace since leaving the disabled list also factored into Bochy’s decision. He preferred the set lineup with Gwynn and Henderson, he said, to a rotating outfield that left no one satisfied except Finley, who would be in center no matter who joined him.

The Padres made one other interesting decision recently.

They kept a struggling Chris Gwynn, batting .177 in 79 irregular at-bats, on their playoff roster at the expense of Doug Dascenzo, a switch-hitter who is faster, a better bunter and a superior defensive player.

Many believe that was to placate Gwynn’s brother, Tony, rather than risk a disruption of clubhouse chemistry.

Meanwhile, the older Gwynn realizes his focus could be disrupted by constant questions about the batting title and the irregular manner in which he could win it.

He said it would be inappropriate to think or talk about the title with the division on the line.

He said people tend to think he keeps a calculator in his back pocket, and he does not want to feed that image.

“Do I know the history?” he said, referring to Wagner, Musial and Hornsby. “Yes, but we haven’t had many opportunities to win here, and that’s where my focus is.

“Some people may not believe it, but if we win the division and I lose the batting title, I’m not going to lose any sleep.

“I mean, if you want to talk about something other than the division, let’s talk about how [third baseman] Ken Caminiti should be the most valuable player. That’s a lot more legitimate than my winning a batting title.

“We’ve had to lean on Cammy. He’s had to carry us and he has.”

Realistically, Chicago Cub first baseman Mark Grace is the only other player with a chance to frustrate Piazza’s batting bid, but it is a race that may yet require Gwynn’s calculator--OK, he’d have to borrow one--on the last day.

GET REAL

The one thing major league owners haven’t answered--and probably can’t--is what happens if the proposed labor agreement falls through?

What happens if the executive council Wednesday says no service time, or pulls negotiator Randy Levine off after Levine, in communication with the labor policy committee and acting Commissioner Bud Selig, took the talks to the verge of agreement during those 48 hours of almost sustained negotiations with union leader Donald Fehr three weeks ago?

What would happen?

--No immediate lockout or strike, but a new conflagration between owners and players with no likelihood of renewed talks any time soon.

--No chance, according to most legal opinions, of a court agreeing that an impasse exists, preventing owners from implementing new work rules.

--No relief for the small-market clubs through revenue sharing, which requires union approval and which the owners get in the proposed agreement.

--No luxury tax on high-payroll clubs or a union tax on player salaries or changes in the arbitration system or a waiving of strike litigation, all of which would be included in the proposed agreement.

--No peace for five or six years, wasting a chance to rebuild the game even if the agreement isn’t everything the owners want.

--No interleague play in 1997, which requires union approval and would also be included in the agreement. And no way, then, that the new Arizona and Tampa Bay teams could be put in separate leagues.

The owners were going to make it official at their fall meetings in Seattle this week: Arizona would go into the National League and Tampa Bay into the American. The meetings were postponed, the decision on Arizona and Tampa Bay put on hold.

If there is no interleague play, the leagues can’t be increased to 15 teams each or one team would have to be off every night.

Arizona and Tampa Bay would have to go into the same league, presumably the American, since both Florida and Colorado went to the National three years ago.

Will the council, balancing the rewards of an agreement against the risks of internal combustion, send Levine back to the table prepared to give service time for union concessions in the few unresolved areas?

Probably, although Padre owner John Moores agreed with the earlier evaluation of Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and said Thursday he doesn’t think there are enough votes--21 are needed--to ratify an agreement that includes service time and only three of six years with a luxury tax.

Moores accused union leadership of a “doctrinaire” attitude in refusing to recognize the industry’s economic peril and offer a proposal that would ensure profitability.

“Union economists must think we can keep operating on psychic energy or perpetual motion,” he said.

Those comments seem to ignore a broad sweep of union concessions in the proposed agreement.

Will it eventually become a done deal? Will Selig stand up, face down Reinsdorf, and say this is best for the industry?

NAMES AND NUMBERS

--The Houston Astros lost last year’s National League Central title to Cincinnati by going 1-12 against the Reds. They might have lost this year’s title to St. Louis by going 2-11 against the Cardinals. Astro cleanup hitter Derek Bell batted .216 and failed to drive in a run in the 13 games.

--The Cleveland Indians went 7-17 against the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, possible October rivals.

--In a breakthrough season for young shortstops--Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Rey Ordonez and Edgar Renteria being the most notable--Whittier’s Nomar Garciaparra, the Boston Red Sox’s No. 1 draft pick of 1994, made his debut this week, moving John Valentin to third, replacing injured Tim Naehring.

The congested Red Sox will juggle through the rest of September, but Garciaparra looms as the 1997 starter, with Naehring possibly leaving as a service-time free agent, Wil Cordero moving to the outfield and Valentin going to second, third or the trading block, of which he said: “If I’m not going to be the shortstop here, I’d prefer to go somewhere I will be.”

--Tim Belcher, allowed to leave Seattle as a free agent--the Mariners have used 15 starting pitchers this year--has needed only 90, 107 and 119 pitches in three second-half victories, improving his Kansas City record to 12-8.

Said Royal Manager Bob Boone, “He’s definitely been our most consistent pitcher this year. A big part of that is because he’s the most prepared pitcher I’ve ever seen.”