Route to Title No Hit With Gwynn

Tony Gwynn sits in the visitors’ dugout at Dodger Stadium on Friday night fielding questions about the rule-aided batting title he is about to win, although he will lack the required number of plate appearances.

It is 2 1/2 hours before the first pitch of the first game of this showdown with the Dodgers, and the San Diego Padre outfielder shakes his head and says it’s amazing.

“It’s amazing to come in here with three games left, as important as these three are, and have people asking me about the batting title,” Gwynn says. “I’m flabbergasted.

“I mean, there’s nothing I can do about this. It’s not a situation where I have a choice to make. It’s just the way it is, so I can’t worry about it.

“I’m worried about how in hell we’re going to beat Ismael Valdes and how we’re going to package three wins and move on to the next level.

“This thing with the batting title is the least of my worries.”

Gwynn will win the batting title, a historic seventh, and his team may yet win the West.

The resilient Padres were unable to solve Valdes during his seven-inning stint, but they eventually defeated the Dodgers, 5-2.

The victory prevented the Dodgers, one up on San Diego with two to play, from clinching a division title, but both teams did some clinching.

The Dodgers clinched a playoff berth via the Atlanta Braves’ victory over the Montreal Expos. The Padres, two ahead of Montreal now, clinched a tie with the Expos for the wild card.

At worst, San Diego is assured of a Monday playoff game against Montreal at San Diego, determining the wild-card winner.

“Whether [Atlanta Manager] Bobby Cox throws his A lineup or his B lineup at the Expos doesn’t matter,” Gwynn says of the series in Montreal.

“We have to take care of our own business right here. We still want to win the division.”

Gwynn, batting .379 since he came off the disabled list on Aug. 6, was one for five Friday night.

An 11-hit San Diego attack featured a spectacular performance by third baseman Ken Caminiti, who walked, singled twice, slugged a game-tying homer in the eighth and doubled in the go-ahead run during a decisive, three-run 10th.

Caminiti’s clutch display came on a night when his leading rival for the most-valuable-player award, Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, struck out three times and grounded out twice.

Piazza emerged batting .337, second among the National League’s listed leaders to Ellis Burks of Colorado, who is at .340.

Gwynn is batting .355, but he is not listed because he sat out July because of a heel injury and does not have the necessary plate appearances, based on 3.1 per game.

He will come close, but seems certain to fall short of the 502 necessary to qualify for the title.

Nevertheless, he is virtually assured of winning under a rule that permits the player with the highest average to be credited with a 0 for the number of plate appearances he is shy of 502 and win the title if his average remains the highest.

Gwynn, going into Friday’s game, could have taken a 0 for 19 and still finished ahead of Piazza and Burks.

This seventh title will enable Gwynn to tie Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial and Rod Carew. Honus Wagner, with eight, is the only National Leaguer to win more.

Gwynn had said in San Diego a few days ago that he is familiar with the history but didn’t care to win it this way.

He said only his mom, his wife and his kids were excited about the current opportunity.

“The only batting title that really means anything is the one I won in ’84 [when Gwynn and the Padres made their only postseason appearance],” he said. “The other five were consolation prizes.

“I don’t feel I’ve lost anything with the bat, so if I didn’t win it this year I’d just try to do it again next year.”

But reluctantly answering questions about it Friday night, Gwynn seemed to have come to grips with it.

“I feel for Mike and Ellis,” he said of Piazza and Burks. “They’ve battled all year long, and if you’re going to win one, that’s the way you’d like to do it, but this is out of my hands.

“Unless I stink here, it looks like I have a pretty good chance of winning another. It’s a nice trinket to put on the resume, but it doesn’t put me in the World Series or the playoffs.

“I’d have traded it to Mike last year to get to go.”

Gwynn may not have to make that trade this year. He has locked up the trinket and still has a shot at the ring.

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The Master

A look at how Tony Gwynn will win his seventh batting title, with plate appearances, at-bats, hits and average. * represents the adjusted total for Gwynn to give him the necessary minimum number of plate appearances (502) by adding hitless at-bats to his average:

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Player, Team PA AB H Avg. Gwynn, San Diego 488 442 157 .355 Gwynn, San Diego* 502 456 157 .344 Burks, Colorado NA 608 207 .340 Piazza, Dodgers 623 536 181 .338

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