Batting Guru Gwynn Turns On the Power

SAN DIEGO — Hey, Tony Gwynn, how ‘bout those home runs?

It’s a question the batting star has heard a lot lately, at the bank, at lunch, at the ballpark.

Gwynn, who’s turned slapping opposite-field base hits into an art form, is on a power surge. Going into the weekend he had seven home runs in the last month, the team lead and halfway to matching his career-high for a season.

“I’m like anybody else. I’m shocked,” said Gwynn, whose sweet left-handed stroke has won him seven NL batting crowns since 1984.

“I just can’t believe how people are acting. Wherever I go, it’s like ‘Hey, where’s the power coming from?’ . . . I can understand people being curious, but I can honestly sit here and say I’m not doing anything different,” he said. “I’m not trying to go out of the yard.”

Gwynn’s homer binge is one of the few bright spots offensively for the slumping Padres.

Even so, he goes so far as to say it’s a fluke. He hasn’t changed his swing and he’s not using a bigger bat, just the same 33-inch, 30 1/2-ounce model he’s swung for years. But there is one huge difference from last year--he’s playing on healthy legs.

Although Gwynn won a third straight batting crown with a .353 average, 1996 was a miserable season because of two injuries in his right heel that required off-season surgery. He couldn’t plant his front foot, went through dozens of pairs of cleats and cross-trainers to find a comfortable fit, and spent a month on the disabled list.

But now he’s got his legs under him, and he’s still on his first pair of shoes, the ones with “5.5 Hole” embroidered on them. That’s his favorite spot, between third and shortstop.

But if a pitcher hangs a breaking ball, Gwynn is probably going to drive it out of the park.

“In order to pull a ball with authority, you’ve got to have a nice base to work with,” he said. “That’s where health comes into play.”

Gwynn has pulled six of his homers, and five have been on breaking balls or change-ups. He was shocked when he hit an opposite-field shot off Houston’s Shane Reynolds on April 22.

“See, I’m the type of guy, I can remember them all, because I usually don’t hit many,” said Gwynn, who had just three homers last year. “So you can sit back and say, ‘Yeah, the one I hit in April was like this, and the one I hit in May was like this.”’

Gwynn’s career-best was 14 in 1986. He was on pace to break it in 1994, but he finished with 12 when the players’ strike halted the season in mid-August.

Gwynn has hit his homers this season in 73 at-bats. Before the outburst, he hadn’t homered in 277 at-bats dating to June 13 at Chicago.

The last thing Gwynn wants to do is hit 20 homers, because he figures fans will expect him to do it again next year.

“I’m telling you now, it’s a fluke. It’s just one of those things, and nobody wants to believe it,” he said.

Not necessarily, manager Bruce Bochy said.

“He’s got more power than people think. He uses his legs so well,” he said.

Gwynn admits that some of his homers have been on ugly swings. They just happened to coincide with a pitcher’s mistake, and Gwynn’s more likely to cash in on a pitcher’s mistake than vice versa.

“He gets away with a lot of things,” batting coach Merv Rettenmund said. “He sees the ball so well.”

Gwynn would rather just hit the ball into left field, because then he knows he’s doing well. If he pulls a homer and pitchers start throwing outside, they’re playing to his strength. That’s why he’s hit more than .300 for 14 straight seasons, has a career average of .337 and needs about 380 hits to join the 3,000-hit club.

Going into the weekend, Gwynn’s batting average this season was .357--.500 with runners in scoring position--and he had a team-high 26 RBIs.

“I don’t care about hitting any home runs,” he said. “It’s just one more hit. Sure you can change the game with one swing of the bat, but I’m not that kind of player. I take more pride in banging the ball around, taking what they give me and doing something with it.”