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 'We got close' Padres' best efforts fell a little short to great Yankees team
Posted: Thursday October 22, 1998 03:05 AM
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The only things missing for the San Diego Padres were champagne and the World Series title. Minutes after they were swept by the New York Yankees, losing Wednesday night's game 3-0, the Padres walked back onto the field at Qualcomm Stadium to answer a curtain call from their boisterous fans. There were no tears, no one hanging his head. Wally Joyner went out to the mound and scooped up a handful of dirt. The ominous gongs from AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" -- Trevor Hoffman's theme song - sounded a few final times, and the All-Star reliever applauded the fans. Tony Gwynn, fragile at age 38, walked onto the field wearing his game jersey and shorts, his knees and left Achilles heavily wrapped with ice packs, and waved to the crowd. And these guys just lost the World Series? "We got close," Joyner told the crowd over the PA system. "It was special because of you." Most of the crowd of 65,427 -- the largest in San Diego baseball history -- stuck around for several minutes to cheer the home team. It was reminiscent of the nights the Padres won the NL West and the division series against Houston, then took the celebration to the fans, just minus the champagne. "If you're going to get beat in the World Series, it might as well be by the best team," said Steve Finley, one of several key free agents the Padres will try to re-sign. Gwynn still doesn't have a World Series title after 17 years in the big leagues. He has no regrets, either. "I don't feel bad," he said. "I think we honestly gave 'em our best effort. You hate to lose 4-0 like we did, but I'm not ashamed. We had a great year. "They deserve it," Gwynn said of the Yankees. "There's not a thing I would change. We just ran into a buzz saw, and every part of their game was working." The only guy who got emotional was owner John Moores. The Padres' future in San Diego hinges on a vote on a proposed downtown ballpark on November 3. And there are decisions to be made about four key free agents -- ace Kevin Brown, Ken Caminiti, Finley and Joyner. "I told the guys at my house a month and a half ago I'd like to bring 'em all back every year," Moores said. "I'd like to build a field of dreams where they all could go into the corn field. I get choked up. It's going to be hard." One week earlier, the Padres posed for a team picture on the mound at Atlanta's Turner Field, a souvenir from their improbable NL pennant. Once they got to just the second World Series in the team's 30-year history, they weren't really overpowered. A key play here, a different move by manager Bruce Bochy there, and they might have held on a little longer. True, Game 2 was about as ugly as they come, with Andy Ashby's 2 2/3 miserable innings and Caminiti's throwing error leading to a 9-3 Yankees blowout. Otherwise, the Padres found that time after time, even with their best, they still came up short against the Yankees. They took three-run leads into the seventh inning twice, before the Yankees methodically put them down. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 postseason deficit, and the Padres, in their first World Series in 14 years, weren't about to become the first. The Padres were 90 feet away from tying Game 3 Tuesday night. They had the bases loaded twice Wednesday night, including in the eighth. Brown, their feisty ace, couldn't beat the Yankees, getting a no-decision in the opener and taking the loss in the clincher on three days' rest. Neither could Gwynn, Hoffman or Greg Vaughn. Gwynn, an eight-time NL batting champion and a future Hall of Famer, went 8-for-16 (.500) with one home run and two RBIs. He was the only player left from the 1984 team that at least won one game in the World Series against Detroit. Vaughn homered twice in the opener, but struck out with runners on first and second in the eighth inning Wednesday. While the first and third games turned on bad pitches by relievers, Wednesday's loss came down to a couple of mistakes on defense and on the basepaths, New York hitting chopper after chopper off Brown, and the Padres batters not being patient like the Yankees. "It's difficult because I felt we had a better team that what showed up," Brown said. "I know these guys have nothing to be ashamed of. We battled all year."
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