Baseball

A Run for The Money
A 14-game win streak puts the downtrodden Padres right back in the pennant race

Standing sentry in the lobby of the Padres' team hotel in Denver last weekend was a sign that read PLEASE RESPECT OUR GUESTS' WISHES. NO REQUESTS FOR AUTOGRAPHS. It was a polite touch, but the sign was probably superfluous: Few people would have recognized the San Diego players even if they had strolled through the lobby in uniform, clacking their spikes and dribbling tobacco juice on the tile floor. The lineup that manager Bruce Bochy trotted out for the first game of a four-game series against the Rockies last Friday included three players who started the year with less than a season's worth of major league games under their belt; only two players with All-Star Game appearances (one each); and just one player ranked among the National League top 10 in any offensive category, shortstop Damian Jackson, who was seventh in the National League with 20 stolen bases.

"There's some talent on this team," says rightfielder Tony Gwynn, whose march to 3,000 hits stalled at 2,982 on June 24 when he was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season (strained left calf). "It's just not talent your average fan knows about."

Three weeks ago it would have been easy to dismiss that statement as blind optimism from someone who has spent 18 years with the club. There's nothing like a huge winning streak, however, to bolster a man's credibility. On June 18, San Diego was 25-38 and mired in last place, 13½ games behind the then National League West-leading Diamondbacks. Thanks to a franchise-record 14 straight wins—a run that ended when the Rockies swept them in a doubleheader last Saturday—the defending National League champion Padres were at .500 at week's end, just five games behind the first-place Giants and threatening to join a pennant race they were never supposed to be in.

"I wish I could pinpoint one thing, but it's not one guy or one aspect," says outfielder Reggie Sanders, when asked to explain the resurgence.

"Some things are unexplainable" is righthanded closer Trevor Hoffman's take. There's a mystical quality to the sudden awakening of a team that had been somnolent since Opening Day and that, despite its recent tear, still ranked next-to-last in the league in hitting (.260 through Sunday) and 13th in scoring (4.53 runs per game).

San Diego's run, fueled by solid pitching and defense and an aggressive and speedy offense, has made for a wildly uneven season. Before the streak the pitching staff had a 4.29 ERA; during the 14-0 run it had a sparkling 2.58 mark and held opponents to a .217 average. In their first 64 games the Padres batted .246 and scored 3-8 runs per game; while on the tear they hit .302 and averaged 7.1 runs.

If the improbable streak—the longest in the National League since the Giants won 14 straight in 1965—reminded frenzied crowds at Qualcomm Stadium of the Padres' highly successful 1998 season, the players sparking it certainly did not. In an off-season payroll cutback that came after San Diego voters approved funding for a new ballpark, general manager Kevin Towers traded slugger Greg Vaughn and his 50 home runs to the Reds for Sanders and Jackson, and watched helplessly as three key players—ace righthander Kevin Brown, third baseman Ken Caminiti and centerfielder Steve Finley—went the free-agent route to the Dodgers, Astros and Diamondbacks, respectively. The defections appeared to leave the team with about as much chance of making a playoff push as spring invitee Garth Brooks had of developing into a 30-30 man. "I have to admit," says third base coach Tim Flannery, "there were times coming out of spring training that I'd look at this ball club and say, 'Jeez, this is going to be a long year.' "

The roster was gutted further by a rash of injuries. Catcher Carlos Hernandez tore his left Achilles tendon during the last week of spring training. Third baseman George Arias missed a month with a sprained right thumb. Catcher Jim Leyritz broke his left hand on June 23. Shortstop Chris Gomez drifted in and out of the lineup with a strained knee and went on the DL last month. First baseman Wally Joyner missed six weeks with a chip fracture in his left shoulder. Sanders (strained rib cage muscle) and the newly anointed staff ace, righthander Andy Ashby (lower back strain), each spent two weeks on the disabled list. Most prominently, Gwynn's injury had caused him to miss 34 games through Sunday. The scourge left Bochy with a lineup of Triple A call-ups and other unknown quantities who had no experience playing every day. "We had to have early workouts to work on bunt plays and fundamentals, like they do in the minors," says Flannery, "because a lot of the guys we had weren't with us in spring training."

In Jackson, Sanders, second baseman-leadoff hitter Quilvio Veras and outfielders Eric Owens and Ruben Rivera, the one offensive asset Bochy's team clearly possessed was speed on the base paths—a weapon he lacked with last year's power-hitting club—and from the start he encouraged his charges to run, run, run. "If these guys feel they can steal a base, I want them to take it," he says. The initial result: overaggressiveness, which led to mistakes and torpedoed the team's already-struggling offense. Says Flannery, "We actually had to hold these guys back a little bit because we were running like crazy."