Chambliss Makes His Impact Felt as Braves Beat Padres

ATLANTA —  Immediately--on impact--catcher Terry Kennedy threw up his arms.

Goose Gossage wanted to throw up.

Gossage, supposedly the heart and soul of this team, broke his own heart Wednesday night as he gave up a ninth-inning, two-out, three-run homer to Chris Chambliss, lifting the Atlanta Braves to an 8-7 victory over the Padres. Two seconds after impact, Kennedy was already in the dugout, but Gossage stood still on the pitcher’s mound, gazing aimlessly into center field. Thirty seconds after impact, he made his way to the dugout and was taunted by some fans.

“Gooooooose! Gooooooose!” they screamed.

One hour after impact, Gossage asked a teammate: “When’s the (team) bus leaving?”

He was told 11:45 p.m.

And Gossage said: “11:45? I’ll be sure to be under it.”

Whether this is enough to finish the Padres this season isn’t clear, but Manager Steve Boros reflected on the previous 112 games this year and said: “Yep, this is the worst.”

Somehow, though--maybe because this year the team has grown accustomed to losing --the Padres did not hang their heads in their clubhouse.

“We’ve lost so many tough games like this,” Tony Gwynn said. “. . . I mean, they all hurt, but they don’t hurt as much anymore because of the way we’ve been playing this year. If we were playing the kind of baseball the way I think we’re capable, things would’ve been flying around in here and guys would be breaking bats. But this year, we expect the unexpected.”

The night before, Gossage had been himself, mixing sliders and fastballs on his way to his 20th save. This night, he started his ninth inning giving up a one-out double to Omar Moreno (who had five hits) and a walk to Ken Oberkfell. He struck out dangerous Dale Murphy on a slider. But Ken Griffey hit a 1-and-2 slider for an RBI single to trim the Padres’ lead to 7-5.

Chambliss, who had played in New York with Gossage, worked the count to 1-1. Gossage got the sign and threw a fastball.

Impact. And over the center-field fence it went.

“I threw up my arm because I knew it was gone,” Kennedy said. “That ball was so loud.”

Chambliss said: “Goose is just a good fastball pitcher. He throws hard, and I have to look to that. I really just swung up the middle. The home run does win the game, but in another sense, if you’re trying to hit a home run in that situation and pop up--well, I’ve done that so many times. I was trying not to over swing.”

Gossage is now 35, so when lighting strikes like this, the skeptics creep out from their hiding places. Yes, he has 20 saves this year, but he also had 28 save opportunities. He has inherited 26 baserunners this year, but 13 of them have scored. Is this good?

“I don’t know,” Boros said. “I know I’m glad I’ve got the 20 saves.”

Thirty minutes after impact, Gossage sat quietly at his locker--a cold beer in his palm, a cold stare on his face.

He talked: “Well, that’s just the way the the whole (bleeping) season has gone. This one hurt probably more than any one of them. For me, anyway. I’m sure the team felt the same way. There’s not really a whole lot you can do. . . . It’ll be tough to forget this one, but, you know, it’s a game of highs and lows and mountains and valleys. You’re on the mountain sometimes and in the valley a lot of other times, so . . .

“I tell you what, I can’t say I wish I had the pitch back; I could’ve thrown it in a little better spot, you know. But he’s a dead fastball (hitter). I didn’t take him lightly because I played with him.”

Meanwhile, the Padres played with a rare aggressiveness Wednesday. Rafael Ramirez had hit a two-run homer to open the scoring in the second inning, but John Kruk delivered a two-out RBI single in the third--reaching out to hit a 3-and-2 outside pitch to left. Steve Garvey (two hits, two RBIs) followed with another RBI single off Brave starter Doyle Alexander to tie it.

Kruk made another big contribution in the fifth. Alexander walked pitcher Lance McCullers, who was sacrificed to second by Tim Flannery. Gwynn then singled to center, but right at Murphy, who has one of the best arms in baseball. McCullers was sent home, and he was going to be out unless someone was there at home plate telling him to slide.

Kruk was.

He slid in safely.

Garvey (7 for his last 12) then knocked in another run with a single, and it was 4-2, Padres.

Gwynn’s 12th homer in the seventh made it a three-run lead and Nettles came through with RBIs in the seventh and the ninth to make it 7-4.

The 14 Padre hits were one short of a season high.

Then came Chambliss’ homer

“When he hit it, I thought it was a line drive to center field,” Gwynn said. “It got up in that air and just-- phhhhew--like it had a little engine in there and hit the afterburners. . . . Every time Goose goes out there, I feel like, ‘We’ll win this ballgame.’ I don’t care what kind of year Goose is having, I don’t care what the numbers say. In my book, Goose Gossage is still the best closer in the game. You got the Jeff Reardon’s and the Todd Worrell’s and the Orosco’s and the list is endless. But as far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a better closer in baseball than Goose Gossage. Nine out of 10 times, he’ll close it.”

Said Jerry Royster: “It’s hard for our dugout to be down when you’ve got a guy that goes out there in a situation like that. He’s got to be up every single night . . . I don’t want that job. Chris Chambliss hits a three-run homer off Goose Gossage to win the game; he’ll get that ball and polish it and hope that he can talk Goose into signing it and make it into a trophy. So Chambliss goes into a situation like that thinking: ‘I’ve got a chance to get a trophy.’ He goes through that every single day. I hit a home run last night (Tuesday), and I didn’t want a ball signed by the guy I hit it off--Paul Assenmacher. But this was Goose Gossage. Goose Gossage. Goose Gossage. It’s different.”

Padre Notes Outwardly, Steve Boros hasn’t let any of the criticism get to him. Players have commented on about his propensity to make too many moves during a game, but he said his motto is: “The only time I worry is when I find myself on the side of the majority.” Another motto of his is: “Grace under pressure,” which explains how he has held up so well. “Yeah,” he said, “but that may be too philosophical for some people.”. . . Carmelo Martinez, who injured his right knee when he fell in the shower last Saturday night, returned to the team Wednesday and might play in Friday night’s doubleheader in Cincinnati. . . . Braves’ second baseman Glenn Hubbard threw his helmet Tuesday night when Manager Chuck Tanner pinch-hit for him in the ninth inning. It almost hit Tanner. Tanner was angry, but on Wednesday, they had a meeting to work things out. And again on Wednesday, Tanner pinch-hit for Hubbard late in the game. This time, Hubbard held on to his hat.