Padre Notebook : Lack of Practice Pitchers Isn’t Why This Team Lacks Hitting

SAN FRANCISCO —  Surely the question has come up this week, as the Padres have worn their bats the way Manager Larry Bowa wears a smile.

Surely somebody has asked, as the Padres have fallen to a .197 team batting average with as many strikeouts (32) as hits.

Don’t these guys take batting practice?

Do they. In addition to the regular hour-long batting practice before games, the Padres offer an extra session nearly every game day from 3 to 4 p.m. It’s informally called “early hitting,” and eight or nine of the 14 position players show up, including all of the reserves. Most other teams that offer the same thing have an attendance of two or three.

The Padres are also unusual in that every coach, even the manager, pitches in batting practice. Each has his own style, stamina and limit on amount of abuse he will take from players, who insist that everything be pitched as if it were placed on a tee.

For those who accidentally and unfortunately arrive at the ballpark early this season and witness either batting practice, reserves Marvell Wynne and Mark Parent categorized the club’s favorite and not-so-favorite pitchers.

Larry Bowa: Pitches the way he does everything else. Does everything but throw at the batter’s head. Not that he doesn’t come close.

“Rapid fire, one pitch after the other,” Parent said. “And he’s not afraid to throw it inside. In fact, throws almost everything inside.”

First-base coach Sandy Alomar: The players love him because he possesses the most obviously important trait of a batting practice pitcher: He can fit more than one ball in his hand at the same time.

“Some of these coaches, they have to go digging in the ball bags and you lose swings,” Wynne said. “Sandy keeps it coming.”

Players say Alomar’s only problem is that he doesn’t throw from the rubber because his arm isn’t strong enough to throw it hard from there.

“Other than the fact that he pitches from 20 feet away--it can get a little scary--he’s fine,” said Parent.

Batting coach Amos Otis: Like any good batting coach, the players aren’t sure how he pitches, because he is often reluctant to show them.

“He told me he doesn’t like to throw to right-handers,” Wynne said. “Now, what kind of excuse is that?”

“Tell you what,” Otis said. “I don’t like to throw to left-handers, either.”

Bullpen coach Denny Sommers: This former catcher, according to the players, can’t see the plate as well from the mound.

“He’s great if you are taking batting practice from outside the cage,” said Parent. “You’ll get in there, take a few pitches, and Denny will ask what is wrong. You will say, ‘In the cage, Denny. I would you to throw me a pitch that stays in the cage.”

Quote of the Week: Bowa, when asked if the club would eventually break out of its horrid hitting slump, said, “Yeah, and Christmas will be here eventually, too.”

Stop of the Week: Shawn Abner’s diving catch of Gerald Young’s line drive in the first inning of Wednesday’s game in Houston. Abner ran in, dove to his right and back-handed the ball with his left hand, all at the same time.

The next day his right forearm contained a red artificial-turf burn the size of a pancake.

Although Abner has started just one of the club’s first five games, the more Stanley Jefferson slumps, the more you will see Abner.

Stop of the Week II: As the Padres’ team bus was inching out of Candlestick Park after Thursday’s 6-1 loss, it collided with a car whose driver had pulled in front of it.

The bus and car sat there with fenders locked for 15 minutes until police arrived. They were met at the bus door by pitcher Mark Grant, who said, “Officer, the consensus of this bus is it was the lady’s fault.”

This week’s Itchy Shirt Award goes to pitcher Eric Nolte, whom you will remember as last fall’s precocious young starter with the hand-pump and fist-wave and 3.12 ERA.

He is in the bullpen now and looks about as comfortable as a guy riding a bus from Reno to Stockton, which is what Nolte, 23, was doing about this time last year. In two appearances--three innings--he has allowed 2 runs and 3 hits and walked 2.

One batter into his fifth-inning appearance Friday in San Francisco, Nolte allowed a homer to 5-foot 10-inch Brett Butler, who only once in his career has hit more than five in a season. By the time Nolte left the game an inning later, everybody he had faced had walked or hit the ball in the air and into the outfield.

To hear him tell it, the problem is not the mound. The problem is in waiting to go to the mound. Take the other night in Houston:

“I get up to warm up five different times,” Nolte said. “I must have thrown 70 pitches before I left the bullpen. I’m down there so much, the fans start yelling at me, ‘When are you getting in the game, when are you getting in?’ I yell back, ‘I don’t know. Just shut up and eat your hot dog.’ I guess the bullpen is something I’ll have to get used to.”

If the problem continues and the Padres decide that Nolte must be a starting pitcher, he will be the leading candidate for demotion to triple-A Las Vegas next week when left-hander Dave Leiper comes off the disabled list.

So much is happening at Tuesday’s home opener against the Dodgers, the starting time has been pushed back from 7:05 p.m. to 7:20.

Beginning at 6:45 p.m., Tony Gwynn will be presented with his 1987 Silver Bat and Gold Glove. Benito Santiago will be honored with his Jackie Robinson rookie of the year trophy. There also will be fireworks, both before and after the game.

The first Padre president, Buzzie Bavasi, will throw out the first pitch. The national anthem will be sung by Laura Colbert, daughter of former Padre star Nate Colbert. She also happened to be born in 1969, the same year as the team, which is playing its 20th season.

The pitcher will be Andy Hawkins, as scheduled, despite the 5 runs on 8 hits he allowed in just 3 innings Wednesday in Houston. Because of Monday’s off day, Eric Show also would be rested for the start.

Ticket sales for the game have topped the 47,000 mark. Last year the Padres drew 48,686 for their home opener.